Sea Monsters
The film brings to life the extraordinary marine reptiles of the dinosaur age on the world’s biggest screens. From the giraffe-necked Styxosaurus and 20-foot “bulldog” fish Xiphactinus to the T-Rex of the ocean — the 40-foot super-predator Tylosaurus — these wondrous beasts defy imagination.
The film, narrated by Tony Award-winning actor Liev Schreiber and with an original score by longtime musical collaborators Richard Evans, David Rhodes and Peter Gabriel, takes audiences on a remarkable journey into the relatively unexplored world of the “other dinosaurs,” those reptiles that lived beneath the water. Funded in part through a grant from the National Science Foundation, the film delivers to the giant screen the fascinating science behind what we know, and a vision of history’s grandest ocean creatures.
This is the first giant-screen film about what lived in the water during the dinosaur age,” said producer Lisa Truitt, president of National Geographic Giant Screen Films and Special Projects. “It is perfect subject matter for such an immersive format, one that allows these giants to literally swim off the screen and directly into the audience.”
The Cretaceous world was very different from the Earth we know. Eighty million years ago, places such as Kansas were at the bottom of a great inland sea that divided North America in two. A warmer climate meant more of the globe was submerged — Europe was just a smattering of islands, much of Asia was underwater and a shallow ocean engulfed nearly all of Australia. On this sodden sphere, cold-blooded seagoing reptiles flourished, and as these ocean giants died, their skeletons were left in locations that are now high and dry.
Total Running Time (approx): 45 minutes
Teacher's Guide (3 -5)
Teacher's Guide (6-8)
Teacher's Guide (9-12)
Learning Resources
Recommended Age Group:
Grades 3 thru 12