| SYNOPSIS:
Following
in the thundering footsteps of the groundbreaking megaseries
television event, Dinotopia, comes Dinotopia: The Series,
the extraordinary odyssey of a 21st-century family stranded
in an amazing prehistoric utopia. But beneath Dinotopia's
surface, dangers brew. Through it all endures the boundless
imagination, courage and awesome wonder of a family lost in
time- the last hope for the world on the verge of extinction.
DRAMA
REVIEW :
Billed
as a groundbreaking series of magnificent sets and state-of-the-art
effects, “Dinotopia” was reportedly one of TV’s
most expensive productions when it debuted in 2002. If you’re
wondering why we haven’t heard of it until now, it’s
because the series was also one of TV’s biggest flops
– released in the States on ABC’s primetime slot,
“Dinotopia” got cancelled after six episodes,
leaving seven unaired. An amateurish production at best and
a costly disaster at worst, it doesn’t take a rocket
scientist to figure out why the series went kaput quicker
than you can say ‘extinct’.
The
story is adapted from James Gurney’s series of children’s
books, about a utopian land where humans live amicably with
dinosaurs (hence the name Dinotopia). It is a hidden place
on Earth unknown to the rest of the twenty-first-century civilization;
our story revolves around Frank, Karl and David Scott, father
and sons who were marooned after their biplane crash lands
on Dinotopia. This series is actually a follow up to an original
mini-series that began immediately after the Scotts were stranded,
so strictly speaking our story occurs a few months (or so)
after the trio arrive at Dinotopia. By this time they are
somewhat settled in, with David more accustomed to the new
world than the other two because he’s found a career,
so to speak. As a registered pilot (of a pterodactyl-type
dinosaur – Dinotopia has a whole army of them) he is
for once out of Karl’s shadow, hence embraces Dinotopia;
Frank and Karl are keen to find their way home when T-Rexes
come a-knocking. But the island is apparently surrounded by
an impenetrable storm so there’s no way out; gradually
Frank and Karl accept their new fates and carry on as Dinotopians,
though not before making a few ill-advised attempts at escaping.
The
first two episodes are decent with relatively engaging storylines
about sunstones and opal-gem-things that ward off the hostile
T-Rexes. We are also introduced to the people of Waterfall
City, where the Scotts are: there is the mayor Waldo Seville,
his wife Rosemary and daughter Marion (who Karl romances,
to the dismay of David), a talking dinosaur called Zipeau
(who is apparently very wise and hence the city’s librarian),
a band of outlaws trying to take over Waterfall City (or something
to that effect; I am quite frankly confused) called The Outsiders,
et cetera. In the name of spoiler policy I will cease to dwell
on details but honestly, there is hardly anything interesting
enough to tell. Sometimes the writing veers towards parody,
with tongue-in-cheek references to issues of politics and
social progress, but the commentary is tired and the structure
well-trodden; often the dialogues sound like they were picked
from a recycling bag of discarded scripts. Everything was
so predictable that I ended up amusing myself by finishing
off dialogues and pretending to be psychic.
If
the money didn’t go into the writing department, it
definitely didn’t get directed to the special effects
units either because the effects were hardly anything to shout
about. It may be due to VCD pixelation that image quality
was compromised but from what I could see the effects looked
excruciatingly superficial. Once again, it might have looked
more impressive on TV or DVD but on VCD it’s hard to
imagine why “Dinotopia” cost so much.
Films
of the fantasy genre can only succeed when there is a complete
commitment to storyline; “Dinotopia” felt half-hearted,
as such confused more than it convinced. There is no sense
of urgency in writing – at one point when Marion and
the Scotts are reunited after a near-death experience, they
literally utter no more than “It’s good to see
you again,” before going along their merry way. Where
great acting might have saved the day, the actors fall short,
their performances perhaps restrained by increasingly whiney
characters. Another point of bewilderment was the way the
Dinotopians spoke in varying forms of conceited, mangled English
accents only attainable by dialect-coached C-list actors.
If there was a point to the accents I did not get it, unless
the point was to induce annoyance and endless cringing.
All
in all the production felt like an exercise in futility –
a very slow and overly long exercise in futility. Dinosaurs
are a well-covered territory in film and expectations of special
effects are no longer the same since the world saw LOTR, so
basically “Dinotopia” offers nothing new. Add
to that erratic direction and blah plots, it’s no wonder
the series was prematurely snuffed.
RATING
:
Review
by Angeline Chui
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