Dinotopia (TV Miniseries)
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Actor: David Thewlis, Jim Carter, Katie Carr, Tyron Leitso, Wentworth MillerBrand: Lions Gate
DVD: Region Code 1
Audio: English (Unknown), Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo; English (Original Language), Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo
Format: Closed-captioned, Color, DVD, Miniseries, NTSC
Picture Format: 1.33:1
Running Time: 250 minutes
DVD Release Date: 2002-07-30
Audience Rating: NR (Not Rated)
Studio: Lions Gate
DVD Reviews of Dinotopia (TV Miniseries)
DVD Review: Looks fantastic, but no substance
Summary: 2 Stars
At the risk of incurring the wrath of nearly every other reviewer for 'Dinotopia' who seem to love the film, I'm forced to uphold my opinion that this miniseries isn't actually very good. I'm astounded that so many people quite happily went along with it and that it actually scored an Emmy nomination for best miniseries (though it lost to Bad of Brothers). There are so many logic errors, bad lines, unfinished sub-plots, pointless scenes, terrible acting and confusing story devices that my father and I, who were watching it together, were continually exchanging baffled glances.The story goes that two half brothers Karl and David are flying with their father when they hit a storm. The plane goes down, their father presumably dies and they are drifted ashore to a seemingly deserted island. In a matter of a few seconds they shrug off the death of their father (Karl literally says: "Well, we did all we could", and then moves on) and soon meet up with Cyrus Crabbe, who introduces himself as an explorer and investigator before accompanying them to a nearby village. It is here that the boys realise this island is not all it seems as they witness a dinosaur rampaging the streets. Again they show their remarkable ability to shrug off rather life altering truths by saying: "Didn't dinosaurs die out millions of years ago?" and then immediatly accepting it. It is then they meet up with Marion, the lovely daughter of the mayor of Waterfall City who accompanies them to her home city to register themselves as citizen of Dinotopia, the one place in the world where humans and dinosaurs live together in peace, undiscovered by the rest of the world. Solitary, book-worm David is soon delighted by the utopian society and begins to flourish, whilst twenty-first century Karl is desparate to return home. However, there is disaster on the horizon. The Dinotopian's sunstones - the source of all their energy - are failing (though we never find out why) and the carnivores of the island are now running in packs, something they've never done before (though again we never find out why that is). When the boys discover a gateway to the 'World Beneath', said to be the birthplace of the humans and dinosaurs of the island, they want to go exploring to find some answers, but the authorities forbid them.
In terms of the story it is quite a disjointed one: the boys adapt far to quickly to their father's death and the new enviroment they're put in, and events and situations keep changing - one moment the boys are trekking through a jungle towards a forgotten gateway, the next they've separated - one at a hatchery, the other at a flying school. As well as this Cyrus Crabbe is lurking around, there's the failing sunstones, the World Beneath, the uncompleted love triangle between the boys and Marion, the unrealised relationship between the brothers, and Dinotopia is seen both as a social paradise and a restrictive area where there is no room for change or growth away from tradition. All these plots are jammed into the one movie, most of them remain unresolved. The film-maker's technique of jumping from one sub-plot to the next is confusing to say the least.
Likewise, there are some terrible logic flaws. Usually I can easily tolerate a few that are used to keep the pace going, but there were just so many, so close together that the movie actually felt random. Why did they leave the safety of the buses to camp out in a half-destroyed village? How did a superior society get such an idiot elected for mayor? How did a half destroyed submarine manage to take three people to the World Beneath? Why didn't Crabbe get punished for knocking out a dinosaur and chucking him in the river? How did Karl know Crabbe has sabotaged his boat? For that matter, why *did* Crabbe sabotage his boat? His adjenda is never fully explained.
These faults along with the shaky story made it feel as if they made the whole thing up as they went along, or at least were too preoccupied with the special effects to give much thought to the story.
The actors portraying Karl and David were unfortunatly very poor, delievering their lines with little to no emotion. Perhaps Karl does a better job than David, for even David's movements were awkward and un-natural. Marion fares a little better, but still questions abound - which boy did she like? What did her mother mean when she said Marion's element wasn't earth, sea or sky? What was she actually doing when she waved her hands over sick people?
I was quite prepared to enjoy this movie, and it wasn't as if I totally disliked it - the dinosaurs were amazing, there were a few funny moments, and I appreciated hearing the names Arthur and Will Denison, Sylvia and Lee Crabbe - but on the whole it was a very patchy story with far too many random events that didn't make sense for me to find it re-watchable.
Description of Dinotopia (TV Miniseries)
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