Planet of Dinosaurs (1977)

 

Well, there is a planet with some dinosaurs. And a lot of walking. They might have called this one 'Planet of Walking', but maybe that was't such an enticing title.

Anyway...

In the future, a spaceship (kind of an airliner, but then in space) inexplicably malfunctions and explodes and only a handful of people make it out. This is the crew, an annoying businessman and his secretary. They crash onto an Earth-like planet, but soon discover there are dinosaurs alive and well here. So they try to survive but are mostly useless at this. 

And they stumble across the domain of a Tyrannosaur, so they almost immediately decide to kill it. No real reason, other than it's there and they don't like it that much. 

That's it. That's the entire film.

Obviously shot on a shoestring budget, most of 'Planet of Dinosaurs' is inept. The soundtrack is weird, as if someone banged some early synthesizers together and this is what came out of it. It also doesn't fit with the film as a whole. Because there's barely a story, a great many shots are people walking, then walking some more and then - you'll never guess - walking again. None of the developments (if any) make a whole heap of sense and this group of characters is the sorriest bunch of losers you'll ever see. The captain has all the commanding presence of a jellyfish (my apologies to jellyfish), the character Jim is all macho ho-hum and kill 'm all (and is eventually right, apparently) and the ladies are mostly there to scream. And for some reason, one actor spends the entire time shirtless to show off his physique. No reason, just because it's possible. 

The dialogue is bog standard and often feels improvised, but not in a good way and the acting across the board is atrocious. 

So how about the dinosaurs then? Well, in that respect, there is good news: they are the reason you should see this. Clearly all the budget went to the stop motion animation and models and they are exquisite (for the time). You might find them a little wonky now, but the animation is really well done and the creatures have been given quite a lot of personality and the movements are fluid. It's almost as if you are watching a different film then, as bigger budgeted dinosaurflicks of that era have worse special effects at times. 

Nevertheless: this is only for the absolute harcore dinosaur enthusiasts. Everyone else might as well give this a wide berth.