Prehistoric-themed Movies I've Seen
by electricnose | created - 16 Feb 2013 | updated - 23 Apr 2016 | PublicA list of movies that feature prehistoric animals or people - the ones I've seen, at least. They're not necessarily set in prehistoric times.
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1. Baby: Secret of the Lost Legend (1985)
PG | 95 min | Adventure, Family, Sci-Fi
A paleontologist and her husband discover a mother and baby brontosaurus in Africa, and try to protect them from a group of hunters intent on capturing the dinosaurs.
Director: Bill Norton | Stars: William Katt, Sean Young, Patrick McGoohan, Julian Fellowes
Votes: 3,495 | Gross: $14.97M
2. Caveman (1981)
PG | 91 min | Comedy, Romance
A caveman seeks revenge on a much larger competitor for the hand of a beautiful cavewoman.
Director: Carl Gottlieb | Stars: Ringo Starr, Dennis Quaid, Shelley Long, Jack Gilford
Votes: 8,574 | Gross: $15.97M
3. The Clan of the Cave Bear (1986)
R | 98 min | Adventure, Drama, Fantasy
A young Cro-Magnon woman is raised by Neanderthals.
Director: Michael Chapman | Stars: Daryl Hannah, Pamela Reed, James Remar, Thomas G. Waites
Votes: 6,939 | Gross: $1.95M
4. Dinosaur (2000)
PG | 82 min | Animation, Adventure, Drama
An orphaned dinosaur raised by lemurs joins an arduous trek to a sanctuary after a meteorite shower destroys his family home.
Directors: Eric Leighton, Ralph Zondag | Stars: D.B. Sweeney, Julianna Margulies, Samuel E. Wright, Alfre Woodard
Votes: 66,954 | Gross: $137.75M
Great visuals, formulaic story.
5. Encino Man (1992)
PG | 88 min | Comedy
When they find a frozen caveman in their back yard, two high school outcasts thaw him and introduce him to modern life while he in turn gets them to actually enjoy life.
Director: Les Mayfield | Stars: Sean Astin, Brendan Fraser, Pauly Shore, Megan Ward
Votes: 45,097 | Gross: $40.69M
6. The Flintstones (1994)
PG | 91 min | Comedy, Family, Fantasy
In a parallel modern-day Stone Age world, a working-class family, the Flintstones, are set up for an executive job. But they learn that money can't buy happiness.
Director: Brian Levant | Stars: John Goodman, Rick Moranis, Rosie O'Donnell, Halle Berry
Votes: 86,135 | Gross: $130.51M
It's amazing how the big screen, live actors, and an astronomical budget didn't add much to a two-dimensional cartoon.
7. Ice Age (2002)
PG | 81 min | Animation, Adventure, Comedy
The story revolves around sub-zero heroes: a woolly mammoth, a saber-toothed tiger, a sloth and a prehistoric combination of a squirrel and rat, known as Scrat.
Directors: Chris Wedge, Carlos Saldanha | Stars: Denis Leary, John Leguizamo, Ray Romano, Goran Visnjic
Votes: 517,099 | Gross: $176.39M
8. Ice Age: The Meltdown (2006)
PG | 91 min | Animation, Adventure, Comedy
Manny, Sid and Diego discover that the ice age is coming to an end, and join everybody for a journey to higher ground. On the trip, they discover that Manny is not in fact the last of the woolly mammoths.
Director: Carlos Saldanha | Stars: Ray Romano, John Leguizamo, Denis Leary, Seann William Scott
Votes: 295,696 | Gross: $195.33M
9. Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs (2009)
PG | 94 min | Animation, Adventure, Comedy
When Sid's attempt to adopt three dinosaur eggs gets him abducted by their real mother to an underground lost world, his friends attempt to rescue him.
Directors: Carlos Saldanha, Michael Thurmeier | Stars: Ray Romano, John Leguizamo, Denis Leary, Eunice Cho
Votes: 263,291 | Gross: $196.57M
10. Journey to the Center of the Earth (1999)
Unrated | 178 min | Adventure, Sci-Fi, Fantasy
Remake of Jules Verne's classic story finds adventurers seeking a mysterious hidden land. They are joined by the wife of another man, who had previously gone on a similar expedition and disappeared.
Stars: Treat Williams, Jeremy London, Tushka Bergen, Hugh Keays-Byrne
Votes: 2,797
11. Jurassic Park (1993)
PG-13 | 127 min | Action, Adventure, Sci-Fi
A pragmatic paleontologist touring an almost complete theme park on an island in Central America is tasked with protecting a couple of kids after a power failure causes the park's cloned dinosaurs to run loose.
Director: Steven Spielberg | Stars: Sam Neill, Laura Dern, Jeff Goldblum, Richard Attenborough
Votes: 1,062,588 | Gross: $402.45M
12. The Lost World: Jurassic Park (1997)
PG-13 | 129 min | Action, Adventure, Sci-Fi
A research team is sent to the Jurassic Park Site B island to study the dinosaurs there, while an InGen team approaches with another agenda.
Director: Steven Spielberg | Stars: Jeff Goldblum, Julianne Moore, Pete Postlethwaite, Vince Vaughn
Votes: 442,599 | Gross: $229.09M
13. Jurassic Park III (2001)
PG-13 | 92 min | Action, Adventure, Sci-Fi
A decidedly odd couple with ulterior motives convince Dr. Grant to go to Isla Sorna for a holiday, but their unexpected landing startles the island's new inhabitants.
Director: Joe Johnston | Stars: Sam Neill, William H. Macy, Téa Leoni, Alessandro Nivola
Votes: 340,006 | Gross: $181.17M
14. King Kong (1933)
Passed | 100 min | Adventure, Horror
A film crew goes to a tropical island for a location shoot, where they capture a colossal ape who takes a shine to their blonde starlet, and bring him back to New York City.
Directors: Merian C. Cooper, Ernest B. Schoedsack | Stars: Fay Wray, Robert Armstrong, Bruce Cabot, Frank Reicher
Votes: 90,616 | Gross: $10.00M
The dinosaurs only play a supporting part, but they're in there!
15. King Kong (2005)
PG-13 | 187 min | Action, Adventure, Romance
A greedy film producer assembles a team of moviemakers and sets out for the infamous Skull Island, where they find more than just cannibalistic natives.
Director: Peter Jackson | Stars: Naomi Watts, Jack Black, Adrien Brody, Thomas Kretschmann
Votes: 445,155 | Gross: $218.08M
16. The Land Before Time (1988)
G | 69 min | Animation, Adventure, Drama
An orphaned brontosaurus teams up with other young dinosaurs in order to reunite with their families in a valley.
Director: Don Bluth | Stars: Pat Hingle, Gabriel Damon, Helen Shaver, Bill Erwin
Votes: 98,202 | Gross: $48.09M
17. The Land That Time Forgot (1974)
PG | 91 min | Adventure, Fantasy
During World War I, a German U-boat sinks a British ship and takes the survivors on board. After it takes a wrong turn, the submarine takes them to the unknown land of Caprona, where they find dinosaurs and neanderthals.
Director: Kevin Connor | Stars: Doug McClure, John McEnery, Susan Penhaligon, Keith Barron
Votes: 6,967
18. Mammoth (2006 TV Movie)
90 min | Action, Adventure, Comedy
On a hot summer afternoon in the sleepy town of Blackwater, Louisiana locals exiting a retro-fitted theater excitedly watch as a meteor streaks across the sky and crashes through the roof ... See full summary »
Director: Abram Cox | Stars: Vincent Ventresca, Constantin Draganescu, Summer Glau, Tom Skerritt
Votes: 2,452
Needs more Mammoth and less family drama.
19. One Million Years B.C. (1966)
Approved | 92 min | Adventure, Comedy, Fantasy
Prehistoric man Tumak is banished from his savage tribe and meets pretty Loana, who belongs to a gentler coastal tribe, but he must fight caveman Payto to win her favors.
Director: Don Chaffey | Stars: Raquel Welch, John Richardson, Percy Herbert, Robert Brown
Votes: 9,568
For a movie about dinosaurs and scantily-clad cavewoman, it's amazingly dull.
20. Prehistoric Women (1950)
Approved | 74 min | Adventure, Fantasy
Tigri and her stone-age girl friends hate all men, but realizing they are a necessary evil, capture some for potential husbands.
Director: Gregg G. Tallas | Stars: Laurette Luez, Allan Nixon, Joan Shawlee, Judy Landon
Votes: 629
21. Quest for Fire (1981)
R | 100 min | Adventure, Drama
This story takes place in prehistoric time when three tribesmen search for a new fire source.
Director: Jean-Jacques Annaud | Stars: Everett McGill, Ron Perlman, Nicholas Kadi, Rae Dawn Chong
Votes: 24,043 | Gross: $20.96M
22. Sinbad and the Eye of the Tiger (1977)
G | 113 min | Action, Adventure, Family
Sinbad The Sailor sails to deliver a cursed prince to a dangerous island in the face of deadly opposition from a powerful witch.
Director: Sam Wanamaker | Stars: Patrick Wayne, Jane Seymour, Taryn Power, Margaret Whiting
Votes: 8,620 | Gross: $16.79M
A giant horned caveman and a saber-toothed tiger were sufficient for making the cut.
23. 10,000 BC (2008)
PG-13 | 109 min | Action, Adventure, Drama
In the prehistoric past, D'Leh is a mammoth hunter who bonds with the beautiful Evolet. When warriors on horseback capture Evolet and the tribesmen, D'Leh must embark on an odyssey to save his true love.
Director: Roland Emmerich | Stars: Camilla Belle, Steven Strait, Marco Khan, Cliff Curtis
Votes: 135,303 | Gross: $94.78M
24. The Valley of Gwangi (1969)
G | 96 min | Action, Adventure, Family
A cowboy named Tuck Kirby seeks fame and fortune by capturing an Allosaurus living in a Mexican valley and putting it in a wild west show. His star attraction, called the Gwangi, turns out to have an aversion to being shown in public.
Director: Jim O'Connolly | Stars: James Franciscus, Gila Golan, Richard Carlson, Laurence Naismith
Votes: 4,931
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