The entire concept of a huge fat talking dinosaur visiting children during schooltime hours to give them a way to pass the time is the typical American response to short attention spans. Apparently recess isn't good enough for kids from the States so they have to be entertained by a purple rubber suit.
Nevertheless it spawned hundreds of millions in revenue and for a few years (mainly the early-to- mid-nineties) Barney the Dinosaur (TM) (C) (R) was THE children's representative. The show was a runaway success and the merchandise sold stupendously well.
Unfortunately (or rather fortunately) by the time this film rolled around in 1998 Barney had already hit the slippery slide downwards and the movie generally flopped in theaters. The hype was low and the response was decent, if that.
I remember reading some OK reviews of the film back in '98 but I rest assured that those critics were merely smoking crack. This is one of the most terrible films ever made and even as kids' entertainment it is intellectually insulting.
The acting is atrocious (it's got the kid from Jurassic Park 3 in it when he had even less acting skills) and the whole idea of some big, fat, annoying guy in a dinosaur costume playing with kids for two hours strikes me as a bit Michael Jackson-ish. Victor Salva probably went to see this a few times when it came out, too.
Nevertheless it spawned hundreds of millions in revenue and for a few years (mainly the early-to- mid-nineties) Barney the Dinosaur (TM) (C) (R) was THE children's representative. The show was a runaway success and the merchandise sold stupendously well.
Unfortunately (or rather fortunately) by the time this film rolled around in 1998 Barney had already hit the slippery slide downwards and the movie generally flopped in theaters. The hype was low and the response was decent, if that.
I remember reading some OK reviews of the film back in '98 but I rest assured that those critics were merely smoking crack. This is one of the most terrible films ever made and even as kids' entertainment it is intellectually insulting.
The acting is atrocious (it's got the kid from Jurassic Park 3 in it when he had even less acting skills) and the whole idea of some big, fat, annoying guy in a dinosaur costume playing with kids for two hours strikes me as a bit Michael Jackson-ish. Victor Salva probably went to see this a few times when it came out, too.