Phillemos Review of Dinocroc

Dinocroc (2004)

I'm not sure what DinoCroc is, but I'd like to unleash DinoCroc on the people who made "Savage Planet"

[5/10 · 13 August 2006]

The problem with DinoCroc is, it looks too much like a dinosaur for killer-crocodile-movie fans to get into it, and it looks too much like a crocodile for killer-dinosaur-movie fans to get into it. I'm not quite sure exactly what it is. At the beginning of the movie, the woman who's in charge of monitoring the baby DinoCroc in captivity walks past a sign that says "Sarcosuchus imperator," which DinoCroc is definitely not. Sarcosuchus was a prehistoric crocodile that looked like, well, a giant crocodile. This DinoCroc spends most of the movie walking on two legs like a dinosaur. ("I knew Sarcosuchus. Sarcosuchus was a friend of mine. DinoCroc, you're no Sarcosuchus.") It's disappointing that the aforementioned young lady is the first to get killed when DinoCroc escapes, because she's quite attractive. Her role as heroine is taken over by town Animal Control Officer Diane Harper, whom unfortunately isn't as cute. Her wannabe boyfriend Tom Banning is a real wuss and you're kind of rooting against him. His little brother Michael spends the whole movie looking for his lost, three-legged dog Lucky (the assumption is that Lucky was an early DinoCroc victim), and you're kind of rooting against the kid too. So when Michael gets tweaked because Big Brother is trying to get it on with Diane late one night, and decides to head out into the wilderness to continue the search for Lucky, you kind of want Michael to stumble upon a hungry DinoCroc. Sure enough... This movie also has the mad scientist from the amoral genetic research company, the "crocodile expert" who thinks he knows how to capture/kill it, the sheriff who doesn't want anyone else to tell him how to handle the situation and all the usual monster-gone-amok movie stereotypes. There's also a Beethoven/opera musical score that is played as background music whenever DinoCroc is stalking a potential victim. Weird, yet inexplicably it works very well in this movie. Overall, despite all the ranting, you could do a lot worse making a killer-dinosaur/crocodile movie than this. DinoCroc moves at a fast and lively pace, there are no boring stretches to speak of. The monster effects aren't "Jurassic Park" quality, but are better than most lower-budget monster movies. The ending falls a little into the "we need to find a REALLY creative way to kill it" mode, but it would be kind of boring and anti-climactic if they just dropped a nuclear bomb on it. And of course, the ending leaves the door slightly ajar for "DinoCroc 2." As far as movies you'll see on SciFi Channel (I don't believe this was a "SciFi Original" movie that they produced themselves, but a "SciFi Premier" where they buy the rights to an already made movie and make it the centerpiece of their Saturday night movie lineup), this is one of the better ones.