TORONTO - For virtually every adolescent, discovering the might and awe that was the dinosaur is a rite of passage.
And so, "Walking with Dinosaurs," a live stadium experience, based on the hit BBC computer-animated documentary series, is an extra special treat.
This colossal event comes as close as is humanly possible to fulfilling that adolescent fantasy of witnessing these fearsome creatures in the flesh but from a safe distance.
It's a P.T. Barnum bonanza, but on steroids.
Having transformed the Air Canada Centre in Toronto into a wonderland of prehistoric eras from the Triassic to the Cretaceous, the event is a wonder to behold from the appearance of the very first lizard, the Liliensternus.
For the course of the 105 minute show audiences are treated to a visual feast that is part educational experience, part indulgent spectacle. As 15 grand, built-to-scale latex and lyrca dinosaurs roam and ramble about the ice-rink size floor, bellowing and battling, the detail is what is truly impressive.
From the glossy mucous accumulated around their nostrils as they sniff and snort to the more subtle nuances like their battle weary shells adorned with scar tissue, the dinosaurs are decidedly expressive.
The event is conducted by a dynamic actor-cum-paleontologist who delivers a lively narration laden with just the right injection of comic relief ("We now take you back to 75 Millions BCG - Before Computer Games" and at one point there's a four-foot ball of dung rolling round stage) ensuring the ride stays accessible to the crowd of mostly tween-age kids.
The excitable Dr. Grant-like tour guide deftly introduces us to and enlightens us about the various terrible lizards who reigned over this length period in the Earth's history with an ironic panache that manages to sidestep straying into the gimmicky.
It was a particular delight to have at least one "hairless mammal" in the ring with these towering beasts, for the juxtaposition truly drove home their magnitude. Put it this way, the pappa Brachiosaurus' head was inches shy of the roof lighting.
The experience is all encompassing. As the home of the Toronto Raptors becomes, for a brief spell, the home of the Utah Raptors we see the earth evolve as the floor of the ACC comes alive with brightly hued fauna and foliage.
With a $20 million budget, "Walking with Dinosaurs - The Live Experience" was developed by a collaboration of technicians and scientists in Australia.
The only quibble is the mid-sized monsters: too big to be manned hydraulic-run machines and too small to be radio controlled, they are given life by actors in suits, which detracted slightly from the absorption of this part of the experience - you could see an extra pair of legs jetting from the belly of the raptors. And perhaps a little heavier helping of the scientific side dish as a complement to the main course would have been easily enough digested - but then again, one can rent the DVD.
Of course, the most hotly anticipated moment is the grandeur of the finale and the arrival of the king of the dinos, the Tyrannosaurus Rex.
Accompanied by a booming acoustic roar that shook the arena to its core, he's a technical marvel, right down to the bulging musculature in his robust calves and to the apparent decay on his loathsome, toothy grill.
While these awe-inspiring creatures may not be exactly real, Barnum surely would have been impressed.
"Walking with Dinosaurs" continues with evening and matinee shows at the Air Canada Centre until Sunday, August 12th before retuning to the US to finish its North American run over the next couple of months.
