Some of the Spider Pit critters were based
on real insects...
Granted, not really a comment on dinosaurs, but for those with
arthropod interests as well: The tactile navigation and movement of the
centipedes looked exactly like real centipedes (and was nice and scary
to boot). The spindly spider creatures were scaled-up vinegaroons, and
the giant orthopterns leaping onto Driscoll appear to be scaled-up
wetas. Wetas, for those who don't know, are very large,
freeze-tolerant crickets native to New Zealand that happen to terrify
Peter Jackson (which probably influenced their inclusion in the movie).
I felt that all of those animals looked and moved fantastically well
in the movie.
So, to make a more general point (one relevant to the dinosaurs): Weta
did very well with any animals (scaling physics aside) for which they
had direct, living analogs (or really, homologs). The Weta digital
crew generally likes to have living models for their creatures when
possible. Even in LOTR they used a lot of 'on site' animals for sounds
and looks (for example, they took the time to catch wild spiders and
bring them into the studio to help model Shelob in Two Towers). The
dinosaurs, of course, don't fall into this direct analog category so
well, and so had a unique suite of issues.
So, I'm going to shift the subject a little bit and propose this
question to the list (should be fun and interesting):
What are the top five suggestions that you would make to a special
effects studio regarding the recreation of dinosaurs for film?