Karry
Best movie of this year hands down!
Contentar
Best movie of this year hands down!
FuzzyTagz
If the ambition is to provide two hours of instantly forgettable, popcorn-munching escapism, it succeeds.
Arianna Moses
Let me be very fair here, this is not the best movie in my opinion. But, this movie is fun, it has purpose and is very enjoyable to watch.
thewillt08
After Jurassic Park you would think dinosaurs would look better in TV and movies, unfortunately Dinotopia couldn't raise the bar. Dinotopia is about two brothers who crash on an island that is has humans and dinosaurs living peacefully. The brothers, David and Karl, want to find their missing farther and escape the island. They find an explorer and he brings them into a complicated world of complexity. This is a miniseries and I remember watching it as a young kid and I was amazed. Watching it a second time almost ten years later, I was highly disappointed. This story had so much potential to be great, but the terrible acting and awful special effects made this series pure garbage. Each episode is about an hour and a half, but they all feel like three hours of pain and torture. The main story made sense at first. One brother would do anything to go home while the other would rather stay, causing conflict. Then they both meet a woman that they are attracted to which causes more conflict. Of course the girl is of royalty and importance, and obviously she doesn't want to be important, she just wants to be normal. There is a greedy researcher who appears to be good but is clearly evil and has bad intentions. I would have been OK with that if the acting wasn't so hard to watch. I finished watching this series because I remember loving it as a kid and I always wanted to see it again. I hoped it would get better but it never did. All this series brought was disappointment and made me want to rant about it. Not only is the acting bad but the story eventually made no sense at all. The brothers arrive in Waterfall City and find out they can't leave, predictable but I went with it. Then we discover dinosaurs have their own language and some even speak English. This was just silly. There is a dinosaur language that humans learned and can write down in the form of footprints. Really, that's the best the director could come up with? There are also these things called sunstones and they are of some importance, I still don't even know. There is an archaeologist who searches for them and the truth as well. There is also a dinosaur who wants to explore "the world beneath." I'm not even sure how to describe it any further. The story gets way out of line and to crazy to even follow. This was originally a novel and i can only hope that the novel is better. I don't know what audience the director was going for either. Kids could like dinosaurs but we hardly see any action sequences. The bulk of the story is confusing dialog and some of the worst acting I have ever seen. Adults would be bored and lose interest with this series half way through the first episode. Overall this series is just a fail and should never be seen by anyone. Don't watch it alone, with friends, or even in school. If for some odd reason a school decides to show this series, skip that class, it's worth the F. This series should never see the light of day and gets the WillyT seal of disapproval for cheesy acting, awful special effects, and a miserable storyline.
bribabylk
But no great shakes as an actor. At least not here. I remember him being a bit better in "Wonderfalls." In "Dinotopia" he's rather robotic. This mini-series is playing right now on the SciFi Channel so it's really fresh in my mind. In fact, I'm gonna go back and watch some more of it after I've finished with this. I have to say, it's rather enthralling in spite of itself. Dinosaurs are just fun to watch, no matter the context, and did I mention Tyron Leitso is easy on the eyes? But as a whole it doesn't really hold up very well to scrutiny. I have to echo some other reviewers' comments as to being more than a little uncomfortable with the way Dinotopian society is run. The cities have mayors, who I assume are democratically elected, but they also have a "Queen", who more or less controls everyone's destiny. Seems like the writers wanted to have it both ways, both modernly democratic and fairy-tale-like autocratic as well. Aside from the villain, played by David Thewlis, there was never any sign of dissent or dissatisfaction. Was there something in the water keeping the people docile? Maybe that quasi-mystical, orgasm-inducing, dino-foot-stomping rite keeps them all hyp-mo-tized. (Wentworth Miller: "There are just not words to describe it..." Good work, writers.) At least there seemed to be a high degree of gender equality, though really, this came off being more of a concession to pc'ness on behalf of the writers rather than a "realistic" depiction of a pre-industrial society. A lot of the dinosaurs seemed kind of like slaves. And no other animals except reptiles? Amphibians and small mammals and eventually birds lived side-by-side with dinosaurs for quite a while, you know. All in all, Dinotopia would be fascinating to visit, but I sure as heck wouldn't wanna live there. I found myself sympathizing with Karl (Tyron Leitso) on that point. Oh, by the way, he has a skinny-dipping scene, but you don't see anything, darn it.
Brie9
Having just just viewed this unique mini-series on DVD from the local library I've found myself wrapped up in the fantasy world that is created in Dinotopia. The acting starts out just a bit lackluster but it picks up quickly and the characters gain personality. The female lead in my opinion is the poorer of the actors but not terrible. The special effects are excellent and I actually was surprised at the formidable quality of this whole production. I rented it just thinking oh I like sci-fi, fantasy, and dinosaurs OK so this will be easy escapism for a bit, but actually it enthralls you with the story of the lives of the people and dinosaurs of Dinotopia. The allure of wanting to experience more of the Dinotopia world drew me to internet investigation where I came to offer these comments and learned of the origin of the story in the Gurney book series and other authors. Thus, my perspective and comments come from first introduction being the movie bringing me to interest in the books. In that regard the movie is really effective....it makes you want to know more about and experience more of the adventures of Dinotopia. It's also a great family theme movie and has great themes and morals too.
vip_ebriega
My Take: An underrated and pricey blockbuster of a TV miniseries. I really liked this 3-part mini-series. It was really an awe-inspiring and fantastic mini-series. Now I'm not saying this because I'm a dinosaur fan as a kid, but also as an observant movie viewer. I mean, as I can see it, it was one of the more big-budgeted production by TV's Hallmark Channel, mostly known for their adaptations of classic and contemporary tales. The special-effects were great, superb for something that was made for TV. The costumes really suit the environment. The large-scale sets, mostly evident, is really large-scale. It was like it came out of a Cecil B. DeMille's production or from the books by James Gurney, which it was based on. But special-effects and production designs aren't the only elements that elevates it as a large-scale movie. The acting is kinda good to. Although the cast is not as stellar as other Hallmark films/mini-series, but they still perform well. The story is wonderful, which may be nothing if it isn't told well. But it is, providing a dosage of action, adventure, comedy and even a little rarely touched romance. "Prison Break"'s Wentworth Miller co-stars, so most of you fans out there may want to see this. Anyway, this was a really great mini-series. It deserves to be put to the big-screen, but it may loose some things when it would be edited to shorten it. So, it's okay as it is. A fine, very interesting almost-3-hour family entertainment. TV movie rating: ****1/2 out of 5.