Dinotopia

Reviewed by:
Paul Ulane

Dinotopia is definitely worthy of its “megaseries” moniker; with three two-hour installments, the story is indeed lengthy. It starts with two boys surviving a plane crash and then washing up on a seemingly-abandoned island. As the title suggests, they quickly learn that the island is indeed inhabited by—gasp!—dinosaurs and humans co-existing in harmony. As the boys arrive, the Dinotopians are having trouble with their main source of power and protection, the mystical “sunstones.” The rest of this series featured the boys learning the ways of Dinotopian society and trying to help save the island.

Interesting story, but boring megaseries. The acting is distractingly bad—in one fight scene, it’s not even clear the boys are angry with each other until they start wrestling. The dialogue is forced, all of the Dinotopians have British accents for some reason, and the character of Zippo—the lone English-speaking dinosaur—is so grating, with his bizarre over-reactions, that he makes Jar Jar Binks look like Steven Wright. While the special effects are generally well done, the rest of this series just doesn’t hold up.