Baby: Secret of the Lost Legend (1985)

 

Another one of my childhood favourites, and even though it seems to get lambasted across the Internet: it is a lot better than you would expect. Even without the rose-tinted glasses of nostalgia this one holds up surprisingly well.

Yes, even the animatronics. We've been spoiled by 'Jurassic Park' and before someone says that CG has improved so greatly that we don't need animatronics anymore: need I remind you of the plethora of films that came out ten years after 'Jurassic Park' where the CG looks so bad, you'd wish they went with sock puppets? 

But I'm not here to talk about 'Jurassic Park' (yet). It's time for 'Baby'!

Somewhere in the African jungle, there is rumour of a massive creature. It is referred to as Mokele-Mobembe (which in fact, isn't entirely correct as apparently it should be 'Mokéle-M'bembe') and it frightens the local populace in tales. But a rather unscrupulous archeologist named Eric Kiviat thinks there is truth to the legend, and he kills someone who has a vague picture of this animal in the first minutes of the film. 

What a way to kick off a film that is supposed to be for kids. But there are more traumatizing things on the horizon, believe me. 

In Eric's camp, he is joined by Sean Young as Susan, a young paleontologist who wants desperately to find a dinosaur. She thinks she found something, but Eric convices her that it is a giraffe vertebrae, knowing full well it isn't. She is fooled because the bone is only about 80 years old. Susan's husband George gets a call that he can start working for a newspaper back in New York, so he wants to leave. But Susan discovers that in a remote village, people got sick after eating the meat of an unknown creature that looks like a sauropod (long-necked dinosaur). 

Get used to the term 'brontosaurus'. They'll use it a lot, even if it isn't correct anymore. 

She goes off on her own and George reluctantly follows. Meanwhile, Eric finds out that he's in the wrong place and uses his contacts to get a heavily armed army escort and goes in pursuit. Of course, Susan and George discover something: a family of dinosaurs, complete with a baby. They manage to make the dinosaurs trust them and even slip on a tracker onto Baby's leg. But Eric has found the mother, which they tranquillize. Daddy's having none of it, so he charges and is mercilessly gunned down by the soldiers.

I did mention there was traumatizing stuff, didn't I?

Now, it's a race to free the mom and get both Baby and mom back to safety, all culminating in a massive chase and eventually a happy end. 

Now I've left out some stuff, but this is the gist of the tale. You can instantly tell why it is geared towards kids: a cutesy baby dinosaur and a lot of scenes of the endearing little one playing around, sauropod dinosaurs because it makes sense according to legend and because they are probably the nicest looking dinosaurs out there and a fun adventure that flies by, even if on occasion there are plotholes and inconsistencies. 

But then there's the hardcore stuff: the brutal murder in the first few minutes, the slaughter of the daddy dinosaur (and it is brutal, believe me), the way the mom is tied up and constantly sedated, the payback when mom finally catches up with Eric... Well, let's just say you might have some comforting to do in the end. This however does not detract from the film as a whole and it all balances out nicely in the end. 

The actors are mostly solid, even though Julian Fellowes as Nigel (Eric's helper) is a bit too much at times in his British ways. He lays it on a little thick. Patrick McGoohan is great as the ruthless Eric, but much of that is to be attributed to his scowl and his voice, which is so recognizable and perfect for a villain. 

Some things don't work as well. Some of the typical Hollywood racist stereotypes about 'dark' Africa do make you cringe, but fortunately, there isn't too much of that around. Sometimes, the story takes leaps and you're trying a little to catch up, but in fairness: it doesn't bother me that much and it shouldn't bother you either. 

Naturally, this film revolves around the dinosaurs and for the time, they look great, actually. It's a combination of animatronics and people in a suit and they did their best to make the animals move as naturally as possible. The big ones are piloted by two people and baby is just one actor/actress. Okay, the legs and feet move a little wonky at times and the electronics for the mouth and eyes can look a little glitchy, but for the most part, it looks really convincing. The leathery skin, the fairly natural movement and clever trick photography to make them look bigger... You can tell they did a genuine effort. The music also nicely compliments the scenes. 

Just the one where the father is slaughtered still feels so brutal, after so many years. I don't know what it is. Is it the shot where the dinosaurs gently touch heads when the mother is tranquillized and the father barges through the soldiers to get to her? Is it that right there, they launch another couple of rounds in his neck? Is it that he resurfaces one more time to die right beside the female? Or all of that? Yes, they do give the dinosaurs some 'human' traits and often they behave more like mammals, but still: who's to say it wouldn't work?

It's a shame this one often gets overlooked. It is an even bigger shame that the special effects get shamed when they look as good as they do. Remember: it was 1985, people. It doesn't look better nowadays most of the time, but you might be mislead by big budget blockbusters. This is a great adventure for all ages and if you love dinosaurs, this really is obligatory viewing. 

I'll say it proudly: 'Baby: Secret of the Lost Legend' is a highly underrated gem of a film and I absolutely love it to bits.