WARNING: SPOILERS Many have complained about the quality of the special effects and the acting. Others have defended these elements because the film is clearly for small children and clearly low budget. My problem is a belief that the movie could have been much better and more appropriate for a wider audience without adding much the the bill. This movie needed maybe 6 more 2 or 3 minute scenes. But none of these scenes would have required much if anything in the way of post production, because for the most part they would have been completely expository. First, whose house was that they visited at the beginning of the film, and why was there a crystal there? I think some questions could have been answered that would not have given away the ending, but could have made the ending a "Oh, I get it moment" instead of a "What the heck?" moment. Then a scene explaining the tribe. Have these people lived on the island forever? Or did there ship crash here? Why are they all children except the guy in the cage? Why the newspaper from the future? And would Lucas really show NO INTEREST in a newspaper from his future? It seems like Kate never tried to find a way off the island before. She should have been able to say to Lucas that she'd tried everything (in order to try and convince him to stay.) Why do these planes and ships not have people on them? Again, I don't necessarily need an answer, just some indication that somebody have GIVEN IT SOME THOUGHT! There are other little things that would have helped me too. Lucas was covered in man-eating-plant goo. Then suddenly he was clean and dry. How long had Kate been on the island? Yet her clothes were immaculate? And speaking of Kate, how did she even come to BE on the island? All this time she'd been studying flora and fauna but never once WONDERED about the island itself? I mean, it's an island UNTETHERED IN TIME. I would WONDER about that. Oh, I guess there is one place where I might have spent some money on CGI. Lucas had been on the island for one day. I think he would have been curious about the island. Yes, he would have wanted to get back home, but maybe the writer could have let him spend a couple of weeks there. If for no other reason than giving Kate and Lucas time to bond. To become friends instead of acquaintances. Then I would have put them in peril. Made it life or death that they get off this island. An earthquake could have destroyed their shelter? The natives could have found their shelter and threatened them? The volcano could have been about to explode? The exploding volcano could have probably helped with other problems too. I'm just saying this movie could have been SO MUCH BETTER without costing much more money. All it needed was another pass at the script. Even my eight year old niece was confused when it was over.
Review of Dinosaur Island
Dinosaur Island
(2014)
Could have been MUCH better with a little work.
11 July 2015
Warning: Spoilers