Walking With Dinosaurs New Event

After 65 million years, the award-winning Walking with Dinosaurs roars into the M.E.N Arena this week. Run ends Sunday 2 August.Check out the review from this week's Manchester Evening News below:"AS comebacks go, they don't get much bigger than this. Some 65 million years since they last walked the earth, dinosaurs one again roared and reigned supreme for the entertainment of a packed M.E.N. Arena.

History really is spectacularly brought back to life in this monster of a show. And seeing as it's based on the award winning BBC series, it's also packed full of facts and figures, taking the audience through the evolution of the giant beasts from their first existence through to extinction.From the moment the first dinosaurs enter the vast stage in the centre of the arena, there are gasps of excitement all around. And it's not just the children who are left wide mouthed in amazement at the creatures that are apparently living, breathing and blinking before you. It's not hard to see where the £10million lavished on this production, that has come to Britain after sell out tours of Australia and America, has gone.

The dinosaurs are brought to life by a crack team of puppeteers and animatronics in amazing detail. "I think they're real" whispered my four-year-old guest for the evening, a sentiment seemingly echoed by entranced youngsters across the Arena.

But this is not a show just for the kids, it's a truly entertaining theatrical show, as magical for those aged three as 93. Even the Triassic vegetation on the impressive stage set manages to have a life of its own.The first half of the show sees palaeontologist character Huxley talking us through the extraordinary adventure of the dino story. Predictably, it's the largest dinosaurs in the production - the 56 foot long Brachiosaurus that gets the biggest reaction. But even bigger thrills are to come in the second half, when that most famous of dinosaurs - the Tyrannosaurus Rex lurches out to more 'oohs and ahs' from the audience.

The action culminates in a spectacular clash of the titans - although there's nothing too scary in this family-friendly show. When each dino costs £300,000 a piece, the creators probably don't fancy repairing Jurassic wounds to their creatures each night! There's been many a showbiz megastar through the Arena doors over the years, but never anything quite of this scale or ambition in town before. If you get a chance, get a ticket, you really will be astounded."