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celticbrit13 2013-05-21 14:50:13

Fantastical adventure that is most watchable!!!

Dinotopia is a fantastical adventure story that the whole family can sitdown and watch together. Although it isn't mind-blowing fantastic, it isvery watchable and mostly enjoyable. The main cast is made up of newcomersor not-so-easily recognizable actors and some very interesting CGI andAnimatronic dinosaurs ("Zippo" and "26" really stick as as super-great).Thepace is a little slow and the plot is a little predictable, but thatdoesn'tmake this mini-series any harder to get into. It is an interesting story,with some stunning visual sequences, that has most definitely gotten meaddicted to it. All the same, you can still feel the story's morals beingforcefully instilled on you as you watch the story unfold. All in all Igiveit 3 1/2 out of 5 stars.

2013-05-21 01:48:32

poor quality VHS tape

I loved the colorful illustrations in the Gurney book, Dinotopia, and was SO disappointed in the quality of the VHS tape. How could they sell something so blurred and grainey? Can anyone tell me if the DVD is clear and sharp? The colors in the film were dull and muted. The story changed for the worst and the acting quite bad.

2013-05-20 06:40:50

wonderful

This review is from: Dinotopia (TV Miniseries) (DVD) This product shipped and arrived in great condition and came in little to no time at all

2013-05-20 05:12:37

Overall, an entertaining and enjoyable movie

I first borrowed the "Dinotopia" DVD from the library, and it was much longer than I thought it would be. It starts off a bit sudden - the scene where a father and his two sons, Karl and David, are plane-wrecked in the middle of the sea happens in less than 2 minutes. The father supposedly drowns, and the two boys arrive at Dinotopia. They don't show much emotion towards the fact that their father may be dead. The first time they see a real, live dinosaur, all the expression they can muster is, "Wow, a dinosaur." The two meet a nice girl living in Dinotopia named Marion, who lives by the Dinotopian law of peace and unity. Later on, a mad professor tries to kill a saurian (dinosaur), and the dim-witted mayor charges Karl and David instead for a minor crime. There are large gaps and holes to the story, such as why the sunstones underground have not failed while the ones on top have, and how David and Karl's father survived in that cave the whole entire time. The question is not answered how they will be able to get home, but it is suggested that they would stay forever in Dinotopia, forever leaving behind their past life.Though lacking main points and a clear storyline, the visual effects are amazing at times. For example, Zippo Stenosaurus, the librarian dinosaur, is realistic and is a memorable character. The scenery and background are all stunning, much like the ones in "Star Wars." Though the acting is not the best, it gets better towards the end. Overall, I enjoyed this movie more than I thought I would, and I highly recommend it to children and adults.

Sample 2013-05-18 17:37:57

Underrated Future Classic

I enjoyed the two Gurney books (upon which this mini-series was based) andtheir stories. I hope parents will buy their children a copy of"Dinotopia"(the last two installments were aired at 8pm, cutting into bedtime hoursforthe youngest audience members), it really warrants an entire familyviewing.Most of us TV and Film addicts know what Dinotopia is about, so I won'tbother going into too much detail.Dino' teaches (is that so wrong nowadays) and enlightens (so what thatit'splot and characters are preachy and two-dimensionally depicted). The'series (not the books) is about two brothers (one egotistical, the otherafraid of his own shadow); one learns humility by becoming aceratopsian-nanny and the other becomes a pterosaurian-pilot.Watch this one with your children and don't listen to all those impatientand cynical film critics who write tired newspaper reviews. The actionanddialog wasn't as bad as all that, and the climactic (and a littlefrightening) Pteranodon swarming sequences were about as good as anymade-for-television film can get without the censors breathing down theprogram production's backs.Ultimately, viewers will have the last word on whether Dinotopia becomes astaple on video/DVD family shelves.

2013-05-18 05:35:16

A great family movie

This review is from: Dinotopia (TV Miniseries) (DVD) This a great family movie we love it and we injoyed and you will to if you get this.

Jay McGuire 2013-05-18 03:23:32

What A Waste!!!

This was the most disappointing Mini-series "event" I have ever sufferedthrough. The dialogue was forced, The acting was soap-opera quality andtheactors all looked bored. The only that was good was the computer graphics,but bot good enough to carry us along for 6 hours.

2013-05-17 17:16:21

Wheres an asteroid when you really need one?

Poor ABC. They havent been doing too well latley. In an effort to save themselfes, they made a TV movie called Dinotopia. Sadley, this movie and the series that is following it, have failed mysrembly. Way back, about 4 years ago, when I heard that ABC was doing a adaption of Dinotopia, I was very excited, being a gargantuan fan of books. I was very excited when they started the movie on ABC. When it was over, I simply sat stunned, amazed at how BAD the adaption of one of my favorite book series was. Ok, its more like a semi-adaption, because the movie takes place in the modern era. One day, a father and his 2 sons take of in a small airplane. The father decides to take a nap and let his sons fly the plane. 4 hours later,They stupidly fly into a hurricane and unsiprisingly, they crash, and, you gussed it, the dad perishes. From that point on, the movies flaws hatch out of thier shells and start running amuck. For one thing, what father would let his sons pilot a plane? How could the 2 kids survive in a hurricane with no raft, no life jackets, no flares etc. for over 5 hours?After landing on the island, they meet a suspicoious man who befriends them and takes them to some poorly constructed sets, I mean village. There they encounter a terrifying poorly made CGI dinosaur that is subdued by a lady (A very attractive lady of course) and then they head for waterfall city. From that point on, they try to adapt to life in a dino island while trying to survive being complete idiots. They love to swear (Nothing big, this being a ABC film), love to hate each other, and are completly obsessed with getting away. So much in fact that one of them takes a stone that powers a villiage in exchange for a rowboat to sail home with, a useless map, and no provisions. And on top of that, he has to sail across a deadly reef, find a path home with no compass, and dont forget that he flew for over 4 hours before crashing and that he had to stay afloat for over 5 hours. And there is a hurricane on the horizon. You really wonder how these people managed to get through grade school. These errors are everywhere. The mayor of Waterfall city is a complete arrogant stuborn idiot who refuses to evacuate anybody when killer birds are heading straight for the city, even though they have a few hours to evacuate. (In the series, how come they can evacuate everybody in a few hours while they cant in the movie?) My favorite part of the movie is how dumb some of the moments can be later on in the movie, along with some continuity errors.The World Beneath, which is breathtaking in the books, meerly consists of 1 or 2 tunnels used over and over agian, and a tiny crystal cavern. In these tunnels our heroes encounter one of the least suprising plot twists in T.V. movie history. (How did he get there?) The continuity errors are hysterical. At one point, a skybak instructor tells the students that if thier bird dosent show up, they can never be skybak riders. Of course, our heroes bird dosent show up and he fails, yet when he tries again, he passes and the instructor does nothing. When a charachter is attacked by another charachter, tossed in a sack and tossed into a river to die, he shows up, unharmed and none the worse for wear a few scenes later with no explenation as to how he got there. Huh? The biggest flaw in the entire film has got to be the final battle, where Evil Pteridactals attack waterfall city. That sounds Ok, but in execution, the scene is unintentionally hilarious. When the birds attack, all the citizens run around screaming, yet nobody thinks about running inside a building. Our heroes arrive just in time, and in a atrociously poorly animated sequence, they manage to help save the city. And come on, Pteridactals are really LAME villians. Why not a Tyranosaur? (They only show up once for about a minute early on) There is however, one bright spot. Zippo the librarian is a funny, interesting charachtewr that is the best actor in the entire film. The list just goes on and on, and I'm out of room, so in closing, no matter how you cut it, Dinotopia is a Brachiasour sized disaster.The good:ZippoSome unintentially funny scenesyou can have fun counting out all the bad elements in the filmThe bad:noneThe ugly:atrocious actingbad scriptlousy CGI effectsbad setslots of continuity errorsSummary:Only good for those who have never read the books. People who love the books will be seiously offended by this

batcatwriter 2013-05-17 06:04:44

great miniseries!!!

I just got done watching the first part of Dinotopia, and it was great.The lines were well written, the acting was believable, and the specialeffects were spectacular for a made for television epic. It was veryentertaining, and I cant wait until the second part airs. I recommend thisminiseries for anyone who has read the books or is interested indinosaurs.

2013-05-16 17:06:49

Enjoyable

This review is from: Dinotopia (TV Miniseries) (DVD) Dinotopia was at one time (for all I know might still be) a popular series of children's books, where a society of humans lives in harmony with a society of intelligent dinosaurs. In this miniseries, after a plane crash two brothers are marooned on the Dinotopia island, and must go through the process of learning a new way of life and a new set of philosophies about life. They arrive in a time of conflict, as not ALL the dinosaurs are so friendly.The story is engaging, characters are well formed and interesting, the acting is competent, and the special effects are pretty good for a TV production. My only knock on the special effects is that certain sequences were used over and over again in the climactic battle. Evidently their budget ran a bit short.I bought this as a present for our ten year old granddaughter, who particularly enjoyed it, and that was the important consideration. I didn't find any age inappropriate material. Violence was present but in control. The plot had enough meat to interest the adults watching along with her, but was not at all difficult for her to follow. In all, it was a good family viewing choice.

alex070153 2013-05-16 01:30:41

The Writing Reminds Me of Being Downwind from a Pig Farm

Oh... and the scenes. My God, I thought I was at a stink farm.... a BIGCORPORATE stink farm. Here are some of the final scenes:David and Karl have found their father in the Underground World... he haswandered hundreds of miles in the dark and they "happen" to find him. Yeah,right.Okay, that's not so bad.They take their dad to the ancient temple - a possible source of thesunstones.David sees his Skybax and flies to Waterfall City to gethelp.There, he single-handedly fights dozens of vicious pterodactyl-likecreatures.He also brought a new sunstone and the creatures fly away.So, now you think he will surely lead the rescue party back to the hisnow-beloved brother and reunited father. Noooo, they have an awards ceremony for David at which the mayorsays:"We are looking for Karl and your father, but it doesn't look good.... *but*we won't stop until they are safe."[noise in the street, everybody goes outside from the awardsceremony]A large lumbering dinosaur pulls a wagon. Driving the wagon are Karl and thefather. [But, but, ... the flying rescue party has been looking for them. And theydidn't notice a wagon the size of a house moving at the speed of a lameelephant?]Karl pulls back the cover and the wagon has hundreds of glowing sunstones.[So, Karl didn't see the rescue party or else he would have shown them thesunstones. DUH!]

2013-05-15 11:36:16

DVD purchase

This review is from: Dinotopia (TV Miniseries) (DVD) We lost our home to fire this Summer. I was so happy to have found this DVD. If you have anyone that loves dinosaurs, you need to get this movie! My son is extrememly happy with this purchase!!!We had it on VHS and watched it more times than I can remember. The quality of the DVD purchased is excellent. Thank you to Amazon for having Dinotopia! Just something you should know before purchasing it...it is a 3 hr long movie...so be ready to sit down and enjoy!

2013-05-15 14:47:26

Watch over and over

This review is from: Dinotopia (TV Miniseries) (DVD) Dinotopia is exciting, fantastic, impressive, and very cool. Even though it is approx. 4 hours long I watch it over and over and would watch even more if my mom didn't hate it but then again she can't appreciate the awesomeness of fantasy movies. It is definitely worth spending the time watching it if not repeatedly than once. *Would'nt it be great to live in a society where your life is guided and you are encouraged such as in this movie?!*

MovieAddict2011 2013-05-14 19:25:54

Stupid

Bad acting. Bad script. Bad graphics especially. This movie was juststupid.It was like a giant soap opera. And the dinosaurs are possibly the worstlooking dinosaurs I've ever seen. Please, take my advice and don't watchthis movie. Even my 6 year old sister thought it was stupid. With thismoviecoming on video the same week resident evil and collateral damage came out,go rent those instead. They're both excellent films, DINOTOPIA isnot.

froggygirl58 2013-05-14 01:54:47

This was a great mini series!!!

I thought that the mini series was great! It was action packed and funfilled. I'm looking forward toward to series coming this fall. I feltthatthe visual effects were great. This would be a family series and fun timefor all ages. I watched this with my son and had some well spent qualitytime together.

broken_dreamz 2013-05-13 16:44:25

surprisingly good

the movie was way beyond my expectations for a whole 'fiction, fantasy'gene. considering they were talking about dinos here, i had my doubtsaboutit. but the movie spoke for itself, and managed to sastify me. the actingwas good, the lines were belieable, and the plot came together quite well.iwould have never expected this much from what i first deemed a show forthe"kiddies".on the whole, i enjoyed it a lot, and i'm hoping there will be a sequel tothis. a very good watch.

2013-05-12 20:51:03

Surprisingly good

I think that this is an entertaining, enthralling story with a few unanswered questions. Without a doubt, it has some spectacular computer graphics.

2013-05-12 08:27:42

wrong disc

This review is from: Dinotopia (TV Miniseries) (DVD) I saw this movie on t.v. and loved it. I ordered the movie as well as the series. First they lost the package. But they were quick to get a replacement. However, when I received the package and went to watch the movie the 1st disc is actually the t.v. series not the movie mini series and the second disc is the correct second half of the movie mini series and it appears to have come from the manufacture that way. It had the security tape and was in the original wrapper too. Has anyone else had this problem? --I received the second one and still the same problem.

2013-05-11 15:29:00

If you're over 13 or 14 this film will probably bore you

Dinotopia is a dino disappointment.The sets and the computer graphics are really quite cool, but when taken as a whole, this is not what it could have been.The Halmis (the producers and financiers for this project) have become the Austrailian financiers for many huge and ultimately disappointing films (anyone remember the "Gone With The Wind" sequel?).Dinotopia's premise is a picture book from many years ago that an artist contrived as "what if dinosaurs and people coexisted with each other".After a plane crash strands two young men on an uncharted island (known as Dinotopia) and kills their father, they discover that the island is inhabited by dinosaurs and people alike and that civilization there is quite advanced in its own way. The brothers are completely different from each other and don't like each other too much. Most disturbing, perhaps, is that neither one seems too distressed when their father drowns in the plane crash. "Whoops, Dad's dead, gee, okay, where are we now?" seems to be the sentiment.The whole lack of emotional development of these central characters starts to make you wonder if the whole thing isn't a dream (which would be fine, if that revelation were ever to play out - but it doesn't). Then there's the whole love triangle interest - both brothers have the hots for this girl on the island and she seems to be attracted to both too - what will come of it? Guess what? You'll never find out. That plot point dies on the vine.Frankly the whole film (mini series - aren't they usually diappointing? Sad isn't it?) seems to be an extended prehistoric rendition of Top Gun mixed with a little Robinson Crusoe (but when couldn't you parallel that story with a "stranded on a deserted island film?).The island is quite lucky to have had these two nincumpoops land , because even though the community has existed since the dawn of time, apparently they are all too stupid to do anything about an impending emergency and need these Generation Y kids to teach them how to save themselves.The boys were obviously hired for their "hot boy" appeal, but the lead girl was hired for some other quality, because she is quite odd looking. One boy is supposed to be a nerd, but seems to have spent most of his time using a Soloflex. The other boy, ostensibly the rebel, lacks stick-to-itiveness and doesn't like anyone. Huh? He gloms onto the female lead immediately. And later, the nerd complains that the girl seems to be attracted more to the rebel than him. She says she likes them both equally. Huh? She was just skinny dipping with the rebel (and presumably made love to him).The nerdy brother, who isn't very nerdy at all, portrays his character as an "aw shucks" sort of boy, who is wholesome and sincere....I kept hoping he would fall off one of those really tall cliffs in the film.The rebel is about a sharp as silly putty and his whole "I gotta get off this island" routine never seems believable or sincere. He's supposed to be the Indiana Jones of the group, but instead he comes off more as the irritating little brother.Mind you the source material never had a real story to go with it. It was just pictures of a fantastical people and land. The producers of this film apparently didn't see any need in delving deeper than that - not really - in presenting this film. It looks good, but there's no real substance to it.This is a film to be watched by small kids. They'll love it. If they're over 13, they'll probably be bored and would prefer watching PBS......the dinosaurs - oh yeah. There were those too. They look good, but never seem realistic, except for the pteranadons. One of them speaks English - and apparently Roddy McDowell was resurrected from the dead to do the voice over work for this character, because it sure sounds like him.The storyline is nonsense all around and the CGI effects, quite frankly, have been done to death in far better films and television shows (if you want to see dinosaurs and learn about them, watch Discovery Channel's "Walking With Dinosaurs". It's a 4 star show).

2013-05-11 13:21:21

Good movie, IF YOU CAN GET THE RIGHT DISKS

I have bought two different copies of the original Dinotopia from Amazon and both have had the same problem. In the two disk set both disks are labeled to match the case but disk one contains Dinotopia "the series" and disk two contains part two of the original Dinotopia movie. I also have "the series" and the content on disk one from both sets is identical. My family really likes this movie and I want to have it on DVD but the supplier has a problem so I'm not wasting anymore time on this.