DVD Corner

Dinosaur Island DVD Review

“Dinosaur Island” is not dinomite.

The plot: While on board a plane, a young teen (Lucas) is transported to a mysterious island that houses dinosaurs, deserted planes, and, yes, even some human beings. Lucas meets one such human- a curious and smart young woman (Kate) who has been on the island for several years. Stranger still, Kate is from a different time period on Earth. Not knowing how they got there or how to get, Lucas begins to discover that the mystery may be linked to a crystal he has. Can Kate and Lucas survive the dangerous dinos and plant life and make it back home?

Viewers hoping that this Australian live-action sci-fi adventure family film delivers plenty of dino centric action will be greatly disappointed by the final product. I’m sad to say that this is not an exciting “Jurassic Park” esque tale. Instead, it often feels like a bad episode of “Lost” due to its head scratching nonsensical “scientific” story at the center. Sure, there are dinosaurs in the movie, but to say the movie never lives up to its promising title is an understatement.

Story flaws aside, the biggest problem with the film is the character of Lucas. While I don’t like to criticize child actors, Darius Williams should not be the lead of any film. Granted, the writing is partially to blame here (especially when Lucas asks himself the same questions over and over), but Williams’ performance is entirely irritating from start to finish. Thankfully, actress Kate Rasmussen (Kate) livens things up a bit. She’s not likely to become an overnight celeb, but she at least has some charisma.

Video/Audio:

Presentation: Widescreen. How does it look? A decent transfer all around.

Audio Track: 5.1 Surround. How does it sound? From an audio perspective, there’s a lot going on here and the track handles it all exceedingly well.

The only extras are trailers for Alchemy/Millennium Entertainment titles.

Overall Thoughts: If your kids desperately need some dino entertainment aside from the “Jurassic Park” films, you’re better off picking up the forthcoming “Back To The Jurassic” (which is also from Alchemy).

May 31, 2015 - Posted by nicklyons1 | DVD review | Dinosaur Island DVD Review