It stretches across the ages - really

It's always gratifying to find television that really is fun for all ages. Programs that kids enjoy, adults can barely tolerate, while those that entertain adults are often inappropriate for children. But then a show like

DinoSapien

appears and, suddenly, everybody's happy.

The show, produced by BBC Worldwide and debuting today on Discovery Kids Channel, seems intended primarily for the tween set, though it has a much broader appeal.

It stars Brittney Wilson as Lauren, a teenager spending her summer working at her mom's dinosaur-themed camp along with co-counselors Kit (Bronson Pelletier), Courtney (Mackenzie Porter) and Chris (Jeffery Watson).

Bummed about her father, who disappeared during a paleontology dig; a gymnastics injury; and a menacing Dr. Aikens (James Coombes) who is spending time with her mother (Suzanna Hamilton), Lauren is excited to discover Eno, a living dinosaur, in the woods.

Surprised? So is she. But it turns out that Eno and his two enemy dinos, the Diggers, have been trapped under a hill in Canada's badlands until an earthquake released them.

It's up to Lauren to discover more about Eno and to protect him from exploitation, while he protects her from all the big bad monsters in the woods.

Feel free to giggle at the idea of dinosaurs surviving underground for thousands of years. DinoSapien isn't big into science. Nobody bothers to answer the obvious questions about how the prehistoric beasts survived or why.

But the show works anyway, largely due to its exceptional cast, whose acting is sweet and simple, yet perfectly believable. Their antics are funny, their relationships amusing; and the confusing love geometry among the counselors (is it a love triangle? a love rhomboid?) adds just enough drama for those who have theoretically outgrown Disney princesses.

Wilson turns in a dead-on performance whether she's being responsible, amazed or sulking, and Porter brings the laughs as her boy-crazy best friend. Pelletier and Watson are also adept at bringing their characters to life, and it's clear that they're all having fun with the material.

The weakest part of the show is the dinosaurs themselves, a combination of CGI and animation that appears painfully fake in the live-action world of Lauren and company. Their fighting is particularly silly-looking, much like a badly-done Punch and Judy show. Real dinosaurs are obviously hard to come by, but at least the creators could have made Eno's motions less spastic.

But that's a small complaint in a show that's otherwise enjoyable for kids, parents and everyone in between. It's lighthearted and sweet, and if it were a person, you'd want to give it a hug. Give it a try as a TV show instead.