Lions, Tigers, and...Sea Monsters, oh my!

The weekend...ahhh...we can't wait until Friday evening's arrival, for that's when Daddy comes home from work and promises not to go back until Monday! And staying up late on Friday nights, sleeping in late on Saturday mornings...mmm!

But this Saturday we had a rushed start to our day...we were all enjoying the warmth of our beds and then all of a sudden, we remembered...we were given free tickets to the educator's preview of the new National Geographic IMAX movie, Sea Monsters! And we didn't want to miss it! And I'm so glad that we didn't, for I have to say...this film is actually one of my favorite IMAX films yet!

It's a fascinating film that follows the life of a Dolichorhynchops, named Dolly, and her brother.

The movie begins with a little girl following her dog through the woods, and she comes across a washed out cliff that is revealing a wonderful fossil. The film flips back and forth between computer generated images of what was once under the ocean's surface ('thousands and thousands' of years ago!) and what is now above the waters' edge...say in the middle of continents (Kansas, Israel, etc.) where paleontologists (1900's to present) are finding the most amazing fossils of "Dolly's" and her other seamates.

The film takes us through Dolly's lifetime of what she would have seen and experienced (including a shark attack... that she survives...carrying with her a shark-tooth souvenir!); then as the film ends we follow the last few days of her life...and then merge back to the present day and watch archaeologists uncover the fossils of a Dolichorhynchops... with a shark's tooth embedded in its right wing.

Armed with knowledge/common sense, it's such a wonderful film to 'bring to life' what the earth perhaps looked like at one time (pre-flood?), and it helped me to realize that when the earth was indeed covered with so much water (and hmmm...fewer people) it makes sense to me that the waters would have been more alive! More water...more large animals of the sea! Following this logic (post-flood), it also makes sense to me that as our Creator promised to never flood the earth again AND as He promised to Abram (later called Abraham) that He would bless him with as many descendants as the stars in the heavens [Genesis 15:5]....it makes sense to me that we descendants would need more land!

I'm not sure if too many remember the many emails immediately following the deadly Tsunami that struck Sri Lanka during the Christmas holidays in 2004...the emails were full of U-G-L-Y (and very strange looking!) fish/animals that were supposedly washed ashore as a result of the Tsunami. Whether they're a result of the Tsunami or not, it's all very fascinating to me to think that our Creator created so many different species of animals...for our enjoyment, which in turn gives Him praise!

I highly recommend this film! The music, the information, and the scenery is amazing! But do take caution that it's not for those with slight water anxieties! As if Jaws wasn't enough!