Summary & Thoughts:
Think back to yourself as a child. When you were a wee lad, what was your favorite thing in the world?? No…it wasn’t rocketships, candy, your racecar bed, batman, or feeding pond ducks. Those are all excellent guesses, but the correct answer is: Dinosaurs!! Remember how much you loved watching dinosaur movies. They used to make your imagination run wild on prehistoric adventures. You wanted to know everything about them. By the time you were seven-years-old you fancied yourself a Doctor of Dinology. Of course, you were fueled by wonderfully fantastic movies. Remember those??
The Land Before Time was a fantastic series of 13 movies, & you have fond memories of the first three or five, but are you really going to watch the new one when it comes out late this year?? I’m sure you’re much more excited for the new Jurassic Park sequel, but what you really want to see is dinosaurs acting out real dinosaur problems in a dino-centered world?? Perhaps you even managed to sit through some Godzilla movies, & I’m sorry, but you can never get that precious little time back. But there is hope!! One day recently, when mindlessly stumbling through the bowels of Netflix, I discovered an intriguing title by the name of Dinotasia.
Netflix classifies Dinotasia as a documentary, which is believable given that it was released in the dinosaur-age, year 2012. I think they might have actually been extinct already by 2012, but who can remember that far back?? Watching it, one wonders how the cameramen managed to get such amazing close-up shots without frightening the animals or putting themselves in danger.
Dinotasia features a handful of short stories following surprisingly lovable CGI dinosaur characters. Everyone knows that the farther back in time you go, the more difficult life was. Easy started in the early 90’s when the internet was invented. These dinosaurs go through some hard times indeed, enduring struggles one might expect real dinosaurs really endured in real life…really.
Throughout the process, they show far more emotion than modern reptiles. They fight (obviously). They cuddle. They laugh. Carnivores work together to strategize kills & share the bounty. Family matters. Children play until their thoughtless fun lands them in front of a predator, & have to run. Does that one remind you of yourself as a child, knocking a baseball through a neighbors window & quickly running away as old man Jenkins comes running out shouting?? I know I’m not the only one that’s been there. It feels strange how relatable some of the situations appear. They feel sorrow for loss. I won’t ruin all the fun, but there’s even a little bit of romance ;). Not only do the creatures pose challenges to eachother, but also, anything that can go wrong probably will. Have you ever felt like you’ve had an unlucky day?? I bet you never considered that dinosaurs get those too.
I like to think that if you take Pulp Fiction, replace all the gangsters, drug-dealers, murderers, & rapists with big lizards, replace the sexist/racist/dark humor with a background of epic music, & then replace the heroine with a meteor impact, you’ve got Dinotasia!!
The most amazing part is that it all happens in an entirely non-cartoony way & without speaking a word. Oh no, this isn’t a Disney film. Dinosaurs release no sounds except grunts, groans, & roars, & yet you know what’s on their minds. Naturally, I question the historical accuracy of that. Show me hard evidence that dinosaurs didn’t converse with language & have intelligent conversations, discussing metaphyics or socioeconomic issues over tea. Narration occurs minimally through words, & mostly through why-noisey nature sounds & instumental music. If a wordless movie troubles you, Dinotasia is not for you.
The CGI is not up to modern, big blockbuster standards. The models feature detail that would have been considered state-of-the-art just a few years prior to the movies release. A keen eye may find it bothersome how the models interact with one-another, the way features of the not-quite-articulate-enough models sway slightly through eachother when meant to be caught in eachothers grasps is reminiscent of old video game cut-scenes.
All in all, the writing was significantly better than what I expected of a movie portraying lives & times of dinosaurs, the CGI was good, but not amazing. If you’re one of those people whose skin crawls at the thought of an hour & a half movie devoid of speech, or if you’re disturbed by graphic reptile-on-reptile violence, you’ll have to look elsewhere to satisfy your need for dinosaurs.
Starring: Werner Herzog, Lorà nt Deutsch.
Rated: N/A
Runtime: 83min
HFR Rating:
