History ArtisticLicensePaleontology / LiveActionFilms

* ''[[Film/OneMIllionYearsBC One Million Years B.C.]]'' is the TropeNamer for the trope OneMillionBC for a good reason. The film features creatures from [[AnachronismStew many prehistoric eras]], most of them much older than 1 million years. The humans are all {{Nubile Savage}}s, including a FurBikini-clad, well-groomed Creator/RaquelWelch. Some creatures, like the giant turtle ''Archelon'', are vastly oversized, whereas others, like the kangaroo-stance ''Allosaurus'' (pictured above) are ''undersized, standing only slightly taller than a human (in real life, even the smallest ''Allosaurus'' would stand about a foot and a half taller than an average-sized human being). And let's not get started on the [[PteroSoarer scaly, bat-winged, grasping-footed pterosaurs]]...

* ''[[Film/OneMIllionYearsBC One Million Years B.C.]]'', pictured above, features a kangaroo-stance ''Allosaurus'' that stands only slightly taller than a human. In real life, even the smallest ''Allosaurus'' would stand about a foot and a half taller than an average-sized human being. (Also, assuming the title of the film is accurate, dinosaurs would have gone extinct some 64,000,000 years ago.)

[[caption-width-right:350:Would ''Allosaurus'' have any hope to become [[SarcasmMode the new WWF icon?]]]]

* The page image for PrehistoricMonster, taken from ''[[Film/OneMIllionYearsBC One Million Years B.C.]]'', depicts a kangaroo-stance ''Allosaurus'' that stands only slightly taller than the humans in the picture. In real life, even the smallest ''Allosaurus'' would stand about a foot and a half taller than an average-sized human being. (Also, assuming the title of the film is accurate, dinosaurs would have gone extinct some 64,000,000 years ago.)

*** Modern North Texas doesn't look as dry [[TelevisionGeography as in the film]], either. Not even ''West'' Texas does.

*** The first time we see Grant and Sattler is at a dig in Montana uncovering a ''Velociraptor'' skeleton, which never existed anywhere near there. What's more, the skeleton is still assembled correctly, even though most fossils are found with the bones scattered all over the place.

*** Alan Grant refers to the dinosaurs made by [=InGen=] as "Genetically engineered theme park mutants", pointing out that [=InGen=] deliberately made their dinosaurs to be more awesome than real dinosaurs just for the crowds, and that anything learnt about real dinosaurs from them would be distorted.
** ''Film/JurassicWorld'': This film retroactively justifies all instances with the park dinosaurs when Dr. Wu reminds Masrani that his and the team's orders were to engineer the animals based on RuleOfCool, not scientific accuracy.

* In the comedy ''Film/BringingUpBaby'', one of the main subplots involves paleontologist Actor/CaryGrant retrieving a missing dinosaur bone with the help of ManicPixieDreamGirl Actor/KatherineHepburn. The bone in question is described as an "Intercostal clavicle". There is no such thing as an "intercostal clavical". Intercostal means "between the ribs" and the clavicle is a collar bone.

** There is one thing Toho got right, probably by coincidence: Godzilla (as well as his pre-mutated form Godzillasaurus) is often portrayed with his hands facing inwards, which is now known to be the normal position for theropods.

* ''Franchise/JurassicPark'': film-only issues include the ''Dilophosaurus'' being too small and having a retractable frill (for the practical purpose of distinguishing them from the ''Velociraptors'', which themselves look more like ''Deinonychuses'' or ''Utahraptors''), and repeatedly misspelling the dinosaurs' names... though technically, they're "genetically-engineered" based on reptile and amphibian DNA; their resemblance to real dinosaurs is purely superficial.
** The first time we see Grant and Sattler is at a dig in Montana uncovering a ''Velociraptor'' skeleton, which never existed anywhere near there. What's more, the skeleton is still assembled correctly, even though most fossils are found with the bones scattered all over the place.
* In ''Film/JurassicParkIII'', ''Pteranodon'' (literally "toothless wing") are given tooth-filled beaks, grasping feet, and [[KidnappingBirdOfPrey the ability to pick up a grown man that had to outweigh them by a good fifty pounds at least]]. Meanwhile, the raptors are "smarter than primates".
** While the ''Spinosaurus'' was indeed bigger than the ''T. rex'', it would never have been able to take one on in a fight. A ''rex's'' heavy jaws and thick teeth were built for crushing bone while a ''Spinosaurus's'' thin jaws and teeth were better suited for hunting fish. The first time the ''rex'' clamped down on its slim bony neck should have crippled it, if not outright decapitated it.
** Alan Grant refers to the dinosaurs made by [=InGen=] as "Genetically engineered theme park mutants", pointing out that [=InGen=] deliberately made their dinosaurs to be more awesome than real dinosaurs just for the crowds, and that anything learnt about real dinosaurs from them would be distorted.

* The [[Film/SyFyChannelOriginalMovie Sci-Fi Channel Original Movie]] (which should give you a hint as to its quality) ''100 Million BC'' has the humans unable to detect the rampaging ''Giganotosaurus'' through a heat sensor because "dinosaurs are ectothermal" (sic). Even if ''Giganotosaurus'' was an ectotherm, its body temperature and metabolism by sheer virtue of its size would be like that of an endotherm (due to a little thing called inertial homeothermy). It ''would'' have showed up on a thermal sensor.
** Also, the heroes visit South America 70 million years ago (despite the fact it's 100 Million BC...) and ''Gigantosaurus'' became extinct around 90 million years ago. Somewhere, a palaeontologist is facepalming.
** Nevermind an ectothermic animal is one that can't ''produce'' its own internal heat. It doesn't mean it can't accumulate heat from its environment and be warm as a result. As any introductory book to Biology would say, a lizard that has been basking under the sun for hours will be warmer than a mouse.

* Subverted with the ''Franchise/{{Godzilla}}'' films in that Toho doesn't even ''try'' to ''pretend'' to be remotely accurate in any way whatsoever.

** There is one thing Toho got right: Godzilla (as well as his pre-mutated form Godzillasaurus) is often portrayed with his hands facing inwards, just like a real theropod.

** The film ''Alpha'' takes place 20k years ago and is a "Boy and His Dog" story, except the "dog" is actually a wolf. It tells a fictionalized tale of the origin of dogs. Alas, real wolves [[AllAnimalsAreDogs not dogs]] and [[AllAnimalsAreDomesticated aren't tame]]. Wolf domestication isn't as easy as a human just bonding with an unusually tame wolf.

** ''Alpha'' features a sabertooth cat that looks like a ''Smilodon'' as indicated by its size. But it should have a short bobcat-like tail instead of the long tiger-like one it has in the film, not to mention that [[MisplacedWildlife none of the three species were found in Europe]]. Alternatively, it could be a ''Machairodus'', which was just as large and actually did live in Europe - except that the last members of this genus [[AnachronismStew died out during the middle Pleistocene]], millennia before the film's time period of 20,000 years ago.

* ''Film/Alpha2018'' features a sabertooth cat that looks like a ''Smilodon'' as indicated by its size. But it should have a short bobcat-like tail instead of the long tiger-like one it has in the film, not to mention that [[MisplacedWildlife none of the three species were found in Europe]]. Alternatively, it could be a ''Machairodus'', which was just as large and actually did live in Europe - except that the last members of this genus [[AnachronismStew died out during the middle Pleistocene]], millennia before the film's time period of 20,000 years ago.

** The dinosaur in question is called a ''Brontosaurus''. Even at the time the film was made, the scientific community would have called it ''Apatosaurus''.

** Also, the heroes visit South America 70 million years ago (despite the fact it's 100 Million BC...) and ''Gigantosaurus'' became extinct around 90 million years ago.

** A case can however be made for the first movie, ''Film/{{Gojira}}'', which ''was'' to be taken seriously. In it, a paleontologist deduces that the titular monster hails form the Jurassic period by finding a trilobite in one of its footprints. Trilobites died out about 50 million years before that period, but this can be {{hand wave}}d, given that in the movie's universe, prehistoric creatures still exist in modern times. The true error is that the supposed paleontologist places the Jurassic at 2 million years BC. He's off by about 150 million years. Even in 1954, scientists knew a ''lot''better than this. And yes, there ''was'' serious paleontology done in Japan. He also states that mammals evolved during the Cretaceous from marine reptiles, which is completely wrong.

** A case can however be made for the first movie, ''Film/{{Gojira}}'', which ''was'' to be taken seriously. In it, a paleontologist deduces that the titular monster hails form the Jurassic period by finding a trilobite in one of its footprints. Trilobites died out about 50 million years before that period, but this can be {{hand wave}}d, given that in the movie's universe, prehistoric creatures still exist in modern times. The true error is that the supposed paleontologist places the Jurassic at 2 million years BC. He's off by about 150 million years. Even in 1954, scientists knew a lot better than this. And yes, there was serious paleontology done in Japan. He also states that mammals evolved during the Cretaceous from marine reptiles, which is completely wrong.

*** In the beginning when hunting the mammoths; they refer to the head of the herd as the "Lead Bull", meaning that the leader of the herd is male. All indications are that mammoths behaved very similarly to modern elephants... who are led by matriarch females. The males travel separately from the herd.

* The [[SyFyChannelOriginalMovie Sci-Fi Channel Original Movie]] (which should give you a hint as to its quality) ''100 Million BC'' has the humans unable to detect the rampaging ''Giganotosaurus'' through a heat sensor because "dinosaurs are ectothermal" (sic). Even if ''Giganotosaurus'' was an ectotherm, its body temperature and metabolism by sheer virtue of its size would be like that of an endotherm (due to a little thing called inertial homeothermy). It ''would'' have showed up on a thermal sensor.

* ''Franchise/JurassicPark'': film-only issues include the ''Dilophosaurus'' being too small and having a retractable frill (for the practical purpose of distinguishing them from the ''Velociraptors'', which themselves look more like Deinonychuses or Utahraptors), and repeatedly misspelling the dinosaurs' names... though technically, they're "genetically-engineered" based on reptile and amphibian DNA; their resemblance to real dinosaurs is purely superficial.

* ''Franchise/JurassicPark'': film-only issues include the ''Dilophosaurus'' being too small and having a retractable frill (for the practical purpose of distinguishing them from the ''Velociraptors''), and repeatedly misspelling the dinosaurs' names... though technically, they're "genetically-engineered" based on reptile and amphibian DNA; their resemblance to real dinosaurs is purely superficial.

::Ironically, as [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paleocene%E2%80%93Eocene_Thermal_Maximum That Other Wiki]] points out, the climate in the epochs immediately following the K-T extinction was substantially ''warmer''.

** A case can however be made for the first movie, ''Film/{{Gojira}}'', which ''was'' to be taken seriously. In it, a paleontologist deduces that the titular monster hails form the Jurassic period by finding a trilobite in one of its footprints. Trilobites died out about 50 million years before that period, but this can be {{hand wave}}d, given that in the movie's universe, prehistoric creatures still exist in modern times. The true error is that the supposed paleontologist places the Jurassic at 2 million years BC. He's off by about 150 million years. Even in 1954, scientists knew a lot better than this. And yes, there was serious paleontology done in Japan.