Four young boys visit the American Museum of Natural History. They visit the dinosaur exhibit (of course) as well as the rest of the museum. In an exhibit of Native Alaskans, a shaman figure seems to be giving the boys the evil eye. The boys then rent a rowboat in central park. Here they row into a mysterious cave that leads to an even more mysterious river. As the boys travel along the river they also travel back through time. The further along the river, the further back in time until they reach the primordial ocean. All through the journey one of the boys keeps a journal of their adventures.
Throughout the movie there are explanations of the dinosaurs, prehistoric mammals, ages of the Earth and plenty of other educational information. The film ends with the boys staring out over the ocean and thinking about the volcanos forming continents on the other side and the eventual formation of the Earth. Suddenly the boys find themselves waking up in the museum by the Native Alaskan exhibit under the gaze of the Shaman. What a strange dream. But the journal...
This movie was intended to be entertaining and educational. Paleontologists made sure that the facts stood firm against the teachings of science making this possibly the most accurate science fiction movie of all time. Even though much of what we know about dinosaurs has changed since the movie was made, it still hold its charm.
