Best dinosaur movie not named Jurassic Park, King Kong, Godzilla

[laticauda]

In this poll you get 2 votes to vote for your the Best dinosaur movie not named Jurassic Park, King Kong, Godzilla.  Yes I did leave some other Dinosaur films off the list, but I didn't think any of them would be strong contenders.  I also left off movies like Fantasia which isn't really a dinosaur movie.

[Takama]

wheres Land of the Lost 2009?

Or 10000 BC?

Or Theodore Rex?

Or the Option that says Other

[Arul]

Land of the lost the t rex is so ridiculous lol

[Gwangi]

Or Theodore Rex?

Seriously?

A lot of missing titles here though, we can agree on that. "Planet of Dinosaurs" (1977) is a favorite of mine, yet absent here. You're also missing "Carnosaur" (1993), "Prehysteria" (1993), "Unknown Island" (1946), "The Land Unknown" (1957), "We're Back! A Dinosaur's Story" (1993) "The Lost World" (1960), "When Dinosaurs Ruled The Earth" (1970), "Caveman" (1981)...the list goes on. My point is, if you're going to make a list of dinosaur movies it really should be more complete. You can probably leave out the really trashy stuff like "Dinosaur Valley Girls" (1996) or "Tammy and The T. Rex" (1994) though. Can you tell I like dinosaur movies? As if my screen name didn't indicate that enough.

Given the limited options I voted for "The Valley of Gwangi" and "One Million Years B.C.". Big fan of "The Land that Time Forgot" but you can't beat stop motion dinosaurs and I would probably vote for those two regardless of the other options.

EDIT: I see that "Unknown Island" is indeed on the list.

[Takama]

I put Theodore as a Joke. But yeah theres a lot of movies that are missing.

I actually love Carnosaur.

And here is one on par with Theodore. Super Mario Bros 

[Gwangi]

Yeah, I deliberately didn't mention Mario Bros. Easily one of the worst movies I have ever seen. I really like Carnosaur too, not a favorite but a cheesy fun time for sure.

[Takama]

I guess anything direct to video might not be counted. Such as the Asylum type movies (Though there were a few that I actually like)

I have Preheysteria 2 on VHS. I watched it all the time as a kid, but i wish they would of released the series on DVD. Just for nostalgia.

The reason i love Carnosaur is because our local Movie store sorted there movies by genre, and i always go down the horror isle to see the covers of all the scary movies. One of them stood out for me as it had a big green T.Rex on the cover. I begged my parents to rent it, but with me being six, they were hesitant. One day they decided to rent it and let me see it, and they were disgusted by all of the blood and gore. I then never saw it again until it appeared on Syfy one day while i was at my Grandpas. Finally, when i started to shop online, i bought a copy on DVD from amazon and it has become a favorite of mine.

[laticauda]

Or Theodore Rex?

Seriously?

A lot of missing titles here though, we can agree on that. "Planet of Dinosaurs" (1977) is a favorite of mine, yet absent here. You're also missing "Carnosaur" (1993), "Prehysteria" (1993), "Unknown Island" (1946), "The Land Unknown" (1957), "We're Back! A Dinosaur's Story" (1993) "The Lost World" (1960), "When Dinosaurs Ruled The Earth" (1970), "Caveman" (1981)...the list goes on. My point is, if you're going to make a list of dinosaur movies it really should be more complete. You can probably leave out the really trashy stuff like "Dinosaur Valley Girls" (1996) or "Tammy and The T. Rex" (1994) though. Can you tell I like dinosaur movies? As if my screen name didn't indicate that enough.

Given the limited options I voted for "The Valley of Gwangi" and "One Million Years B.C.". Big fan of "The Land that Time Forgot" but you can't beat stop motion dinosaurs and I would probably vote for those two regardless of the other options.

EDIT: I see that "Unknown Island" is indeed on the list.

I did look at all those movies and decided in my opinion, they are not even worthy to put on the list.    Maybe I should have put other, but lets face it, alot of Dinosaur movies are bad.  Fun perhaps, but still bad.  The Carnosaur series might have a limited following but come on, is it really going to beat out Vally of Gwangi, One million years B.C, or Land before time.   That was my thought process. 

[Gwangi]

Well the entire reason for a poll in the first place is to see what people like anyway. By leaving out so many titles you're basically asking people to vote for their two favorites from a list of YOUR favorites. "Carnosaur" has a larger following than you might realize, especially among horror movie fans. "Planet of Dinosaurs" has terrible acting but the stop motion is top notch. The stop motion is pretty good in "When Dinosaur Ruled The Earth". "Caveman" is a solid comedy that pokes fun at caveman/dinosaur movies in general. "We're Back" is no better or worse than "Walking With Dinosaurs" or "Ice Age 3" and "Unknown Island" is just as awful as "The Land Unknown" if not worse. I question how many of these movies you've actually seen! It's your poll so whatever, personally I would be interested in seeing how many votes those movies would have gotten even if it were only a few. I'll just make my own poll later.

[laticauda]

Well the entire reason for a poll in the first place is to see what people like anyway. By leaving out so many titles you're basically asking people to vote for their two favorites from a list of YOUR favorites. "Carnosaur" has a larger following than you might realize, especially among horror movie fans. "Planet of Dinosaurs" has terrible acting but the stop motion is top notch. The stop motion is pretty good in "When Dinosaur Ruled The Earth". "Caveman" is a solid comedy that pokes fun at caveman/dinosaur movies in general. "We're Back" is no better or worse than "Walking With Dinosaurs" or "Ice Age 3" and "Unknown Island" is just as awful as "The Land Unknown" if not worse. I question how many of these movies you've actually seen! It's your poll so whatever, personally I would be interested in seeing how many votes those movies would have gotten even if it were only a few. I'll just make my own poll later.

All Valid points.  It was an attempt to make it easier by leaving out what I thought were the bad movies.  But you are right, that means I am putting my own bias into it.  Well, it is easy enough to remake-redo the poll with a more complete list.  Thank you for your imput.

[Crackington]

Harryhausen all the way for me, so I voted for "The Beast" and "Gwangi".

It would be good to widen this to a "prehistoric movies" poll then we could include more trash like "10,000 BC" and probably the only serious caveman film, "Quest for Fire" in the list.  The opening of 2001: a Space Odyssey might make this too. if we can ignore the other 95% of the film!

[Roselaar]

Not to mention the various other adaptations of ACD's The Lost World. The 2001 version deserves to be mentioned at least.

[leidy]

Not to mention the various other adaptations of ACD's The Lost World. The 2001 version deserves to be mentioned at least.

Having seen them all, the BBC version was probably the most reputable attempt since the silent original.  Don't like Bob Hoskins as Challenger though.  The 1992 films with John Rys Davies and David Warner had by far the best casting for the leads, IMO.  Worthless in every other respect unfortunately.

Or Theodore Rex?

Seriously?

A lot of missing titles here though, we can agree on that. "Planet of Dinosaurs" (1977) is a favorite of mine, yet absent here. You're also missing "Carnosaur" (1993), "Prehysteria" (1993), "Unknown Island" (1946), "The Land Unknown" (1957), "We're Back! A Dinosaur's Story" (1993) "The Lost World" (1960), "When Dinosaurs Ruled The Earth" (1970), "Caveman" (1981)...the list goes on. My point is, if you're going to make a list of dinosaur movies it really should be more complete. You can probably leave out the really trashy stuff like "Dinosaur Valley Girls" (1996) or "Tammy and The T. Rex" (1994) though. Can you tell I like dinosaur movies? As if my screen name didn't indicate that enough.

Given the limited options I voted for "The Valley of Gwangi" and "One Million Years B.C.". Big fan of "The Land that Time Forgot" but you can't beat stop motion dinosaurs and I would probably vote for those two regardless of the other options.

EDIT: I see that "Unknown Island" is indeed on the list.

We have similar tastes in this regard.  The Doug McClure films are a lot of fun, as are the Harryhausen films.  I also have a soft spot for Carnosaur.  Even though the film falls short, I like what they were going for, and regardless of accuracy, I think their T.rex design is pretty cool.

When Dinosaurs Ruled the Earth is a bit rough around the edges, but the animation is terrific.  I think the Chasmosaurus still basically holds up pretty well today in terms of accuracy.

[Gwangi]

Yeah, accuracy was certainly not a priority back then, but the stop motion is still marvelous. But I love all the old monster movies, cult films, B-rate horror and sci-fi kinda stuff. Especially if they use practical effects! So yeah, anything with Doug McClure is the perfect sort of movie for me. But I did find "The People That Time Forgot" just awful, and not in a good way.

[leidy]

Yeah, accuracy was certainly not a priority back then, but the stop motion is still marvelous. But I love all the old monster movies, cult films, B-rate horror and sci-fi kinda stuff. Especially if they use practical effects! So yeah, anything with Doug McClure is the perfect sort of movie for me. But I did find "The People That Time Forgot" just awful, and not in a good way.

I liked that one better than At the Earth's Core, but it's been a while. 

They didn't have much choice other than practical effects in those days, but I enjoy the creativity that goes into that.  I like films where they use a mix of techniques, cutting from full size puppets to miniatures from one shot to the next, sometimes in the same shot.  There's something magic about understanding the artificial nature of the trickery on a conscious level, but being able to almost believe it's alive.  Modern audiences will scream fake if it's a bit off, but I can suspend disbelief. 

Another film from that era is The Last Dinosaur.  I think it's one of the better efforts in terms of being an entertaining film with decent actors, but I'm not fond of the dinosaur effects in that one at all.  Very floppy looking slo-mo suitmation.

I think 50s film The Land Unknown is quite a bit better than Unknown Island, although I wish it was as cool as the various posters suggest.
  Looks a bit more lively, almost like a Harryhausen creation.

The actual suit was a lot stiffer looking, with a pathetic little droopy tail.  Some nice detailing though.  I also like the miniatures and matte paintings for the jungle setting.  It looks like an incredible place. 

[Gwangi]

I agree, "The Land Unknown" was superior to "Unknown Island" but I think I actually prefer the former, more entertainment value I guess. That giant sloth is just far out and the scene where the Tyrannosaurus falls over from the grenade blast? The actual actor fainted from being in the suit! Classic stuff! But again, "The Land Unknown" is much better. The acting is decent for the time and the set is beautiful.

I've also seen "The Last Dinosaur", it has a catchy theme song! A bit over the top but a fun movie. Don't know that I would call the acting decent but yeah...over the top for sure. The Triceratops just...just comes out from the side of the mountain? What the heck is that about? I admit that I mostly watch cheesier movies just to laugh and have a good time with them but I certainly appreciate the effort that went into making them. Even if the end result leaves something to be desired. But I'll watch them all; actors in costume, stop motion (always the best), puppets and even the ones where they dress up lizards. Although I do admit I feel bad for the lizards. Modern CGI B-movies like "Sharknado" just don't have that ingenuity and charm, I can't get into them. Although "Birdemic" was a lot of fun but now I'm getting off topic.

A good documentary that came out shortly after JP and really was a launching off point for me in finding dinosaur movies to watch was a Discovery Channel special of the old show "Movie Magic" called "Dinomania". It's on Youtube. Worth watching.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=96w6TD-8_3U

[leidy]

I've also seen "The Last Dinosaur", it has a catchy theme song! A bit over the top but a fun movie. Don't know that I would call the acting decent but yeah...over the top for sure. The Triceratops just...just comes out from the side of the mountain? What the heck is that about? I

I liked Richard Boone's character in that, and how the film was basically built around him.  He has the conviction of a guy who just does whatever the hell he wants and simply doesn't give a damn.  'he is the last dinosaur'.  The song is a bit like a second-rate Bond theme.

It's a refreshing change from so many other dinomovies filled with colourless, forgettable characters that barely register.  They know we really bought our tickets for the dinosaurs, but no matter how good the dinosaurs, we're still going to be stuck with the humans most of the time.

A lot of the time you can see them really  struggling to give their characters motivations and conflicts.  It's one of the things that really sets Jurassic Park apart.  It's a big cast and pretty much everyone was great in that.

That video feels awfully familiar.  I think I might've had it on video cassette. 

Speaking of old dinomovies and Jurassic Park, anyone notice some similar scenes in Dinosaurus?  It also culminates in a finale that bares comparison with that of Carnosaur. 

[docronnie]

Dinosaur 2000 for us.

[Gwangi]

I liked Richard Boone's character in that, and how the film was basically built around him.  He has the conviction of a guy who just does whatever the hell he wants and simply doesn't give a damn.  'he is the last dinosaur'.  The song is a bit like a second-rate Bond theme.

It's a refreshing change from so many other dinomovies filled with colourless, forgettable characters that barely register.  They know we really bought our tickets for the dinosaurs, but no matter how good the dinosaurs, we're still going to be stuck with the humans most of the time.

A lot of the time you can see them really  struggling to give their characters motivations and conflicts.  It's one of the things that really sets Jurassic Park apart.  It's a big cast and pretty much everyone was great in that.

We can agree on that. Richard Boone certainly had an on screen presence that made him enjoyable to watch. Part of that was because he was so over the top and dramatic but he certainly helped quicken the pace of the movie.

Speaking of old dinomovies and Jurassic Park, anyone notice some similar scenes in Dinosaurus?  It also culminates in a finale that bares comparison with that of Carnosaur.

"Dinosaurus!" was one of my favorites growing up and yes, it bares a certain similarity to "Carnosaur". I wonder if it was intentional or coincidence?

I wonder why this thread is not getting more action? Surely our members have seen other dinosaur movies besides the more modern ones?

[stargatedalek]

I wonder why this thread is not getting more action? Surely our members have seen other dinosaur movies besides the more modern ones?

I have seen the majority of Harryhausen films, but being completely honest (aside from the big name ones) I haven't seen many movies from before the 1970s