Dinotopia (TV Miniseries)

Dinotopia (TV Miniseries)

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Movie Reviews of Dinotopia (TV Miniseries)

Movie Review: Fun and adventurous ride through a fantasy fairytale world.
Summary: 5 Stars

PLOT SUMMARY: Based on the novel, the film (actually a made-for-TV miniseries movie), is about two teenage half brothers, called Carl (Tyron Leitso) and David (Wentworth Miller) Scott, who couldn't be more different. Carl is the outgoing, rebellious teen, while David is the quiet, serious one who would rather be studying than going out. Their father decides to take them on a plane trip for his birthday in his personal airplane (Mr. Scott is supposibly a millionaire). On the plane ride, Mr. Scott lets Carl drive the airplane and they soon are stuck right in the middle of a deadly storm out in the middle of the ocean. Their plane crashes into the ocean, and Carl and David manage to escape the plane, while their father is still stuck inside. They swim to shore, and find themselves on a strange island they at first think is deserted, until they come across an odd archaeologist with a wooden leg who explains that they are on the island of Dinotopia. Carl and David insist that they need to find some help because they believe their father is dead. So the archaeologist takes them to a village where they are encountered by the most astonishing discovery of all--dinosaurs living amoungest humans! After they are taken to Dinotopia's main city, Waterville City, they are introduced to the mayor and his beautiful daughter, Marion (Katie Carr), who the boys both fall in love with. The mayor tells them that there is no way off the island and that they are stuck there forever. Carl, is of course, very upset about this. Carl doesn't want anything more than to go home. David, on the other hand, tries to make the best of their situation, and has come to reconile his destiny in Dinotopia. Like all Dinotopian citizans, Carl and David are given assignments--Carl is supposed to raise a baby dinosaur, while David is assigned to become a Skyrider, and help protect Dinotopia from harm, which is ironic, because David has a great fear of heights and Carl doesn't feel as though he can take care of a baby dinosaur. Carl and David both try to win over the affection of Marion, and become friends with the archaeologist...who seems to know a lot about Dinotopia and also is trying to look for a way off the island. The villages uses these strange stones called "sunstones", which shine a bright white light and help protect the villages from the evil man-eating dinosaurs. When the sunstone supply mysteriously runs low, fear strikes over the villages that they will be attacked by the man-eating dinosaurs. Now, it's up to Carl, David, and Marion to save the villages of Dinotopia before the dinosaurs attack and destroy the cities by finding more sunstones to put into the towers that hold the sunstones.

OVERALL THOUGHTS: "Dinotopia" is a very long film--about 240 minutes to be exact, but it was originally made into a miniseries on TV, so I can understand why it would seem longer on DVD. The acting is pretty average--there is some stiff acting at points during the film, but it was fairly good. It wasn't "great", but it was "good enough". There were a lot of plots twisted into the film...almost too many, such as the love triangle between Carl, David, and Marion; Carl trying to get home; dinosaurs attacking, etc., but they tried to set up the story in a way in which all plots could be resolved by the end. And, amazingly, it pretty much worked. The special effects were well-done, and there is non-stop action. I also have to add that the setting is beautiful and so are the costumes.

The DVD is wonderfully packaged, with a "making of" documentary, behind the scenes, two deleted scenes, interviews, a "Dinotopia Encyclopedia", photo gallery, cast and crew information, tips and tricks for the Game Boy adventure game, a maze game, hidden footage, dinosaur facts and sounds for kids, and DVD-ROM features. The DVD is available in full frame format.

I highly recommend "Dinotopia".

Score:
97/100
A+

Summary of Dinotopia (TV Miniseries)