In 1993, the movie industry saw the huge success of Jurassic Park, which was a landmark film that brought dinosaurs back to life, and used very convincing early CGI mixed in with some practical effects. The film also was Steven Spielberg's biggest movie and people including kids ate it up at the box office.
It tells the story of four dinosaurs, a Tyrannosaurus Rex named Rex, a Triceratops Woog, a Pteranodon Elsa and a Parasurolophus Tweeb who travel to the present day and become intelligent by eating a "Brain Grain" cereal invented by Captain Neweyes.
With the running time of 72 minutes, this flick moves at a brisk speed. It has to introduce the protagonist kids, Louie, the street wise tough kid, with a soft side just dying to get out, and Cecila, the girl with the same voice as Lisa Simpson, who has little personality aside from being the love interest. The dinosaurs have to be introduced, including how they become smart and nice, and what they're doing in New York City, and who brought them here. It has to scare the little kids with the evil Dr. Screweyes, a circus ringmaster who has a screw for an eye (hence the name), and fears the dark. It has a pretty interesting concept, but I have to say the execution is rather weak, considering that the dinosaurs gain intelligence and we do get some backstory, but they are treated to helping kids and help stop a bad guy, all the while making a few pop-culture references, a Disney-style musical number, having them set in New York City, and having slapstick and a chase scene that feels like kiddie filler. Oh and some characters voiced by celebrities. The pacing is rushed and a deleted scene or two where it would give a little more backstory especially with the reason why Screweyes lost his eye and had a fascination for fear.
The animation is quite good in the film, though not as good as Disney animation was at the time. The human characters are a bit closer to being realistic while the dinosaurs (mostly) look cartoony that is when they are not savage, and kind of makes them feel a little out of place, kind of like how The Good Dinosaur had cartoony dinosaurs in a realistic looking environment. The characters are of likable, but aren't as memorable as say The Land Before Time characters, and I kind of like how the T-Rex was named Rex and this was before Toy Story so the Rex name wasn't too cliched at the time. The kids though are pretty bland and their designs, actions, dialogue and personalities really reflect on when this made. The story is strange, involving rival brothers, Captain Neweyes, and Professor Screweyes. Neweyes created a cereal to make the dinosaurs less realistic and more cartoony, and Screweyes have invented pills that reverses the effect, which works on any being (including humans). I think this movie should have been more about the two brothers and how they grew up and why they became such geniuses. Instead, it's more on the cartoony dinosaurs plus a romance between two generic kids. I head this was base on a children's book but I haven't had the time to have read it so I can't make any comparison.
I say that this is a good film to show to kids or to yourself if you like animation or dinosaurs, and since this is a mostly forgotten film from the early 1990's, it has to be seen to be believed, and this film is sort of a guilty pleasure for me, and I don't hate it but it does have it's shortcomings. The animation is pretty good, but not too good, the story is kind of phoned in and has an interesting concept that was never utilized and the characters were mostly bland and played safe.
6/10.
It tells the story of four dinosaurs, a Tyrannosaurus Rex named Rex, a Triceratops Woog, a Pteranodon Elsa and a Parasurolophus Tweeb who travel to the present day and become intelligent by eating a "Brain Grain" cereal invented by Captain Neweyes.
With the running time of 72 minutes, this flick moves at a brisk speed. It has to introduce the protagonist kids, Louie, the street wise tough kid, with a soft side just dying to get out, and Cecila, the girl with the same voice as Lisa Simpson, who has little personality aside from being the love interest. The dinosaurs have to be introduced, including how they become smart and nice, and what they're doing in New York City, and who brought them here. It has to scare the little kids with the evil Dr. Screweyes, a circus ringmaster who has a screw for an eye (hence the name), and fears the dark. It has a pretty interesting concept, but I have to say the execution is rather weak, considering that the dinosaurs gain intelligence and we do get some backstory, but they are treated to helping kids and help stop a bad guy, all the while making a few pop-culture references, a Disney-style musical number, having them set in New York City, and having slapstick and a chase scene that feels like kiddie filler. Oh and some characters voiced by celebrities. The pacing is rushed and a deleted scene or two where it would give a little more backstory especially with the reason why Screweyes lost his eye and had a fascination for fear.
The animation is quite good in the film, though not as good as Disney animation was at the time. The human characters are a bit closer to being realistic while the dinosaurs (mostly) look cartoony that is when they are not savage, and kind of makes them feel a little out of place, kind of like how The Good Dinosaur had cartoony dinosaurs in a realistic looking environment. The characters are of likable, but aren't as memorable as say The Land Before Time characters, and I kind of like how the T-Rex was named Rex and this was before Toy Story so the Rex name wasn't too cliched at the time. The kids though are pretty bland and their designs, actions, dialogue and personalities really reflect on when this made. The story is strange, involving rival brothers, Captain Neweyes, and Professor Screweyes. Neweyes created a cereal to make the dinosaurs less realistic and more cartoony, and Screweyes have invented pills that reverses the effect, which works on any being (including humans). I think this movie should have been more about the two brothers and how they grew up and why they became such geniuses. Instead, it's more on the cartoony dinosaurs plus a romance between two generic kids. I head this was base on a children's book but I haven't had the time to have read it so I can't make any comparison.
I say that this is a good film to show to kids or to yourself if you like animation or dinosaurs, and since this is a mostly forgotten film from the early 1990's, it has to be seen to be believed, and this film is sort of a guilty pleasure for me, and I don't hate it but it does have it's shortcomings. The animation is pretty good, but not too good, the story is kind of phoned in and has an interesting concept that was never utilized and the characters were mostly bland and played safe.
6/10.