This was a staple of my childhood. I watched it just asmich as I did the Jurassic Park and Land Before Time films. It's not just nostalgia that's the reason I like this documentary so much, but it's just a good spinoff of Walking with Dinosaurs. It has the same style and structure as any episode of the original series would have, which is terrific. It feels like a slightly longer episode of the series, but makntains the feeling of being its own thing. Unlike the show, this follows only one specific animal throughout. While the show did this as well, it also mixed that in with presenting a lot of other creatures, which is fine, but I'm glad that this one doesn't stick to that formula. This is the Ballad of Big Al, and Big Al is the central focus throughout. The documentary also does a great job of making you feel simpathetic toward Big Al, which often does not happen since we like to depict carnivorous dinosaurs as ruthless killing machines, and not simpathetic animals. Once Big Al gets injured at the end, and dies just before the wet season returns, you really feel sad for this animal not able to make it long enough. Overall, this program is a very nice addition to the "Walking with" franchise. It's one of the programs that made me not only love dinosaurs, but made Allosaurus my personal favorite dinosaur.

"The Ballad of Big Al" is a 29-minute short film from 2000, so this one will soon have its 20th anniversary. It is an add-on for the television show "Walking with Dinosaurs" from one year earlier and Kenneth Branagh is once again the narrator, at least if you listen to the English version. The focus here is on the ill-fated life of a young allosaurus, so if you see the running time of under half an hour here, you may already guess correctly that it was cut short. Also with basically almost everything in here being fiction about the life of a dinosaur, I also would not really call it a documentary. The fact that they made a connection between a skeleton they found recently and a fictitious character is not enough to say it is a documentary. The name Big Al says it all already. This does not mean it's a weak or even bad film though. I mean 2 Emmy wins and a rating above 8 may be a bit on the exaggerated side, but it was an entertaining half hour with a nicely written fictitious plot. We also learn a bit about what life back then must have been like, so the film also delivers on an educational level. Overall, I give it a thumbs-up and it is certainly worth checking out, almost a must see if you got an above-average interest in dinosaurs.

As another reviewer has already mentioned, "Allosaurus: A Walking with Dinosaurs Special" (hereafter "Allo") is essentially the seventh episode of that magnificent pseudo-documentary series, and maintains that series lofty production and narrative standards (including retaining Kenneth Branaugh as solemn narrator). I think "Allo" was created in response to some ineffable clamor for carnivore balance. In other words, T-rex had his own episode on "Walking with Dinosaurs"; now it's Allosaurus's turn to shine.The first 30 minutes of "Allo" chronicles the relatively short but painfully eventful life of an Allosaurus, christened "Big Al". We follow his life from a tiny hatchling to a nearly full-grown subadult. He encounters stegosauruses. He participates in a rousing diplodocus hunt with others of his kind. He attempts to woo a much larger, more mature,and definitely more ferocious female allosaurus. Throughout his life, BigAl was basically the carnivorous dinosaur's answer to Evel Knievel. He suffered bites, scratches, lacerations, and bone dislocations, especially to his feet and legs. The litany of injuries finally takes its toll on Big Al, eventually losing his hunting ability and succumbing to starvation and thirst.As I was watching "Allo", I was astonished by many things. For example, how did a hatchling the size of a pigeon grow to be a 3-4 ton apex predator? Also, where did Big Al's mother get her maternal instinct, enabling her to protect her brood like a mother crocodile from predators, including, unsuccessfully, against a cannibalistic male allosaurus? How many of Big Al's nest mates survived along with him (probably not too many; allosaurus chicks, like crocodile babies, probably had a very high mortality rate)? Did Allosaurus really cooperate to take down gigantic prey like Diplodocus? Did sexual dimorphism really exist among allosaurs, meaning size differences among the sexes, in this case females larger than males? Some of these questions are addressed in the second 30-minute half of "Allo", where fossil analysis speculates upon Big Al's life and provided inspiration for the first half.One thing stood out prominently in "Allo": Big Al and his ilk may have been at the top of the food chain during the Jurassic, but their lives were far from easy. Despite their size, allosaurs must have had a tough time against the larger herbivores. As I recall, Big Al meets two stegosauruses but decides not to attack them, probably because of their sharp spiked tails and aggressive posture. During the thrilling diplodocus hunt on the salt flats, it takes three(!) allosauruses, including Big Al several hours to bring down even a sick, overheated member of the herd. Even after they start to consume the multi-ton carcass, a bigger female allosaurus arrives and threatens to claim the kill as her own. Speaking of females, Big Al's clumsy attempt to woo a female allosaurus literally ends in crushing failure. Most importantly, an allosaurus's feet and legs were its fortune; any serious damage to either could spell doom. Big Al breaks one of his middle toes while chasing one of the bipedal, relatively small Dryosaurs - a fatal wound for any hunter, but especially a two-legged one.Both halves of the "Allo" disk provide intriguing scientific, paleontological, and zoological information about Big Al and his world. Of course, some of this information is speculative, which may put off some viewers, just as it may have done with the "Walking..." series. Also, a few viewers may disapprove of giving a dinosaur a name, as if he were a harmless pet, because it may lessen his dignity. Phffft! I think chances are you will enjoy learning about Big Al's life and death in "Allo". After all, T-rex has had enough press.

I was honestly touched by this show, really. Both parts of it, how they entirely made the show in part 2, and the show itself in part 1.Big Al is an amazing insight into the life of this creature, and what amazes me even more, was that I felt for the creature. I felt as though I was watching its life, and when Al died, I honestly felt bad for how it all ended for him.I thought it was greatly done, just all in all. visually stunning, extremely informative, and it really does tell a story, a story that seems real.For making me actually care about this, and for just such beautifully work (scientifically and story-line, which is also technically science :P) I give Big Al a 10/10.And I'd like to say. Rest in Peace Big Al.