Dinotopia (2002)

 

This miniseries was adapted from a series of books. The idea is that somewhere, there is an island where people and dinosaurs live in relative harmony. A utopia of sorts, if you will. Which also explains the name of the island. 

Gee, that's clever.

But of course, not all is what it seems, or we wouldn't have an adventure now, would we?

Two bickering half-brothers named Karl and David are taken along by their father for a flight in his plane. Things get hairy when a freak storm hits and the plane goes down. It seems only Karl and David make it out of there and they have absolutely no idea where they are. All they know is they're on an island (probably) and want help. They come across a man called Cyrus Crabb, who takes them to the nearest outpost, where both boys discover that dinosaurs are still alive in this place. Even more so: humans and dinosaurs live in harmony.

Except for the carnivores. Apparently they still act up and are mostly avoided. 

Turns out the brothers can't leave the island, as no one has succeeded in doing so for hundreds, maybe even thousands of years. David is quickly adapting to life in Dinotopia, but Karl remains incredibly obstinate and refuses to have anything to do with the customs, until he starts to fancy the mayor's daughter, of course. 

But not all is well  in Dinotopia, as their entire energy source (lightbearing stones that come from a meteorite) is breaking down. This is also what keeps the predators at bay, so trouble is brewing. Will the boys actually provide the solution to a myriad of problems withint this world? 

For a television series, you can probably guess that the budget wasn't spectacular, but they made the most of it. The cast - for the most part - is okay. Not all of the acting is great, but it can be forgiven usually, and you have some bigger names that compensate others. You can hardly go wrong with people like David Thewlis or Alice Krige now, can you? Our leads are a bit hit and miss. Karl is supposed to be a rebellious kid, but he often comes across as just a  douche, and David is sometimes too obviously shy and afraid to take risks. It's a bit too on the nose at times. 

The special effects are pretty good, actually. Not 'Jurassic Park' quality, but still rather impressive. The scenery is pretty and the dinosaurs themselves are well done, with a few shots using actual props. At times, the CG dinosaurs don't mesh well with the background (especially Zippo, the sort of comic relief suffers from this), but if you can find it to forgive the makers, it'll do just fine. 

Of course this is mostly geared towards kids, and if they like dinosaurs, they'll eat this stuff up. It's harmless enjoyment, and maybe it needs an updated version with a solid budget. But no one knows whether that is going to happen any time soon.