The Dinosaurs Documentary Review (2026) [4-45 min Ep]

2/5 Rating

I was really excited for Netflix’s The Dinosaurs. I grew up on Walking with Dinosaurs (1999), so I was primed for more dino content. I expected new things since we have expanded our prehistoric knowledge since 1999. I expected deep evolutionary explanations and theories of how they lived. Thats not what I got.

I’ll start with the pacing. The documentary bounces back and forth between reptiles and dinosaurs with no clear logic to the order. You’ll be following one animal, one era, one idea — and then suddenly you’re somewhere else entirely with no explanation of how you got there. It never establishes a timeline or a thread to follow. The last episode especially feels rushed/lazy. It feel like they got their budget pulled and crammed 4 episodes into one.

The first episode spends significant time on pre-dinosaur reptiles, which is fine — that context matters. But the documentary never explains the fundamental difference between reptiles and dinosaurs, which is a serious problem when both are sharing equal screen time. This isn’t a brief mention of reptiles before moving on. They are a major focus, and the documentary constantly shifts back and forth between the two with no explanation of what separates them or why that distinction matters. The viewer is just expected to keep up.

Another example of the lack of scientific explanation is when the “First egg of its kind” is introduced. This is one of the more major oversights. This should be quite a big focus on a show exploring the lives and evolution of dinosaurs. Yes, there are still many unanswered questions surrounding evolution, but they don’t even make an attempt to explain it. I understand that it’s not a documentary on evolution, but when talking about dinosaurs, it’s pretty important. They don’t even have a short segment talking about evolution at all.

The only positive takeaways from this documentary are the visuals and the fact that Morgan Freeman is the narrator. It’s always cool to see dinosaurs no matter what and it might contain the highest quality adaptation of dinosaurs so that is a plus.

Because of all of this, I might consider it to be the worst documentary I have ever seen. I didn’t learn anything. I simply watched high quality cgi dinosaurs fight and partake in speculative behaviors. There is an extreme lack of scientific explanation that makes this seem like more of a commercial for dinosaurs rather than a educational documentary. That may be perfect for some people. Everyone likes the occasional mindless watch, and it’s perfect for that.