“Dinosaur
13” is “Kramer vs. Kramer” for paleontologists, an absorbing
documentary that recounts a torturous decade-long custody battle over
the miraculously well-preserved skeletal leftovers of a Tyrannosaurus Rex that were discovered along a remote stretch of the South Dakota
prairie.
As
in the 1979 best-picture winner about a divorced father who fights the
judicial system to keep his son, there is a heart-rending relationship
at the core of “Dinosaur 13” that is initially one of joy and triumph
before it becomes mired in perplexing legalities, grandstanding
politics, hurtful accusations and unfair repercussions.
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Instead
of a boy named Billy, there is a T. Rex named Sue–so dubbed in honor