Planet of Dinosaurs

cool title sequence

I love dinosaurs.  with a name like this, you'd think I'd love this movie.  well...

I bought the VHS tape of it years ago, and aside from the dinosaurs, I really didn't like it much.  the acting ranges from adequate to subpar, and the hair styles date it immediately as do the clothes (despite them trying to make the styles look futuristic).

however, watching the DVD (sadly, not Retromedia version) it's not nearly as bad as I thought it was.  the concept is cool, and as mentioned the effects are quite nice, especially considering the budget this feature had (or lack thereof).

rex attack

the score is almost all electronic, which is a plus and minus. it's not very rousing at all, but it's not horrible.  mostly.

the pace needs some help.  there's a lot of marching in the first quarter of the movie, makes it seem like they are headed to Mordor, but with cooler creatures in the way.

the dinosaurs look great.  the animation is very smooth, though somewhat "matter of fact" in the way they move. and for the most part, they are actually dinosaurs, save for the one gigantic spider.

and of course, the guest appearance by the rhedosaurus is a nice plus.  I saw this clip on tv in 1978 or so, and couldn't wait to see the movie.  sadly, it never played ANYwhere except maybe in LA.

a gruesome death

and of course, this being a 70s movie, there have to be squabbles amongst the survivors, especially as to who will lead them.  had there been better thespians in the movie, this would have been tolerable.  with this group... it could have been worse, I suppose, and been another 20 minutes longer.

I was going to include a shot of the giant spider, but bleah!  that certainly can be left in the movie.  you watch it.

I could have sworn we saw the head of the water monster that kills the first girl (darn, I liked her, she was pretty), but it wasn't in this version.  maybe I just imagined it.