Walking With Prehistoric Beasts

By James Poniewozik

The name doesn't quite trip off the tongue like Walking with Dinosaurs, which brought the terrible lizards to life in digital animation. Otherwise this documentary, about the age of mammals, is a fab, furry follow-up. The menagerie--Ambulocetus (a "walking whale"), Propalaeotherium (a cat-size horse), et al.--is so stunning it's almost a disappointment when live actors turn up to play early humans. But when the giant deer Megaloceros charges and breathtakingly leaps over a hunter, it's like watching the ani-Matrix.

--By James Poniewozik