I gave this sci-fi outing a 5 because of the incredible special effects. A stranded space crew must fend for itself on a primitive planet full of dinosaurs and the like. The dinosaurs are classic stop motion creatures, most probably by Jim Danforth, a student of Ray Harryhausen's and best known for his work on "The Outer Limits" and "Jack the Giant Killer." Danforth, if it was indeed he who worked on this film, obviously learned well from the master, not just the quality of the stop motion work but the blending of live and animated footage, employing a technique invented by Harryhausen called Dynamation or Super Dynamation. The human actors in this flick are pretty awful, and the plot is from nowheresville. But the dinosaurs make up for a good deal. I understand Harryhausen visited the set during production, so I'm not surprised by the excellence of the animated sequences..
62 Reviews
"Oh dear, that thing must live here!"
classicsoncall12 February 2022
Warning: Spoilers
Oh boy! If laughable characters, insipid dialog and stop-action dinosaurs are your thing, this is the movie for you. For some unknown reason, one of the streaming cable channels had this movie listed as released in 2016, but the opening graphics followed by the film itself place it squarely in that 1970's milieu that you'll identify immediately. The story takes place in some distant interplanetary future where our intrepid band of space travelers become stranded on an Earth styled planet when their shuttle craft escapes from its mother ship The Odyssey, which simply blows up without explanation. For a team of scientists and specialists, this crew couldn't explain a lot of things, quite often speculating on how and when they would be rescued, after it was already acknowledged they were in uncharted territory.
The dinosaurs of the title make their appearance soon enough, starting with a brontosaurus, followed by a tyrannosaurus battle with a stegosaurus. How is it that every dinosaur flick has a fight between these two monsters? Eventually a triceratops makes its appearance, and if I'm not mistaken a smaller walking brute that's an Allosaur. You know what was missing? There were no pterodactyls in the picture, which is almost a sin for dinosaur movies. Somebody on the production team missed that one.
By the time this thing is over, four of the original nine-member landing party become dinosaur fodder, the first of which was the unfortunate, yet top billed Mary Appleseth as Cindy, stripped down to her bra and undies and summarily drowned be a sea creature to Jaws-like musical accompaniment. I had to laugh about that so called stockade the survivors built to keep out predators; when a T-Rex hit it, it went down like toothpicks. Even that Tyrannosaurus was somewhat on the dumb side, because the grand finale had the beast running smack into a pair of wooden stakes to impale itself to death.
In any event, this tailor made for parody flick might be right up your alley if you're looking for a cheesy movie night with friends and family. And if you like a plentiful helping of dinosaurs, you get that as a bonus.
The dinosaurs of the title make their appearance soon enough, starting with a brontosaurus, followed by a tyrannosaurus battle with a stegosaurus. How is it that every dinosaur flick has a fight between these two monsters? Eventually a triceratops makes its appearance, and if I'm not mistaken a smaller walking brute that's an Allosaur. You know what was missing? There were no pterodactyls in the picture, which is almost a sin for dinosaur movies. Somebody on the production team missed that one.
By the time this thing is over, four of the original nine-member landing party become dinosaur fodder, the first of which was the unfortunate, yet top billed Mary Appleseth as Cindy, stripped down to her bra and undies and summarily drowned be a sea creature to Jaws-like musical accompaniment. I had to laugh about that so called stockade the survivors built to keep out predators; when a T-Rex hit it, it went down like toothpicks. Even that Tyrannosaurus was somewhat on the dumb side, because the grand finale had the beast running smack into a pair of wooden stakes to impale itself to death.
In any event, this tailor made for parody flick might be right up your alley if you're looking for a cheesy movie night with friends and family. And if you like a plentiful helping of dinosaurs, you get that as a bonus.
Worthwhile Grade Z Dinosaur Adventure
Wuchakk12 March 2014
Remember the first 40 minutes of the original "Planet of the Apes" in which the surviving team of a spacecraft explore the desert-like environment of the mysterious planet wherein they crash? (It was the best part of the movie, except for the very end). Okay, imagine that scenario for an entire 84 minute flick, albeit WITHOUT notable actors, great soundtrack and first-rate filmmaking; not to mention replace the apes with dinosaurs. If you can picture that, and it sounds like your cup of java, you might want to pick up "Planet of the Dinosaurs."
This film is so amateurishly done on most levels that the average person would likely rate it pretty low. I grant it 5/10 Stars, however, for five reasons:
If "Planet of the Dinosaurs" had better actors, sound, music and worked out various other kinks in the story, direction, etc. I would give it a higher rating.
BOTTOM LINE: It's worth picking up if (like me) you're a sucker for Sci-fi survival-on-deserted-planet type flicks. Just keep in mind it's strictly Grade Z and mental adjustments will have to be made to appreciate it.
"Planet of the Dinosaurs" has garnered a worthy "guilty pleasure" spot in the cult/independent film section of my video library.
GRADE: C+
This film is so amateurishly done on most levels that the average person would likely rate it pretty low. I grant it 5/10 Stars, however, for five reasons:
- The picture was filmed at Vasquez Rocks, Northeast of Los Angeles (I visited this park in July of 2003). If you're not in the know, this location is where many of the original Star Trek episodes where filmed, such as "Arena" wherein Captain Kirk fights the Lizardman.
- The stop-motion dinosaur animation is very good for the time period and, I hear, won some kind of an award when the film was released in the late '70s. It's pretty much on a par with "One Million Years B.C."
- There are four (count 'em, four) female survivors of the space wreck and two of them are babes (the other two aren't that bad either, that is, if you're stranded on a deserted planet). One beauty unfortunately gets eaten almost immediately, but the other survives for quite awhile. The latter, by the way, appears to be of Native American ancestry and her tight outfit shows off her midrift and bellybutton the entire stint she appears in the film. And, trust me, if you have any doubt that American Indian women can be truly beautiful, you need to see this fine piece of womanhood.
- After the first 20-30 minutes I was able to mentally adjust and accept the film's limitations; I strangely started to get into the story at this point and even care about the characters.
- Lastly, this is definitely not a kiddy flick, nor is it goofy, comedic or even campy. It's a serious sci-fi story.
If "Planet of the Dinosaurs" had better actors, sound, music and worked out various other kinks in the story, direction, etc. I would give it a higher rating.
BOTTOM LINE: It's worth picking up if (like me) you're a sucker for Sci-fi survival-on-deserted-planet type flicks. Just keep in mind it's strictly Grade Z and mental adjustments will have to be made to appreciate it.
"Planet of the Dinosaurs" has garnered a worthy "guilty pleasure" spot in the cult/independent film section of my video library.
GRADE: C+
Welcome to the beginning of time
chris_gaskin12320 September 2004
Planet of Dinosaurs was one of those movies which I wanted for ages but got hold of it eventually.
A spaceship crashes onto a mysterious planet and its occupants discover they are millions of years into the past as this planet is occupied by dinosaurs (more of which later). After setting up camp following the spaceship's sinking in a lake, they explore the planet and start to live like stone age man. Several of the crew are eaten by the dinosaurs and the survivors accept they will be never rescued and have no choice but to make this planet their home.
Now to those dinosaurs, which are done in stop-motion and look excellent. These include a T-Rex, Stegosaurus, Brontosaurus, Policanthus and also a giant spider.
The cast is made up mostly of unknowns and their acting is certainly not brilliant.
Despite this, I rather enjoyed this movie and is worth watching just for the dinosaurs.
Rating: 4 stars out of 5.
A spaceship crashes onto a mysterious planet and its occupants discover they are millions of years into the past as this planet is occupied by dinosaurs (more of which later). After setting up camp following the spaceship's sinking in a lake, they explore the planet and start to live like stone age man. Several of the crew are eaten by the dinosaurs and the survivors accept they will be never rescued and have no choice but to make this planet their home.
Now to those dinosaurs, which are done in stop-motion and look excellent. These include a T-Rex, Stegosaurus, Brontosaurus, Policanthus and also a giant spider.
The cast is made up mostly of unknowns and their acting is certainly not brilliant.
Despite this, I rather enjoyed this movie and is worth watching just for the dinosaurs.
Rating: 4 stars out of 5.
the dinosaurs are the actors
TheUnknown837-120 January 2008
A spaceship in some unspecified future where human beings are equipped for space travel and have laser guns for weapons, crash lands on a strange young planet where dinosaurs are coincidentally also evolved and only on this world, have not gone extinct...yet. The survivors of the crash, roughly ten bland characters wearing blue, white, and yellow suits, fight for survival against the alien prehistoric monsters.
"Planet of the Dinosaurs" is a peculiar movie. Like I said in my summary above, the stop-motion animated dinosaurs in the film are the only colorful actors. The models are crude, but effectively animated. And they are much more fascinating and intriguing than these characters portrayed by inexperienced actors and speaking lines from a script that must have been written overnight without a single revision. Obviously, most of the budget was put into the dinosaurs, and although there is a fair share of them, there's not nearly enough to save us from our boredom. These human characters are only there to scream, run around, and mutter these poorly-written and verbose speeches about survival. And unfortunately, not nearly enough of them get eaten by the dinosaurs.
Overall, "Planet of the Dinosaurs" is not a film I plan on seeing again. Some people will simply love it for being so cheap and so poorly made. Sometimes, I enjoy movies like this. But this particular film is just too long, too boring, and very exhausting on the mind.
"Planet of the Dinosaurs" is a peculiar movie. Like I said in my summary above, the stop-motion animated dinosaurs in the film are the only colorful actors. The models are crude, but effectively animated. And they are much more fascinating and intriguing than these characters portrayed by inexperienced actors and speaking lines from a script that must have been written overnight without a single revision. Obviously, most of the budget was put into the dinosaurs, and although there is a fair share of them, there's not nearly enough to save us from our boredom. These human characters are only there to scream, run around, and mutter these poorly-written and verbose speeches about survival. And unfortunately, not nearly enough of them get eaten by the dinosaurs.
Overall, "Planet of the Dinosaurs" is not a film I plan on seeing again. Some people will simply love it for being so cheap and so poorly made. Sometimes, I enjoy movies like this. But this particular film is just too long, too boring, and very exhausting on the mind.
Planet of Dinosaurs: Cheesy 70's dino schlock
Platypuschow19 August 2018
Planet of Dinosaurs is an ultra cheesy camp sci-fi tale that leaves a lot to be desired.
It tells the story of a spaceship (With oddly skeletal crew) which crash lands on a planet filled with dinosaurs. They must seek shelter, food and safety and figure out their next move.
With sfx that are bad even for the day, they look like plastic childrens toys used for stop motion animation. The performances are generic, the cinematography is lifeless and the thing doesn't scream B-movie it screams D and that's perhaps me being kind.
When dinosaurs are on screen it's cringe inducing, when they aren't it's incredibly boring. Ugly, lifeless mess.
The Good:
Concept isn't terrible
The Bad:
Looks hideous
Criminally boring in places
Things I Learnt From This Movie:
Moustaches were a legal requirement in the 1970's
Space outfits in the 70's for women looked like they should have a Hooters logo on them
If you have people rooting for the dinosaurs, you've ballsed up
They didn't have the budget to get that one guy a shirt
It tells the story of a spaceship (With oddly skeletal crew) which crash lands on a planet filled with dinosaurs. They must seek shelter, food and safety and figure out their next move.
With sfx that are bad even for the day, they look like plastic childrens toys used for stop motion animation. The performances are generic, the cinematography is lifeless and the thing doesn't scream B-movie it screams D and that's perhaps me being kind.
When dinosaurs are on screen it's cringe inducing, when they aren't it's incredibly boring. Ugly, lifeless mess.
The Good:
Concept isn't terrible
The Bad:
Looks hideous
Criminally boring in places
Things I Learnt From This Movie:
Moustaches were a legal requirement in the 1970's
Space outfits in the 70's for women looked like they should have a Hooters logo on them
If you have people rooting for the dinosaurs, you've ballsed up
They didn't have the budget to get that one guy a shirt
1970's Dino-Cheeze
JoeB1314 April 2008
Warning: Spoilers
After the success of Star Wars, there was a boost in interest in Sci-Fi movies. This was one of those cheap attempts to cash in quickly.
A group of survivors from a spaceship land on a planet inhabited by stop-motion dinosaurs, where half of them are systematically killed off (the people not the dinosaurs). Porn-movie level acting. Cheap special effects, even for the time, although it looks like a lot of effort was put into them.
Costumes were pure 1970's, as were the hairstyles. Ahh, the 70's. I expected a disco to break out at any minute.
Nothing to really recommend in this film.
A group of survivors from a spaceship land on a planet inhabited by stop-motion dinosaurs, where half of them are systematically killed off (the people not the dinosaurs). Porn-movie level acting. Cheap special effects, even for the time, although it looks like a lot of effort was put into them.
Costumes were pure 1970's, as were the hairstyles. Ahh, the 70's. I expected a disco to break out at any minute.
Nothing to really recommend in this film.
One of my favorite "bad movies"
robertmurray-7063723 October 2018
A spaceship crashes on a planet inhabited by dinosaurs and the (young, attractive, and scantily-dressed) crew struggles to stay alive. The special effects (the stop-motion dinosaurs) surprisingly good, for a low budget film. One by one members of the crew get eaten by carnivores, and you never know which one will be next. The debates amongst the crew members about various survival strategies are actually fairly reasonable, if you can get past the bad acting.
If you want to hear it with comedy riffs, get the "Rifftrax" version.
If you want to hear it with comedy riffs, get the "Rifftrax" version.
Could not be worse
jbraptor10 July 2005
Now, I love bad, old skifee movies as much as most people. And I understand that a budget is a budget. That said, Planet of the Dinosaurs is as bad as a bad movie can get. The thing has no actors, and only one attractive female whom they kill off two minutes after swimming ashore. There are literally no redeeming qualities to be found in this pile of wasted celluloid. The only thing not wasted was paper...the screenplay must have been no more than four pages long. Surely no one actually WROTE dialogue this pointless. I'm constantly amazed that such movies ever got made, much less released. I'm only glad I didn't pay to see this waste of time. It's 75 minutes of my life I'll never get back.
This one is a stinker!
Snowpea5 December 1998
1) Bad acting.
2) For a bunch of castaways on an alien planet, it sure looked like home, especially with the houses and roads you can glimpse in the background.
3) Terrible plot with stupid caracters making idiotic decisions and blithely losing precious survival equipment and clothing left, right and center.
4) Cool 70's scifi jumpsuits (possibly the only good thing about this movie)
5) Interesting ship at the beginning (this crew must have been watching Space 1999 a lot). Too bad it blows up so early. The escape ship also got sunk too fast. *sigh*
6) Anthropologists might find some aspects of the movie interesting in terms of primate group behavior.
2) For a bunch of castaways on an alien planet, it sure looked like home, especially with the houses and roads you can glimpse in the background.
3) Terrible plot with stupid caracters making idiotic decisions and blithely losing precious survival equipment and clothing left, right and center.
4) Cool 70's scifi jumpsuits (possibly the only good thing about this movie)
5) Interesting ship at the beginning (this crew must have been watching Space 1999 a lot). Too bad it blows up so early. The escape ship also got sunk too fast. *sigh*
6) Anthropologists might find some aspects of the movie interesting in terms of primate group behavior.
For Genre Completists Only
rstef12 April 2008
Planet of Dinosaurs is not a terrible movie, but neither is it terribly good. The main attraction is the stop-motion dinosaur effects. They are done fairly well, but other than that, there isn't much to see here.
The acting ranges from passable (James Whitworth of The Hills Have Eyes), to downright wooden (Chuck Pennington as standard issue beefcake). The script does not manage to create any sympathy for our stranded astronauts, so it is merely a matter of waiting around to see who gets eaten by the dinos and who survives. By the end, I really didn't care. None of the cast behaves remotely like a real astronaut would in this situation and their performances aren't helped by the mediocre sound looping.
Another problem in the film is that several of the scenes taking place at night or in a cave are so badly lit that it is nearly impossible to see what is taking place. I know this was low budget, but couldn't they have gotten some decent lighting? The film is only 84 minutes so it passes quickly and rather painlessly, however, you would do better to rent an older Harryhausen film like Beast From 20,000 Fathoms or Valley of Gwangi to see how to do it right on a budget.
The acting ranges from passable (James Whitworth of The Hills Have Eyes), to downright wooden (Chuck Pennington as standard issue beefcake). The script does not manage to create any sympathy for our stranded astronauts, so it is merely a matter of waiting around to see who gets eaten by the dinos and who survives. By the end, I really didn't care. None of the cast behaves remotely like a real astronaut would in this situation and their performances aren't helped by the mediocre sound looping.
Another problem in the film is that several of the scenes taking place at night or in a cave are so badly lit that it is nearly impossible to see what is taking place. I know this was low budget, but couldn't they have gotten some decent lighting? The film is only 84 minutes so it passes quickly and rather painlessly, however, you would do better to rent an older Harryhausen film like Beast From 20,000 Fathoms or Valley of Gwangi to see how to do it right on a budget.
Fascinatingly bad cinema
missjamie16627 November 2005
This film ascribes to the axiom that the only cinema worth watching is either really good or really bad. I found it in a bargain bin in a supermarket and bought it for my younger daughter thinking it was an animated film about dinosaurs (because of the artwork on the jacket). Little did I know that the film would profoundly disappoint my daughter as much as it amazed and captivated me. A film like this could not be made on purpose, but only by accident, and we are the beneficiaries. In the film, the diverse mix of characters (none of which, oddly, are likable) drop into an alien environment and struggle against the forces of nature until they at last find their place within it. Along the way, various cast members meet their demise owing either to their own character flaws or incredible bad luck. Near comic acting and screen writing is surpassed in importance by the fact that this, to my knowledge, is the first film to utilize flatulence as a sound track.
"There's no telephones... if there were the long distance rates would be something else." Pretty good fun.
poolandrews4 July 2006
Warning: Spoilers
Planet of Dinosaurs starts deep in uncharted space where the spacecraft Odyssey has run into problems with it's reactor, which explodes but not before Captain Lee Norsythe (Louie Lawless) & his crew manage to escape in a spare shuttle designed for just such an occasion. The craft lands on the nearest planet which helpfully has exactly the same atmosphere as Earth so everyone can breathe & walk around properly, in fact the planet looks very much like Earth. As the stranded survivors wait to be rescued they discover the planet is infested with prehistoric dinosaurs which want to eat them & communications officer Cindy (Mary Appleseth) is the first to end up as dinosaur food. They must learn to adapt to their surroundings in order to survive as they wait for the rescue party to show up, but being in uncharted space will a rescue team ever turn up?
Produced & directed by James K. Shea Planet of Dinosaurs is a bit of an obscurity, certainly here in the UK it is anyway but like any good good sci-fi/horror/monster film fan I finally managed to track a copy down after a pretty long search. Unfortunately like most films you look forward to seeing for such a long period the final product didn't live up to my hopes but I still found it an enjoyable piece of sci-fi. The script by Ralph Lucas tries to be different & succeeds to an extent but it is a bit uneven as it can moves along at a nice pace & then suddenly become frustratingly dull. There are good ideas here, the usual soul searching, having to cope without technology & the lack of clichés although I think that might be down to the filmmakers not being able to write proper characterisation as most of the character's in Planet of Dinosaurs seem lifeless, surplus to requirements & undistinguished. I wasn't convinced by the logic that if they killed the T-Rex everything would be alright & that it was the only living T-Rex on the planet, surely there would be more than one T-Rex? When it's good it's very entertaining but when it's bad it's embarrassing. However, I would recommend it to sci-fi/monster fans who I'm sure would enjoy it to some degree.
Director Shea must have been working on a low budget & I think he did a pretty good job. The real star of Planet of Dinosaurs are the special effects which are extremely impressive when all is considered, I mean don't expect it to be on a par with the latest multi million CGI work but their very good in their own right. The stop-motion animation is great & so is the interaction between them & the human cast. From T-Rex's to a Stegosaurus & from a Brontosaurus to Triceratops & the filmmakers even manage to stick a giant spider in there. There's some cool dinosaur sequences that impressed me, it's just a shame that the rest of the film isn't quite as impressive suffering from a somewhat repetitive story which doesn't really go anywhere.
Technically the film varies, from the impressive special effects & dinosaurs to the awful sound as it's painfully obvious that the entire film is badly dubbed throughout. The acting is pretty poor which doesn't help but the dinosaurs are the real stars here...
Planet of Dinosaurs was something that little bit different, the special effects are good & I found it a very watchable way to pass just over 80 minutes. Definitely worth a watch if you can find a copy. Footage from Planet of Dinosaurs was edited into no less than four other films, The Phantom Empire (1986), Wizards of the Demon Sword (1991), Galaxy of the Dinosaurs (1992) & Teenage Cavegirl (2004) while it uses the monster from The Beast from 20,000 Fathoms (1953) in one of it's scenes.
Produced & directed by James K. Shea Planet of Dinosaurs is a bit of an obscurity, certainly here in the UK it is anyway but like any good good sci-fi/horror/monster film fan I finally managed to track a copy down after a pretty long search. Unfortunately like most films you look forward to seeing for such a long period the final product didn't live up to my hopes but I still found it an enjoyable piece of sci-fi. The script by Ralph Lucas tries to be different & succeeds to an extent but it is a bit uneven as it can moves along at a nice pace & then suddenly become frustratingly dull. There are good ideas here, the usual soul searching, having to cope without technology & the lack of clichés although I think that might be down to the filmmakers not being able to write proper characterisation as most of the character's in Planet of Dinosaurs seem lifeless, surplus to requirements & undistinguished. I wasn't convinced by the logic that if they killed the T-Rex everything would be alright & that it was the only living T-Rex on the planet, surely there would be more than one T-Rex? When it's good it's very entertaining but when it's bad it's embarrassing. However, I would recommend it to sci-fi/monster fans who I'm sure would enjoy it to some degree.
Director Shea must have been working on a low budget & I think he did a pretty good job. The real star of Planet of Dinosaurs are the special effects which are extremely impressive when all is considered, I mean don't expect it to be on a par with the latest multi million CGI work but their very good in their own right. The stop-motion animation is great & so is the interaction between them & the human cast. From T-Rex's to a Stegosaurus & from a Brontosaurus to Triceratops & the filmmakers even manage to stick a giant spider in there. There's some cool dinosaur sequences that impressed me, it's just a shame that the rest of the film isn't quite as impressive suffering from a somewhat repetitive story which doesn't really go anywhere.
Technically the film varies, from the impressive special effects & dinosaurs to the awful sound as it's painfully obvious that the entire film is badly dubbed throughout. The acting is pretty poor which doesn't help but the dinosaurs are the real stars here...
Planet of Dinosaurs was something that little bit different, the special effects are good & I found it a very watchable way to pass just over 80 minutes. Definitely worth a watch if you can find a copy. Footage from Planet of Dinosaurs was edited into no less than four other films, The Phantom Empire (1986), Wizards of the Demon Sword (1991), Galaxy of the Dinosaurs (1992) & Teenage Cavegirl (2004) while it uses the monster from The Beast from 20,000 Fathoms (1953) in one of it's scenes.
A Decent Sloppy Scifi Film
yeagger4 October 2021
Planet of Dinosaurs is a short, easy film that asks little of you. The plot is simple and silly, the acting and editing lousy, the costumes charmingly 70s (Bellbottom spacesuit) - overall, it is a couple of laughs when drunk with friends and not much more.
The best feature is definitely the Harry Hausen-style claymation dinosaurs, which look good and interact well with the human cast for what they are. The rest of the movie is entirely forgettable but inoffensive.
It attempts some depth with a man-versus-nature narrative that hasn't aged well, but at least it tries, I guess.
The best feature is definitely the Harry Hausen-style claymation dinosaurs, which look good and interact well with the human cast for what they are. The rest of the movie is entirely forgettable but inoffensive.
It attempts some depth with a man-versus-nature narrative that hasn't aged well, but at least it tries, I guess.
Interesting to watch if you're into sci-fi movies
cwhipple10 February 2004
Warning: Spoilers
WARNING: MAY CONTAIN SPOILERS
This film somehow won the Science Fiction Film Award for Special Effects. For an independent film at that time the special effects aren't really terrible, but they can't compare to today's standards. It isn't the worst movie in the world, but I think anyone watching it will agree that it doesn't have the most clever plot. A spaceship and its crew crash-lands on a strange planet. It's never explained what the crew was doing before it crashed. As far as acting goes, the cast is mediocre at best, sometimes hokey, but not completely unwatchable. The women look great. Sadly, the best looking one dies five minutes into the film. The film shows the survivors walking around too much and taking way too many rest breaks. A lot of those scenes could have been cut out, but that would have made this 85 minute movie probably less than an hour. It's a sci-fi adventure, but certainly not action-packed. I would think a movie with this title should have had more dinosaurs in it. If this sounds like a middle-of-the-road review, that's because it is. If you're into the sci-fi genre, this movie is interesting to watch maybe once or twice. The writing is below average, but the ideas strung together are some pretty romantic concepts reminiscent of Flash Gordon or Buck Rogers style of sci-fi stories. It has space explorers, gorgeous women, and dinosaurs all in one. The ending of this film has a neat twist, though. It is neither apocalyptic or wholly optimistic. You'll have to see it to know what I mean because I don't want to spoil it for you. And I do agree with the last person who commented on this film: the soundtrack is terrible.
This film somehow won the Science Fiction Film Award for Special Effects. For an independent film at that time the special effects aren't really terrible, but they can't compare to today's standards. It isn't the worst movie in the world, but I think anyone watching it will agree that it doesn't have the most clever plot. A spaceship and its crew crash-lands on a strange planet. It's never explained what the crew was doing before it crashed. As far as acting goes, the cast is mediocre at best, sometimes hokey, but not completely unwatchable. The women look great. Sadly, the best looking one dies five minutes into the film. The film shows the survivors walking around too much and taking way too many rest breaks. A lot of those scenes could have been cut out, but that would have made this 85 minute movie probably less than an hour. It's a sci-fi adventure, but certainly not action-packed. I would think a movie with this title should have had more dinosaurs in it. If this sounds like a middle-of-the-road review, that's because it is. If you're into the sci-fi genre, this movie is interesting to watch maybe once or twice. The writing is below average, but the ideas strung together are some pretty romantic concepts reminiscent of Flash Gordon or Buck Rogers style of sci-fi stories. It has space explorers, gorgeous women, and dinosaurs all in one. The ending of this film has a neat twist, though. It is neither apocalyptic or wholly optimistic. You'll have to see it to know what I mean because I don't want to spoil it for you. And I do agree with the last person who commented on this film: the soundtrack is terrible.
Not Horrible
arfdawg-112 March 2020
The movie is trashed for bad dialog and bad acting. My criticism is that they snuff the super hot blonde who has the hottest body in the cast wayyyyyy too early. When she stripped off that space suit revealing a skimpy bra and panty I nearly exploded.
She needed to do some nudie cutie scenes with Bronty.
The girls wear space suits with bell bottoms! There are some funny moments like wen a girl falls in the water and one of the guys saves the space gun before trying to save her! Low budget I guess.
The music is horrible.
Shea must have been a big fan of stop motion animation because all the money in the budget went to really good dinosaurs! Not the dumb lizards wearing rubber hats for spikes that you see even later on in film making.
Truth is, the dinosaurs save the movie and it's a must to see for anyone who is into stop motion. Honestly, it's about as good as anything Harryhausen did.
She needed to do some nudie cutie scenes with Bronty.
The girls wear space suits with bell bottoms! There are some funny moments like wen a girl falls in the water and one of the guys saves the space gun before trying to save her! Low budget I guess.
The music is horrible.
Shea must have been a big fan of stop motion animation because all the money in the budget went to really good dinosaurs! Not the dumb lizards wearing rubber hats for spikes that you see even later on in film making.
Truth is, the dinosaurs save the movie and it's a must to see for anyone who is into stop motion. Honestly, it's about as good as anything Harryhausen did.
Oh man
BandSAboutMovies1 April 2020
Warning: Spoilers
Most of the budget of this movie went toward special effects, with stop motion dinosaurs that pay homage to the work of Ray Harryhausen. Hardly any of the budget went to the actors or the props, including the Kool-Aid that was used for the film's berry juice. That said - the locations look great. The Vasquez Rocks area of California's desert has been used in several other films and TV shows. You'll recognize them mostly from Star Trek and as a result, the primary rock formation has been named Kirk's Rock.
The spaceship Odyssey crashes on a planet that seems much like Earth but is many light years away. Within moments, the ship has sunk, the communications offer has been eaten by an undersea dinosaur and the radio is gone. Captain Lee Norsythe (Louie Lawless, who under the pseudonym Leo Rivers was the cinematographer and associate producer of the 1973 documentary Manson; of note is that due to his thick Canadian accent, director James K. Shea dubbed all of his dialogue, which is mixed much higher than anyone else's) is in charge, but the remaining crew soon realize that they're up against some pretty tough odds.
Then one of them drops the laser gun in the swamp.
Then one of them drops all their food off a mountain.
Then one of them tries to steal dinosaur eggs.
Then they all fight about whether or not they should establish a new civilization instead of doing something about it.
Yes, welcome to a movie with heroes so idiotic that you'll boo when they finally kill the Tyrannosaurus Rex and win the day.
The only actors other than Lawless that had any previous experience were Max Thayer, who played Mike and his previous experience was Ilsa, Harem Keeper of the Oil Sheiks; James Whitworth, who was Jim, was in The Hills Have Eyes as Jupiter, The Candy Snatchers and Bury Me an Angel; and Harvey Shain had been in some softcore movies like 2069 A.D., Office Love-In and The Secret Sex Lives of Romeo and Juliet under the name Forman Shane.
Derna Wylde, who played Derna Lee, the crew member who dumped the laser blaster, went on to be a researcher on Chained Heat. Charlotte Speer, who was smart enough to discover what plants were poisonous, was in one other film, the 1985 slasher oddity Appointment with Fear. And Pamela Bottaro, who was Nyla, who lost all of the food, shows up in Al Adamson's Death Dimension, which has Jim Kelly, Harold Sakata, George Lazenby, Terry Moore from Mighty Joe Young and Aldo Ray. That movie, I gotta see!
Here's another weird fact. Writer Ralph Lucas also was behind the screenplay of The Child! And James Aupperle, who co-wrote the story, also wrote Flesh Gordon and would go on to be the lighting technical director for the Twilight films, as well as the digital effects artist for the first Hellboy movie and various effects work for The Gate II: The Trespassers, RoboCop2 and many more movies.
The best actor in this movie? The Rhedosaurus, which was The Beast from 20,000 Fathoms. Harryhausen himself visited the studio and gave his consent for his creature's cameo appearance.
The spaceship Odyssey crashes on a planet that seems much like Earth but is many light years away. Within moments, the ship has sunk, the communications offer has been eaten by an undersea dinosaur and the radio is gone. Captain Lee Norsythe (Louie Lawless, who under the pseudonym Leo Rivers was the cinematographer and associate producer of the 1973 documentary Manson; of note is that due to his thick Canadian accent, director James K. Shea dubbed all of his dialogue, which is mixed much higher than anyone else's) is in charge, but the remaining crew soon realize that they're up against some pretty tough odds.
Then one of them drops the laser gun in the swamp.
Then one of them drops all their food off a mountain.
Then one of them tries to steal dinosaur eggs.
Then they all fight about whether or not they should establish a new civilization instead of doing something about it.
Yes, welcome to a movie with heroes so idiotic that you'll boo when they finally kill the Tyrannosaurus Rex and win the day.
The only actors other than Lawless that had any previous experience were Max Thayer, who played Mike and his previous experience was Ilsa, Harem Keeper of the Oil Sheiks; James Whitworth, who was Jim, was in The Hills Have Eyes as Jupiter, The Candy Snatchers and Bury Me an Angel; and Harvey Shain had been in some softcore movies like 2069 A.D., Office Love-In and The Secret Sex Lives of Romeo and Juliet under the name Forman Shane.
Derna Wylde, who played Derna Lee, the crew member who dumped the laser blaster, went on to be a researcher on Chained Heat. Charlotte Speer, who was smart enough to discover what plants were poisonous, was in one other film, the 1985 slasher oddity Appointment with Fear. And Pamela Bottaro, who was Nyla, who lost all of the food, shows up in Al Adamson's Death Dimension, which has Jim Kelly, Harold Sakata, George Lazenby, Terry Moore from Mighty Joe Young and Aldo Ray. That movie, I gotta see!
Here's another weird fact. Writer Ralph Lucas also was behind the screenplay of The Child! And James Aupperle, who co-wrote the story, also wrote Flesh Gordon and would go on to be the lighting technical director for the Twilight films, as well as the digital effects artist for the first Hellboy movie and various effects work for The Gate II: The Trespassers, RoboCop2 and many more movies.
The best actor in this movie? The Rhedosaurus, which was The Beast from 20,000 Fathoms. Harryhausen himself visited the studio and gave his consent for his creature's cameo appearance.
Spacefaring version of "Gilligan's Island" misses the mark in every respect
lemon_magic29 November 2012
Warning: Spoilers
I'm not arguing that the stranded members of a starship wouldn't whine a lot, mope around, stagger from locale to locale, drop their laser guns into swamps, and get picked off by the local fauna. I'm just arguing that portraying the story of such a crew doesn't make for a very involving movie.
This isn't bad in the way an Ed Wood Jr film is bad, and it's not bad in the way that a substandard Corman film is bad - if fact it's not as interesting as either of those two genres. In fact, it's not bad in the way a Crown International Picture film is bad (slick on the surface, duller than dirt underneath).It's just cheesy and half-baked, as though they had a germ of an idea for a story, but had no idea how to tell it.
In its favor, the movie does feature a fairly attractive cast (in a 70's spandex kind of way), and some of the stop motion dinosaurs look pretty good (with the exception of the triceratops, which runs as though its back half belongs to a wind up toy). And the screen play does have kind of a half-baked character arc for the captain, who starts out weak and indecisive and (thanks to the example of the Bluto-ish member of the crew) ends up a much stronger and surer version of himself.
Against? Well, pretty much everything else. Worst of all, the sound track is a synthesizer track full of farts and bleats and comedy musical stings, but comedy requires better timing and rhythm than these guys can deliver, so it falls flat and reminds you how not-funny the supposed comedy moments are.
I imagine viewers who first saw this when they were young and far less critical might be fond of this movie. But this artifact of the 70's embodies most of what was wrong with pop culture for that decade.
This isn't bad in the way an Ed Wood Jr film is bad, and it's not bad in the way that a substandard Corman film is bad - if fact it's not as interesting as either of those two genres. In fact, it's not bad in the way a Crown International Picture film is bad (slick on the surface, duller than dirt underneath).It's just cheesy and half-baked, as though they had a germ of an idea for a story, but had no idea how to tell it.
In its favor, the movie does feature a fairly attractive cast (in a 70's spandex kind of way), and some of the stop motion dinosaurs look pretty good (with the exception of the triceratops, which runs as though its back half belongs to a wind up toy). And the screen play does have kind of a half-baked character arc for the captain, who starts out weak and indecisive and (thanks to the example of the Bluto-ish member of the crew) ends up a much stronger and surer version of himself.
Against? Well, pretty much everything else. Worst of all, the sound track is a synthesizer track full of farts and bleats and comedy musical stings, but comedy requires better timing and rhythm than these guys can deliver, so it falls flat and reminds you how not-funny the supposed comedy moments are.
I imagine viewers who first saw this when they were young and far less critical might be fond of this movie. But this artifact of the 70's embodies most of what was wrong with pop culture for that decade.
Not Worth Buying! A Complete Disgrace!
Brandonbasser-EM13 November 2001
First, This movie was made in 1978. So that tells you that the movie is going to be bad anyway.But I am not saying that all old movies are bad . Second, The special effects we're terrible for even that time. Finally, The acting was so bad, Bozo The Clown could have done it better. It makes you wonder how people get the money to make movies this pathetic. This movie sucks!
The Original Jurassic Park... Teehee, Just Kidding!
geminiredblue26 September 2011
Warning: Spoilers
Believe it or not, when I was kid, I owned a videotape of this one. Growing up, I was obsessed with dinosaurs. Read every book my tiny eyes could take in. Saw all the LAND BEFORE TIME movies. So naturally, my parents got this for me. At the time, I liked it. I was nowhere near the film-savvy guy I am now. Recently, RiffTrax came out with this one. The comments, provided by the MST3K veterans, shine with comedic gold! Revisiting the PLANET OF DINOSAURS, I now see how crappy it actually is. Cinematography is virtually nonexistent. Sometimes all the actors would be out of focus and/or out of frame. None of them can act to save their lives! A lot of the cast are sporting beards and/or mustaches (and that includes a few of the women.) Most of the time, they're either standing around awkwardly boring each other to death in conversation or walking around pointlessly in what looks like the same location. All but bare-chested Chuck wear form-fitting spandex jump suits. Yes, we're treated to gratuitous heinie shots also. And it's disturbing that a lot of the men have no visible panty lines. What? When the filmmakers place an actor ass-first towards the camera, what else am I supposed to look at?! Once in a while, a cool stop-motion dinosaur (or in one case arachnid) will thunder onto screen to terrorize and/or kill a character. But sadly they're not on-screen long enough! The rest of the time, we watch as the cast wanders around aimlessly and spouts tedious dialogue. Every so often, they'll construct something out of sticks that they claim is impenetrable, and then a large T-rex will come by and crush it all. Until at the end, of course, when the T-rex is downed by the same thing! Music is made up almost entirely of digital blips and whoops and other sounds I can't describe. It will quickly annoy, as you might imagine. Steer clear of this film at all costs, unless it's with RiffTrax or you've invited over your funniest pals. In which case, I raise my beer to you and let out a mighty roar!!!
4/10
jenkothetarheel9 July 2019
For a film released in 1977 the special effects in this film are actually very good. The dialogue is pretty terrible and most of the acting is bland and unconvincing. There are so many cliches but its a movie about a planet inhabited by dinosaurs so there isnt much you can do to make it a well rounded film. It did scare me and disturb me a little as a kid but for any other fellow dinosaur lover it is worth a watch.
The perfect movie?
Jet Jaguar 7322 February 2003
You could argue that the costumes are dated, the effects are unconvincing (at least to the Jurassic Park generation), and the acting is mediocre, and I probably wouldn't be able to refute you. This is a B-movie after all, and from the 70's no less. But in many ways, Planet of the Dinosaurs is the perfect movie. First of all, the movie is as plausible as can be hoped for in the genre of "astronauts stranded on prehistoric planet." The characters behave in a way that you can believe, their reactions to circumstances seem like those real people might have in that situation. Unlike a lot of sci-fi B-movies, this one has a strong inter-character plot. The main conflict is between Lee, the inexperienced and unsure captain, and Jim, his brawny action-minded subordinate. The conflict develops slowly as the castaways' situation becomes more dire, pitting Lee's "play it safe" philosophy with Jim's "kill or be killed" mindset. Comic relief is provided by a Gabe Kaplan-esque Harvey, the company man in charge of the doomed mission, and the (almost) quick-witted crewman Mike.
And in addition to the action, the effects (which were good for the time), and the character developments, the musical score stands out as exceptional. The score is provided mostly by synthesizer, and gives a strange, otherworldy yet technological feel to the movie. I watched this movie a lot as a kid, being interested in both space and dinosaurs, and when I noticed the DVD I decided I just needed to have it. Since then, I've grown just as fond of it as I was when I was young, and my friends too have realized the opus of charm and fantasy that is Planet of the Dinosaurs.
And in addition to the action, the effects (which were good for the time), and the character developments, the musical score stands out as exceptional. The score is provided mostly by synthesizer, and gives a strange, otherworldy yet technological feel to the movie. I watched this movie a lot as a kid, being interested in both space and dinosaurs, and when I noticed the DVD I decided I just needed to have it. Since then, I've grown just as fond of it as I was when I was young, and my friends too have realized the opus of charm and fantasy that is Planet of the Dinosaurs.
Morons versus Dinosaurs
retrorocketx21 November 2008
Warning: Spoilers
By all rights the Planet of the Dinosaurs should be really, really, really bad. And yet, against all odds, it actually sort of works. What helps this movie are the stop motion dinosaurs. There is a wonderful variety of dinosaurs, and they all look great and do fun and interesting things (like fight each other and kill people). However, all other elements of the movie are very low budget and inferior. The music is, take your pick, oddly passable or horribly grating. The acting is amateurish, but passable. The costumes...ouch. Those are some unflattering jumpsuits.
The other element that works is that there is a pretty decent story in here. About a dozen people manage to escape in a small life-ship from their exploding interstellar spaceship. Based on watching the crew in action through the rest of the movie, I have no doubt the cause of the explosion was some form of operator error. The survivors just so happen to be the captain, the most important officers and the owner and his secretary (so much for the captain going down with the ship). The survivors plunge toward the nearest planet and crash into a lake.
How will a crew of space travelers survive in a prehistoric world? It's a good question, because this group is completely clueless. It used to be said that astronauts had to have the 'right stuff.' These folks don't have any stuff. When the captain asks for the ships position, the navigator has no idea. As the survivors swim to shore, the captain asks the radio operator to send the distress signal. She responds that she forgot the radio on the sinking life-ship. When the secretary panics and goes hysterical while crossing a stream, one of the officers gives her a ray gun. Good idea! Give the gun to the freaked out person who has never used a gun in her life! She promptly drops the gun in the water, ruining it forever (gee what pathetic weapons).
After this bad start to a life of survival, things begin to settle down. Maybe they can make it after all? In between long shots of the crew struggling over rocky terrain with the oddly workable theme music playing, there are several interesting dinosaur actions, mostly involving a crew member getting picked off here or there. But hey, these guys are trying hard, and they sure are sincere! The main discussion is between the captain and the first mate regarding their survival strategy. The captain wants to keep moving, staying safe by not sitting in one place, and the mate wants to fight it out with the most dangerous of the predators, the T-rex. Sometimes the captain and the mate have a heated argument, but afterward they go off and discuss their feelings with one of the sympathetic women. (The movie was made in the late 1970s and men have feelings too!)
Eventually, they make a stand and fight it out. And low and behold, they pull it together and win! As the movie ends they are settling down, confident and happy, in a cave man style life. I feel glad for the survivors. They have come a long way. And somehow, I can't help but like this movie.
The other element that works is that there is a pretty decent story in here. About a dozen people manage to escape in a small life-ship from their exploding interstellar spaceship. Based on watching the crew in action through the rest of the movie, I have no doubt the cause of the explosion was some form of operator error. The survivors just so happen to be the captain, the most important officers and the owner and his secretary (so much for the captain going down with the ship). The survivors plunge toward the nearest planet and crash into a lake.
How will a crew of space travelers survive in a prehistoric world? It's a good question, because this group is completely clueless. It used to be said that astronauts had to have the 'right stuff.' These folks don't have any stuff. When the captain asks for the ships position, the navigator has no idea. As the survivors swim to shore, the captain asks the radio operator to send the distress signal. She responds that she forgot the radio on the sinking life-ship. When the secretary panics and goes hysterical while crossing a stream, one of the officers gives her a ray gun. Good idea! Give the gun to the freaked out person who has never used a gun in her life! She promptly drops the gun in the water, ruining it forever (gee what pathetic weapons).
After this bad start to a life of survival, things begin to settle down. Maybe they can make it after all? In between long shots of the crew struggling over rocky terrain with the oddly workable theme music playing, there are several interesting dinosaur actions, mostly involving a crew member getting picked off here or there. But hey, these guys are trying hard, and they sure are sincere! The main discussion is between the captain and the first mate regarding their survival strategy. The captain wants to keep moving, staying safe by not sitting in one place, and the mate wants to fight it out with the most dangerous of the predators, the T-rex. Sometimes the captain and the mate have a heated argument, but afterward they go off and discuss their feelings with one of the sympathetic women. (The movie was made in the late 1970s and men have feelings too!)
Eventually, they make a stand and fight it out. And low and behold, they pull it together and win! As the movie ends they are settling down, confident and happy, in a cave man style life. I feel glad for the survivors. They have come a long way. And somehow, I can't help but like this movie.
A space crew gets stranded on a planet full of...well, you know.
Aaron137526 April 2020
Watched this odd little film for the first time and I am wondering how I had not seen it up until now. While incredibly silly now, I would have enjoyed this one quite a bit as a child. Sure the dinosaur effects look a bit silly, but it is not all that bad for the time and considering this is a low budget flick. I would have enjoyed it more now had they ramped up the carnage and perhaps shown a peek of a bare boob or something, but as it was, it was silly fun and in the category of so bad it is good.
The story does not waste any time as a spaceship is having difficulties right from the get go. An escape pod ejects and lands on the strange earth like planet as the main ship explodes and soon what looks like a cast from a 70's adult film must swim to shore as the captain had to land the ship in a lake. For some reason, they leave their radio behind and a guy tries to swim for it and a girl swims to help, but she is eaten and for reasons unknown the guy never puts on a shirt again. Soon they begin walking with no real destination in mind trying to get through one walking scene to the next rest scene! After awhile, the climb a mountain in the hopes of keeping safe, but some dude wants to set up a home apparently.
Like I said, the cast looks like they are from an adult film from that era and I almost wonder if that is what they were going to initially shoot, but the director got fascinated with the effects and thought he could make a dinosaur movie instead. I did not recognize any of them and their names did not ring a bell either. This thing would have been better had they spiced it up with some good kills, but the best one was the guy getting rammed by a triceratops and a girl getting killed in the water was cool too, though she was the hottest one and they killed her first!
So, just a bit of 70's cheese to pass some time is all one should expect from a film such as this; however, that is good enough. I would not have minded more on screen dinosaur action and maybe the typical quicksand scene that accompanies a movie such as this, but it had enough to keep me entertained. I will say though, I was pulling for the T-Rex at the end of this thing!
The story does not waste any time as a spaceship is having difficulties right from the get go. An escape pod ejects and lands on the strange earth like planet as the main ship explodes and soon what looks like a cast from a 70's adult film must swim to shore as the captain had to land the ship in a lake. For some reason, they leave their radio behind and a guy tries to swim for it and a girl swims to help, but she is eaten and for reasons unknown the guy never puts on a shirt again. Soon they begin walking with no real destination in mind trying to get through one walking scene to the next rest scene! After awhile, the climb a mountain in the hopes of keeping safe, but some dude wants to set up a home apparently.
Like I said, the cast looks like they are from an adult film from that era and I almost wonder if that is what they were going to initially shoot, but the director got fascinated with the effects and thought he could make a dinosaur movie instead. I did not recognize any of them and their names did not ring a bell either. This thing would have been better had they spiced it up with some good kills, but the best one was the guy getting rammed by a triceratops and a girl getting killed in the water was cool too, though she was the hottest one and they killed her first!
So, just a bit of 70's cheese to pass some time is all one should expect from a film such as this; however, that is good enough. I would not have minded more on screen dinosaur action and maybe the typical quicksand scene that accompanies a movie such as this, but it had enough to keep me entertained. I will say though, I was pulling for the T-Rex at the end of this thing!
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