The Dinosaur Project Film 2012

[ZoPteryx]

They did not just have pterosaurs running after people did they?! Frilled dinos, swimming-otter dinos, terrible graphics, cheezy characters, and the most unoriginal of plots, this films got it all!

[tyrantqueen]

Why is it that dinosaur films in the 90's have great animation, and nowdays the films have animation that is so bad, it is obvious that its not real? I understand, some people don't have the money, but, I excpected better animation as we go on. It turns out it gets worse!

However, shots in Episode 2, Episode 4, and some of Episode 3 of Dinosaur Revolution are very real, the best I've seen since Walking with Dinosaurs.

And now any dinosaur sci-fi show or film (except Primeval) after Jurassic Park, is very cheesy. You just can't beat classic like JP.

King Kong 2005 was pretty good. Aside from that (and technically JP3) we haven't had any big budget dinosaur movies not aimed at children since Jurassic Park (and TLW). I think the reason modern films may look worse is because of the transition from traditional effects versus CGI. By traditional I mean stop motion, animation and animatronics. Nowadays CGI dominates and while it can look great in big budget features (JP, King Kong) when done on the cheap it looks terrible, worse even than traditional methods from "back in the day".

I agree, I actually liked Peter Jackson's King Kong. Of course it was no way as influential or good as the original. But you can't really expect that from a remake.
I didn't watch it for the dinosaurs though, Kong himself was the star IMO.

And the ending was such a tear-jerker

[Brontozaurus]

Why is it that dinosaur films in the 90's have great animation, and nowdays the films have animation that is so bad, it is obvious that its not real? I understand, some people don't have the money, but, I excpected better animation as we go on. It turns out it gets worse!

However, shots in Episode 2, Episode 4, and some of Episode 3 of Dinosaur Revolution are very real, the best I've seen since Walking with Dinosaurs.

And now any dinosaur sci-fi show or film (except Primeval) after Jurassic Park, is very cheesy. You just can't beat classic like JP.

King Kong 2005 was pretty good. Aside from that (and technically JP3) we haven't had any big budget dinosaur movies not aimed at children since Jurassic Park (and TLW). I think the reason modern films may look worse is because of the transition from traditional effects versus CGI. By traditional I mean stop motion, animation and animatronics. Nowadays CGI dominates and while it can look great in big budget features (JP, King Kong) when done on the cheap it looks terrible, worse even than traditional methods from "back in the day".

I agree, I actually liked Peter Jackson's King Kong. Of course it was no way as influential or good as the original. But you can't really expect that from a remake.
I didn't watch it for the dinosaurs though, Kong himself was the star IMO.

And the ending was such a tear-jerker

I'm going to be a heretic here and say that I liked the 2005 Kong more than the original. Don't get me wrong, the original is a fantastic film, but I just really liked the world-building in the 2005 film, with all the fictional dinosaurs and other creatures. I'm a sucker for that sort of thing. The other thing I liked was that they chose to develop the relationship between Ann and Kong more than just having her being a screaming damsel all the time; I felt that this made the ending even more emotional.

Back to the topic, I can safely say that I don't want to see this film now.

Also, I wouldn't call the Jurassic Park movies 'not aimed at children'. True, they're not exclusively for kids, since they're more like family movies (at least the first one), but there's no way that you can look at all the merchandise that was released and say that kids weren't a big part of the franchise's marketing strategy.

[Balaur]

This may come to as a shocker to some people, I haven't seen Peter Jackson's King Kong. 

I have seen clips and the CGI is great. The animation isn't jerky either. It's actually quite good in terms of computer graphics. I plan to watch it soon. I feel kinda left out for not watching the whole movie.

[Gwangi]

I'm going to be a heretic here and say that I liked the 2005 Kong more than the original. Don't get me wrong, the original is a fantastic film, but I just really liked the world-building in the 2005 film, with all the fictional dinosaurs and other creatures. I'm a sucker for that sort of thing. The other thing I liked was that they chose to develop the relationship between Ann and Kong more than just having her being a screaming damsel all the time; I felt that this made the ending even more emotional.

I actually agree with you. The 2005 movie far surpasses the original in elements like character development, drama, world building etc. Still, for 1935(?) the original is damn good and I still love it as well for many different reasons. My biggest complaint about the 2005 movie is with how far they took some of those scenes, in particular the Brontosaurus stampede among a few others. They were so over the top that I just couldn't immerse myself in the world as much as I would have liked. There were plenty of other great scenes to make up for those though.

Back to the topic, I can safely say that I don't want to see this film now.

Yup. I went from being all "oh boy, a non JP dinosaur movie" to "this looks like made for TV garbage".

Also, I wouldn't call the Jurassic Park movies 'not aimed at children'. True, they're not exclusively for kids, since they're more like family movies (at least the first one), but there's no way that you can look at all the merchandise that was released and say that kids weren't a big part of the franchise's marketing strategy.

I'm speaking in context though. Nearly every dinosaur movie markets towards children, even those they shouldn't watch. A lot of sci fi and fantasy type movies end up being family movies or at least watched by children. In LotR we have decapitated heads being launched over castle walls but kids watched those films regardless and would go home and play with the toys. What I mean by dinosaur oriented kids movies are those like Disney's "Dinosaur", "The Land Before Time", "Prehysteria" or shows like "Dinosaur Train". When the original JP came out my mother almost didn't let me see it (I was 9 and would end up seeing it three times) because all the reviews stated that it was too scary for children. If "Jurassic Park" can be considered a kids movie then I am hard pressed to think of many dinosaur made for adults except for those cheesy B horror movies like "Carnosaur".

I was actually just reading about it the other day but apparently James Cameron was a day short for buying the rights to "Jurassic Park" with Spielberg beating him to it. If Cameron had gotten it he said he would of made it a horror sci fi in the same vein as "Alien" and it would follow the book more closely. He also admitted that what Spielberg did with the movie was better than his idea because it would not have been fair to exclude children from seeing dinosaurs on the big screen.

[Takama]

I strongly bealieve that the image of dinosaurs should stray away from being a Kids only thing for once. The only film that i saw that kept that in mind was Carnosaur.

[tyrantqueen]

I strongly bealieve that the image of dinosaurs should stray away from being a Kids only thing for once. The only film that i saw that kept that in mind was Carnosaur.

I agree. I get sick of dinosaurs being branded as a kid or male only thing. We need more adult orientated dinosaur media

I was actually just reading about it the other day but apparently James Cameron was a day short for buying the rights to "Jurassic Park" with Spielberg beating him to it. If Cameron had gotten it he said he would of made it a horror sci fi in the same vein as "Alien" and it would follow the book more closely. He also admitted that what Spielberg did with the movie was better than his idea because it would not have been fair to exclude children from seeing dinosaurs on the big screen.

Yuck, I can't stand any of James Cameron's films, or his personality in general. I absolutely hated Avatar.
I guess I can appreciate JP even more now XD

[Gwangi]

Yuck, I can't stand any of James Cameron's films, or his personality in general. I absolutely hated Avatar.
I guess I can appreciate JP even more now XD

Really? I'm not a big fan of James Cameron as a person from what I know of him but some of his movies are among my favorites; "Terminator", "Teminator 2", "Aliens", "The Abyss". Avatar was a pretty standard sort of movie, what made it special was the world he created. The story though, it was "Pocahontas" in space.

[Patrx]

Yuck, I can't stand any of James Cameron's films, or his personality in general. I absolutely hated Avatar.
I guess I can appreciate JP even more now XD

Really? I'm not a big fan of James Cameron as a person from what I know of him but some of his movies are among my favorites; "Terminator", "Teminator 2", "Aliens", "The Abyss". Avatar was a pretty standard sort of movie, what made it special was the world he created. The story though, it was "Pocahontas" in space.

Agreed. Plus, it's tough to deny that his stubborn and generally unpleasant nature has played a role in pushing CGI technology forward, especially during its critical early stage around '91-'93. Without Cameron hounding his effects teams for "The Abyss" and "Terminator 2", I seriously doubt the that the technical leap made for "Jurassic Park" would've been possible. And, despite the arguable overuse of CGI today, it is an invaluable resource, from a film-making perspective.

[tyrantqueen]

Really? I'm not a big fan of James Cameron as a person from what I know of him but some of his movies are among my favorites; "Terminator", "Teminator 2", "Aliens", "The Abyss". Avatar was a pretty standard sort of movie, what made it special was the world he created. The story though, it was "Pocahontas" in space.

I just hated the preachy message of Avatar.

If they made a director's cut of the movie where all the Na'vi got nuked, that would be worth seeing

[Gwangi]

Really? I'm not a big fan of James Cameron as a person from what I know of him but some of his movies are among my favorites; "Terminator", "Teminator 2", "Aliens", "The Abyss". Avatar was a pretty standard sort of movie, what made it special was the world he created. The story though, it was "Pocahontas" in space.

I just hated the preachy message of Avatar.

If they made a director's cut of the movie where all the Na'vi got nuked, that would be worth seeing

You mean the message of environmental awareness, connectedness with nature and responsible use of the planet? I dunno, I thought that sort of message was a good one myself.

[tyrantqueen]

Really? I'm not a big fan of James Cameron as a person from what I know of him but some of his movies are among my favorites; "Terminator", "Teminator 2", "Aliens", "The Abyss". Avatar was a pretty standard sort of movie, what made it special was the world he created. The story though, it was "Pocahontas" in space.

I just hated the preachy message of Avatar.

If they made a director's cut of the movie where all the Na'vi got nuked, that would be worth seeing

You mean the message of environmental awareness, connectedness with nature and responsible use of the planet? I dunno, I thought that sort of message was a good one myself.

No, I mean the overused idea that all military/technology is evil/greedy/violent. And that the tree hugging blue things are automatically good because they worship a dumb tree.
And of course the "humans are badguys" cliche.

Real life isn't that simple.

[Gwangi]

No, I mean the overused idea that all military/technology is evil/greedy/violent. And that the tree hugging blue things are automatically good because they worship a dumb tree.

Hmm, didn't bother me. I think the message was mostly positive cliches aside. People really do need to learn to live in harmony with the natural world.

And of course the "humans are badguys" cliche.

I dunno about this. I can't think of many alien invasion movies where humans are the bad guys. 

[Yutyrannus]

Really? I'm not a big fan of James Cameron as a person from what I know of him but some of his movies are among my favorites; "Terminator", "Teminator 2", "Aliens", "The Abyss". Avatar was a pretty standard sort of movie, what made it special was the world he created. The story though, it was "Pocahontas" in space.

I just hated the preachy message of Avatar.

If they made a director's cut of the movie where all the Na'vi got nuked, that would be worth seeing

You mean the message of environmental awareness, connectedness with nature and responsible use of the planet? I dunno, I thought that sort of message was a good one myself.

I agree, it was a good message.

[Takama]

I was at my Grocery store today, and found this film in a Red Box Kiosk, so its out right now



Looks like we found Papos Running Rex inspiration

[Blade-of-the-Moon]

..or they used the Papo running rex for box art..

[Takama]

OK Ladies and Gentlemen, I watched the movie. and i got to say, i have mixed feelings for it.   

The plot is basically, a documentary crew going after the Mceebe Membey in the Congo, and what they find is a portal to what the local Africans call a Demon world, and the dinosaurs are the demons

That Frilled dinosaur that appeared in the Trailer is the only True dinosaur in the entire movie, and it turned out to be a baby whose parents appear later in the movie. Oh, and its NOT a Dilophosaurus but some kind of Ornithopod, and it does spit.

There were four other creatures, and none of them are true Dinosaurs. The first creature to appear in the movie were Pteranodons. and one of them got to close to the plane that the crew was on, and caused it to crash.


The second creature is, one that i found a little ridiculous. Its another Pterosaur, but there faces look like nothing Ive ever seen in the books. They almost look like Bats.  These are the most dangerous creatures in the film, as they Terrorized the crew twice, and eventually killed two of them off.

The fourth and final creatures from the film are something that our admin would cry about.   While on a boat, they  encounter a Plesiosaurus, that STICKS ITS NECK OUT OF THE WATER
In that same scene with the Plesiosaur, the crew is attacked by a Pliosaurus, causing them to split up in the river.

Overall, I found it OK, The CGI is not as bad as some TV creatures, and it does not try to name the creatures in the film  other then the Marine Reptiles, allowing you to think that they are just Evolved creatures   like in King Kong.   The story is not really bad, as it dose make sense. Though you must remember that this is a found Footage film, so the pace is going to be a little slow, and the acting might be average (I'm not good with judging peoples actions)

Overall, i would give the film a 7 out of 10.

Now you all know what this films about

[Blade-of-the-Moon]

I think for African dino cryptids I'll stick with " Baby " as being the best one yet.

I used to have a paranormal book that talked about dinos in Africa. It described early big game hunters sitting around the fire at night hearing a rhino fighting with something they never heard before , followed by the sounds of it's death crys and bones crunching and snapping all night.  In the morning they found the decimated carcass and large three toed tracks around it like a huge bird.  The illustrator drew one a vicious looking T-Rex type creature fighting with  a rhino.   This to me was slightly chilling and exciting and a good place to start a film.

[DinoToyForum]

Ah, another film to add to the Plesiosaur Directory fiction page
http://www.plesiosauria.com/fiction.php

Thanks for the review! I may have to seek it out now...

[Takama]

Ok, here is a Screenshot i took with an Camera(sorry about those Rainbows) that shows the face of them strange Pterosaurs


Does such a creture Exist?