Dinotopia [2002]

Customer Reviews:

Great family entertainment.......2008-01-19

My son was given this for Christmas, and we didn't really know what to expect. However, we thoroughly enjoyed it - good fun, exctiing (if somewhat farfetched!) plot and lots of interest for my two boys. David Thewliss is very good in it. The talking dinosaurs have to be taken with a (large) pinch of salt but that aside, it is fun and keeps eveyone entertained. Becasue of its length we watched it over three evenings but that was fine. I think it was originally a mini-series, so you get value for money in terms of minutes of film.
I would think that. for children aged between 6 and 12, it's a great film. Older than that and they are probbaly too sophisticated to watch it.

Average customer rating:

Excellent mini-series film of the book

Dinotopia [2002] (REGION 1) (NTSC)
Starring: David Thewlis , Tyron Leitso , Wentworth Miller , Katie Carr , and Jim Carter
Director: Marco Brambilla
Manufacturer: Hallmark
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

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ASIN: B0000687CX
Release Date: 2002-07-30

Customer Reviews:

Excellent mini-series film of the book .......2006-10-21

My son (now 10) and our family fell in love with this original Emmy award winning Dinotopia mini-series with it's 'all star' cast. It's a two DVD set edited into a superb long film (running over to the second DVD). Personally I prefer serials like these kept to their original episodes and credits to maintain pace and the episode cliff hanger, particularly for the kids at bedtime, but this film works quite well. It's extras include an interesting 'making of' featurette. My son absolutely couldn't tolerate the spin off Dinotopia full series than came later when they changed all the actors, and still hasn't watched his multi-DVD `series' set despite watching this original Dinotopia film on many times. The spin-off series has a more jocular mood with less dino-preaching, and with the charactor's presented in a more likeable way than the moody, angry and pious (bordering on pompous in the Mayor's case) tone of this original.

All the family preferred this film's darker style, with classy Brit's Katie Carr and Jim Carter as the Dinotopians and yank's Wentworth Miller and David Thewlis as the believable in-fighting step-brother's coping with their sudden change of lifestyle and recent loss of their father. I also really, really loved Lee Evans as dinosaur Zippo's voice, Terry Jone's as the messenger's birds voice and Canadian Tyron Leitso as hustler Cyrus Crabb. None of these actors carried over to the spin-off series - but of course any Dinotopia is better than nothing so check out the series as well - it's particularly cheap via Amozon resellers in NTSC. The darker nature of this DVD set is well suited to older pre-teens and teenagers (probably boys mainly), as many of the rampaging carnivore dinosaur scenes are a bit scary (but definitely not as much as Jurassic Park, although the body count does build up rather more in crowded Dinotopia).

So overall, highly recommended, particularly as no more promised Dinotopia seems to have materialised. Picture & sound quality is superb, and the special effects are quite dazzling (particularly Waterfall City). This miniseries looks like it cost a million dollars. Well actually it cost 86 million dollars - with the single dino-hatchling animatronic character costing $100,000 alone. We got this DVD set very cheap via Amazon resellers as the NTSC set, and our fuzzy VHS copies are now in the bin. Dinotopia (technically translated as 'terrible place') is a fictitious utopian island created from the imagination of author and illustrator James Gurney - his book 'Dinotopia, A land apart' is a good pictorial read as well.

Average customer rating:

rainwildman on dinotopia
Beautiful and enchanting
Excellent mini-series film of the book
Acting bad, Dinotopia majestic
A Dinotopia with the special effects but not the magic

Dinotopia [2002]
Starring: David Thewlis , Tyron Leitso , Wentworth Miller , Katie Carr , and Jim Carter
Director: Marco Brambilla
Manufacturer: 2 Entertain Video
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

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ASIN: B00007JGC6
Release Date: 2002-12-26

Amazon.co.uk Review

Kids will love this sweeping story of two brothers whose plane crashes on a mysterious island called Dinotopia, where human beings live in harmony with dinosaurs--the herbivores, anyway. The carnivores present a problem, as the humans' defences against them--a mystical power source called sunstones--are losing strength.

As they try to save the island, Carl and David (Tyron Leitso and Wentworth Miller) struggle not only with tyrannosaurs and prehistoric crocodiles, but also with repressive Dinotopian traditions and a scheming malcontent (David Thewlis) who stirs up all kinds of trouble. Meanwhile, they also wrestle with each other over the lovely daughter of the mayor of Waterfall City (Katie Carr).

The pacifist ideals of Dinotopia are refreshing, but it's the special effects that will hook viewers: riding on the backs of brachiosaurs, flying atop pteranadons, arguing in court with triceratops and ankylosaurs. Anyone fascinated with dinosaurs (and who isn't?) will enjoy this whimsical fantasy. A host of British character actors also helps keep the human side of this four-hour mini-series lively; Alice Krige (also known as the Borg Queen in Star Trek: First Contact) gets a much more benevolent role here. --Bret Fetzer

Customer Reviews:

rainwildman on dinotopia.......2007-12-02

This is definitely a film to watch, with a good story, superb special effects, and something I find rare these days: a supremely well generated atmosphere. This one certainly feeds the imagination

Beautiful and enchanting.......2007-02-17

The world of James Gurney enriched my imagination as a child when i first caught my eye on his books and the amazingly beautiful illustrations that invited you into his world. (so much so that i even wanted to live there as a child :-) The DVD itself was equally great and lived up to the myth. Been a lot older now it was once again rewarding to share this world with the younger members of my family. If you've never encountered Dinotopia i highly recommend buying this DVD and doing a search for the books. The illustrations and artwork are beautiful and enchanting.

Excellent mini-series film of the book .......2005-03-17

My son (now 10) and our family fell in love with this original Emmy award winning Dinotopia mini-series with it's 'all star' cast. It's a two DVD set edited into a superb long film (running over to the second DVD). Personally I prefer serials like these kept to their original episodes and credits to maintain pace and the episode cliff hanger, particularly for the kids at bedtime, but this film works quite well. The DVD set includes an actually interesting 'making of' featurette. My son absolutely couldn't tolerate the spin off Dinotopia full series than came later when they changed all the actors, and still hasn't watched his multi-DVD `series' set despite watching this original Dinotopia film on many times. The spin-off series has a more jocular mood with the charactor's presented in a more likeable way than the moody, angry and pious (bordering on pompous in the Mayor's case) tone of this original.

All the family preferred this film's darker style, with classy Brit's Katie Carr and Jim Carter as the Dinotopians and yank's Wentworth Miller and David Thewlis as the believable in-fighting step-brother's coping with their sudden change of lifestyle and recent loss of their father. I also really, really loved Lee Evans as dinosaur Zippo's voice, Terry Jone's as the messenger's birds voice and Canadian Tyron Leitso as hustler Cyrus Crabb. None of these actors carried over to the spin-off series - but of course any Dinotopia is better than nothing so check out the series as well - it's particularly cheap via Amozon resellers in NTSC. The darker nature of this DVD set is well suited to older pre-teens and teenagers (probably boys mainly), as many of the rampaging carnivore dinosaur scenes are a bit scary (but definitely not as much as Jurassic Park - although in heavily populated Dinotopia the body count does pile up rather more).

So overall, highly recommended, particularly as no more promised Dinotopia seems to have materialised. Picture & sound quality is superb, and the special effects are quite dazzling (particularly Waterfall City). This miniseries looks like it cost a million dollars. Well actually it cost 86 million dollars - with the single dino-hatchling animatronic character costing $100,000 alone. We got this DVD set very cheaply via Amazon resellers as the NTSC set, and our fuzzy VHS copies are now in the bin. Dinotopia (technically translated as 'terrible place') is a fictitious utopian island created from the imagination of author and illustrator James Gurney - his book 'Dinotopia, A land apart' is a good read as well.

Acting bad, Dinotopia majestic.......2004-12-15

4 straight hours of Dinotopia, especially when you didn't expect it to last so long, is a bit too much really. The acting is rather bad, even for a mini-series. Dinotopia by itself, on the other hand, is majestic. Very nice job done by all the artists and animators involved.

A Dinotopia with the special effects but not the magic.......2003-01-25

"Dinotopia" is definitely aimed for kids, who will love the cute little baby triceratops, want to have a conversation with Zippo the talking, scream at the tag team tyrannosauruses, and dream about riding a flying dinosaur. For older viewers the going is a bit rougher because of the silly humans running around in this beautiful utopia. But then there is certainly nothing wrong with adults watching it the first time around with the kids and then letting them watch it over and over again on their own.

The idea is that we identify with young Karl (Tyron Leitso) and David Scott (Wentworth), who end up on Dinotopia when the plane piloted by their father crashes in the ocean. Washed ashore they encounter the worst possible person to run into first, Cyrus Crabb (David Thewlis), although this takes several hours of this television movie for the boys to figure out (we are suspicious pretty much from the first). As they are exposed to the wonders of Dinotopia we go along for the ride. But while David wants to fit in his half-brother Karl cannot stop putting everything down and resisting everything. Thrown into the mix is the beautiful Marion Waldo (Katie Carr), who is the offspring of the buffonish Mayor Waldo (Jim Carter) and the saintly Rosemary Waldo (Alice Krige, in a performance too good for this production). Of course both boys are interested in Marion and we keep waiting for her to give some indication she has made up her mind between the two while they both continue to make puppy dog eyes at her at every opportunity.

To make things even more interesting it seems the Scott boys have arrived at a pivotal moment in the life of Dinotopia, as the supply of sun stones that drive every technological feature of the place are about to die out. Until that crisis comes becomes part of the thrilling climax, in which the citizens of Dinotopia prove themselves to be too stupid to go inside when a horde of flying carnivores descend upon their city, the boys are distracted by their divergent paths for becoming part of this society. Karl is of the earth, so he is sent to a triceratops hatchery, where he is introduced to his saurian life mate, a baby that he peevishly names 26 (because that is the number on her egg). David proves to be of the air, which requires him to be part of the saurian air corp. Marion turns out to be a little bit of everything so that is not going to help her decide between the two newcomers. Will Karl learn to love his cute little dinosaur, who insists on thinking of him as her mom? Will David ever be able to stay in his saddle during the movies many "Raging Dinosaurs" sequences? Do you really have to watch this movie to figure out the answers?

My understanding is that this was originally a six-hour mega-series that aired on three nights, but is now bloated up to 240 minutes for video viewing. The re-editing does a nice job of making the film more seamless, so you do not get the same sense over and over again that we are fading in and out of commercial breaks. The special effects are nice and on a bar with what he have seen in television documentaries like "Walking With Dinosaurs." But the story is fairly predictable from start to finish, a fact that might elude most children but may be apparent to the older and wiser of that group. Ultimately it seems that the idea of Dinotopia, marvelously created in those original paintings we saw, does not carry itself over to actual execution, even in the world of CGI.

For me the problem with this film crystallized every time there was a scene in the council of Dinotopia. Every time the buffoonish mayor prattled on about how they should hold onto their traditions and codes even as the society was going down for the count, I wanted to know what the big triceratops in the balcony was saying. His untranslated bellows were more interesting to me than anything the humans had to say.

Average customer rating:
Dinotopia [2002] (REGION 1) (NTSC)
Tyrone Leitso
Manufacturer: Hallmark Home Entertainment
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

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ASIN: 630705865X
Release Date: 2004-02-17

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