Dinotopia 1: The Outsiders (2002)

Simply Perfect

Fresh and Exciting

It is neither dumb nor smart enough to be fun, and spends way too much time with its boring human characters.

Watching it is like watching the spectacle of a class clown at their best: you laugh at their jokes, instigate their defiance, and "ooooh" when they get in trouble.

After Jurassic Park you would think dinosaurs would look better in TV and movies, unfortunately Dinotopia couldn't raise the bar. Dinotopia is about two brothers who crash on an island that is has humans and dinosaurs living peacefully. The brothers, David and Karl, want to find their missing farther and escape the island. They find an explorer and he brings them into a complicated world of complexity. This is a miniseries and I remember watching it as a young kid and I was amazed. Watching it a second time almost ten years later, I was highly disappointed. This story had so much potential to be great, but the terrible acting and awful special effects made this series pure garbage. Each episode is about an hour and a half, but they all feel like three hours of pain and torture. The main story made sense at first. One brother would do anything to go home while the other would rather stay, causing conflict. Then they both meet a woman that they are attracted to which causes more conflict. Of course the girl is of royalty and importance, and obviously she doesn't want to be important, she just wants to be normal. There is a greedy researcher who appears to be good but is clearly evil and has bad intentions. I would have been OK with that if the acting wasn't so hard to watch. I finished watching this series because I remember loving it as a kid and I always wanted to see it again. I hoped it would get better but it never did. All this series brought was disappointment and made me want to rant about it. Not only is the acting bad but the story eventually made no sense at all. The brothers arrive in Waterfall City and find out they can't leave, predictable but I went with it. Then we discover dinosaurs have their own language and some even speak English. This was just silly. There is a dinosaur language that humans learned and can write down in the form of footprints. Really, that's the best the director could come up with? There are also these things called sunstones and they are of some importance, I still don't even know. There is an archaeologist who searches for them and the truth as well. There is also a dinosaur who wants to explore "the world beneath." I'm not even sure how to describe it any further. The story gets way out of line and to crazy to even follow. This was originally a novel and i can only hope that the novel is better. I don't know what audience the director was going for either. Kids could like dinosaurs but we hardly see any action sequences. The bulk of the story is confusing dialog and some of the worst acting I have ever seen. Adults would be bored and lose interest with this series half way through the first episode. Overall this series is just a fail and should never be seen by anyone. Don't watch it alone, with friends, or even in school. If for some odd reason a school decides to show this series, skip that class, it's worth the F. This series should never see the light of day and gets the WillyT seal of disapproval for cheesy acting, awful special effects, and a miserable storyline.

I saw this series on TV last night and wow was i stunned. The acting is just perfectly! I love how they cast the actors, as if they found some real midievel people and made them act in this movie. Also the special effects are mind blowing. At times i can't believe its all CGI, it just looks so super real! Compared to Jurrasic Park this Movie still looks great, maybe even better because those are just dolls. Hello we live in the 21st century. I myself would love to be in Dinotopia. I recommend this movie to anybody who wants some company in those rainy days. I hope they will release a DVD directors cut with more scenes, i just cant get enough of Dinotopia and all its wonderful actors and dino's. If you love Dino's, then you gotta check this out.

If there is a rainy day and you just happen to find nothing else on TV this might be worth watching. Or if you were a fan of the original books then you'll probably want to see how the miniseries does it justice. Otherwise, skip it. The script is horrible, some of the worst dialogue you'll ever bear witness to. The acting by the two main characters is atrocious, putting about as much emotion and empathy in the lines as a junior high play. The graphics aren't...horrible, for the budget this movie was shot on they're OK. However, there are so many points in the series that you wonder "Why are they doing that? Just keep going, or why would they have this if there are dinosaurs?" For people who can think and reason, this will frustrate you to no end.As a kid my mom used to read me and my brother the Dinotopia books. Wonderfully written, amazingly illustrated, and somewhat of a weight-room for the young imagination. This is none of that. None of the characters are the same, very, VERY basic plot events are kept in the movie. This is an incredible story, would someone, please anyone in Hollywood do a remake of this film in the proper fashion.As for what the movie's messages are; nothing you couldn't find by watching an hour and a half on ABC Family channel. Has about the same credibility as an Uwe Bowle movie.

There are many plot holes, bad acting, undeveloped and uninteresting story and dialog, this overlong film (part I&II) had potential but failed to deliver; recommended for people who want to dream without thinking and for children. Don't look for a flawless story and interesting dialog, don't try to analyze. I expected much more and I got mediocrity. I've heard that James Gurney's Dinotopia books are great (unlike the movies) but I haven't read them. You don't find out how Frank Scott survived in the cave. Free Fall just happens to be at the temple. Frank Scott was in the caves for a long time and he didn't find the sun stones. There's no explanation why nobody can find Dinotopia in this world with satellites where no area of the planet is unknown. ............................................................. P.S. It's "dialog" because the stupid IMDb spell checker thinks the right word is wrong and wouldn't let me submit the message.