Cowboys vs Dinosaurs (2015 TV Movie) User Reviews

Incredible

[Calaboss · 2/10 · 13 November 2015]

There are two writers for the script of this movie. Each has produced volumes. If you combined their entire life's work, wadded it into a ball, and held it up, God would come down from Mount Jeebus to destroy it. They apparently took the script from Cowboys & Aliens (itself pretty uninspired), changed a few words, and presto. Take away the 160 million dollar budget and good actors and there you have it; Cowboys vs Dinosaurs.

There is nothing here. It's like everyone involved said "mail me my check, I'm phoning this one in." Even for SyFy, this really sucked. No amount of effort appears to have been applied at all. If they weren't making money doing this, I'm sure it would stop, but it never does. Don't ask me how they do it.

In the realm of SyFy movies, this one falls between Mega-(insert name here) and Shark-(include anything you want here). It's a total waste of time. And this from a guy who gave Robocroc a 6. The acting, the CGI, the production values, all have been thrown out the window. I don't know what happened here, but obviously something did.

If you are stuck for something to watch, and only this is on, clean the garage instead. You know it needs it anyway, and your time will have been better spent.

Predictably corny with awkwardly attractive ladies, better to just embrace the corny nature

[quincytheodore · 3/10 · 30 October 2015]

Eric Roberts have been involved in so many of these B-movies this year alone and with title such as Cowboys vs Dinosaurs, you would know what to expect here. In that regard the movie delivers, it's a series of cheesy dialogues and terrible effects conveyed by entirely uncomfortable cast. This movie is for when you have exhausted every other movie option and at best might just find some comedy.

There are cowboys, and then they meet with dinosaurs. If that sounds rather uninformative, it's because narrative offers little explanation. In fact, most of the times the focus is geared towards attractive ladies that have little to no credible acting skill. To put it mildly, they are most likely recruited from adult entertainment industry.

One doesn't accidentally stumble on Cowboys vs Dinosaurs, you should know the inherent shady production, might just as well embrace it.

Enjoyable in That Good-Bad Way

[gavin6942 · 4/10 · 8 May 2016]

After an accidental explosion at a local mine, dinosaurs emerge from the rubble to terrorize a small western town. Now, a group of gunslingers must defend their home if anyone is going to survive in a battle of cowboys versus dinosaurs.

After watching "Sharkansas Women's Prison Massacre", I needed to follow up my cheese with more cheese -- two movies about explosions unleashing prehistoric creatures who kill! And, you know what? This is the better of the two. Still terrible, but in a fun way.

Was the biggest problem the awful dinosaurs? Nope. It was trying to figure out why none of the men in this town were under 40 and none of the women were older than 25. The romantic pairings were rather creepy.

Kelcey Watson is the star of this film. His intensity and over-the-top performance is great, and I would love to see him transition from cheesy movies to bigger things. Sara Malakul Lane was also really good, and she seems to be on that edge between big things and B-movies. She's been in FHM, so her modeling is known... but then she has a spotty track record of movies that probably barely paid her. She's better than that.

The real surprise is Eric Roberts. Someone please tell me how he went from huge star to the king of D-grade movies... he really hit rock bottom with "The Dead Want Women". In this film, though, he gives a really good performance. A bit cheesy, but fitting or the movie. I suspect he was only on set one day, but he really nailed it.

Enjoyable hokum.

[jackstupidjack · 5/10 · 20 May 2015]

As far as these low budget sub SyFy films go, this one isn't too bad.

The CGI isn't great, I don't think Amblin/Legendary Entertainment will be losing sleep over this as competition for the Jurassic Park franchise; yet the film is good fun if not taken too seriously (and if you take a film called Cowboys vs Dinosaurs' seriously then you deserve a poke in the eye with a blunt stick. There are worse ways to pass an hour or so if you can tolerate the dreadful dialogue, ludicrous plot and acting. Most of the actresses seem to have come straight off the 'casting couch' as I seriously doubt they got in the film for their acting abilities.

I don't think there will be too many sequels thankfully.

Wonderfully Awful!

[nrage40 · 5/10 · 1 April 2016]

The title alone suggests that this movie is going to be ridiculous and trust me it does not disappoint. The acting? Bad. Special effects? Some of the worst I've ever seen. Plot? It's there but as bad as everything else. All these are ingredients for a horrible movie but a horrible movie that one with a sense of humor should certainly get a kick out of. I cracked up watching this movie especially the ridiculous ending.

I shouldn't have to tell you to go into watching this kind of movie knowing it's bad or to watch this with a sense of humor, you should know this by the title alone. Anyone expecting something like Jurassic Park is barking up the wrong tree here. Enjoy this movie, it's wonderfully awful! Hope you like this like I did!

Watch this...

[vlkenning · 9 September 2017]

only if you really want to totally waste an hour and a half of your life watching poorly written, poorly acted crap. Dumbest thing I ever forced myself to sit through. It is an interesting idea, but deserved better work from writers, producers, casting and actors. The borrowed raptors from other films did their parts as one might expect, but the stage make-up of the deceased may have been done by a seven-year-old girl.

Well...

[rmcdon-14879 · 5/10 · 3 December 2016]

What is there to say when you're presented with a film titled Cowboys vs. Dinosaurs? The budget was probably a total of $12, probably to pay for the washed up Batman mafia guy's Canadian Tuxedo. A lot of the scenery shots seem as if they were shamelessly stolen from a Planet Earth episode. They couldn't even afford to use blanks with their damn guns. However, as terrible as the dinosaur animations are, they at least look okay for such a hatchet-job film. Also, why in the hell is the cast comprised solely of 20 yr old women and 50 yr old dudes? If you want my honest opinion, this was clearly a somewhat elaborate ruse to dodge some legal issues for a sleazy porno in Montana.

But hey, if you really have nothing to do on a lazy Sunday, I say go ahead and give it a watch. Leave your brain at the door and It'll give you some laughs.

Is this really a professionally made film?

[eddiefretwell · 1/10 · 23 April 2019]

Please dont put yourself through the pain. It is so terrifyingly bad

What is the chance? A rodeo hero and dinosaurs!

[michaelRokeefe · 3/10 · 26 April 2017]

In the movies, anything is possible. Following an explosion at a mine long-entombed dinosaurs awaken and emerge upon a sleepy western town. It appears the ancient lizards are about as confused as the hopeless town. A returning rodeo cowboy, Val Walker (Rib Hillis), is practically forced into the hero role as he and a group of gunslingers find themselves defending the town against the hissing and chomping monsters.

Val will get the chance to get sage advice from his drunken father, Trent (Eric Roberts), who seems comfortable in jail. The CGI dinosaurs are not just bad, but real bad. Sometimes acting that is lacking is blamed on the writer; but then again is it the director's fault? Director Ari Novak can only do so much given cowboys and dinosaurs...and some pretty girls to fill the screen. This one you just have to have fun with.

Also in the cast: Casey Fitzgerald, Nick Andrews, Vernon Wells, Heather Foote, Sara Malakui Lane, John Freeman and Jesse Banthem.

Laughable!

[davyd-02237 · 1/10 · 20 December 2019]

Or if you will, strictly for the kids (well those who don't mind a dinosaur or two!) the villains are the sheriff and his boss, a vile businessman who will do anything for himself and nothing for others. The level of acting quality is quite poor save for a reliable Eric Roberts (spends most of his time in jail) and a dark skinned actor who plays the part of Quaid (I think!) If you want a good movie for a wet rainy day this isn't it. At times its hard to think as to whether I have ever seen one as badly put together as this. Oh for the days of Cowboys and Indians (although sadly, the Indians were never the heroes of these films but the villains!).

Spoiler Review

[beemfx · 1/10 · 17 August 2017]

It's absolute garbage. Absolute trash. It was really good right up until the very end, and then it was like it didn't know what it was anymore. This is a film about dinosaurs eating people. No one is watching this because they want to see a human hero, they are watching it because they want to see dinosaurs eat people. The dinosaurs in this film are who you are rooting for, not some dumb a-word dude and his love interest.

Let me tell you at the end of this movie no less than three human beings are alive. Not one human alive. Not two humans alive. THREE human beings are alive at the end of this movie. It's the absolute worst.

Even at the end I was just about to applaud because there was a surprise, but then... Cut to credits. WTF? Cut to credits...

Here's what the ending should have been: The happy couple is standing together proud of themselves for defeating all the dinosaurs. Then, out of nowhere and with no explanation as to why it was there... a giant dinosaur shows up, and one bite is all it takes. Their legs are all that is left and the legs wobble a bit and fall over and then cut to credits and let the audience applaud.

Instead it's some crappy ending where a final dinosaur appears and it could be taken either way, maybe they'll all die, or maybe the fight will go on. It just isn't satisfying, and that is the difference between one star and ten stars.

Don't get me wrong there are some applause worthy moments in this movie. Not a lot, but enough. It's just the ending is so terrible that all you can do is feel bad that you sat through the whole movie for that.

Standard-issue fun cheesy creature feature

[kannibalcorpsegrinder · 8/10 · 23 November 2015]

Following a mine accident, the residents of a small town find a group of dinosaurs unleashed and running amok, forcing them to turn to a disgraced former rodeo star to combat the dinosaurs and save the town.

This one wasn't all that bad of a cheesy creature feature. One of the better features here is the absolutely fun and enjoyable amount of action throughout this, which makes for quite a fun pace here. This starts off really nicely with the opening mine explosion with the dinosaurs coming through the smoke and debris in rather creepy scenes hunting the miners through the workers through the mine, and the scene at the swimming hole attacking the girls out in the middle of the desert is highly enjoyable as well. The attack on the farmhouse is fine with the really brutal kills coming into play, while the big set-up here comes through into two rather impressive and wholly enjoyable cheesy action scenes here with their initial attack on the town. Filled with highly enjoyable brief attacks on the different establishments throughout here, from the Laundromat and the diner to the police station and finally the barricaded bar where the fun of their barricades holding along with the gunfire to keep them out all come off as really enjoyable, continuous action scenes which is all nicely interspersed with the raptors and the rex out on the city streets leading to some fun swarming scenes as they come after the townspeople while the rex regenerates plenty of cheesy fun stalking through the streets as well as showcasing the really energetic chase sequences as they try to get away from it in their jeep as they engage in plenty of firefights to combat it. Containing a ton of cheesy action, plenty of kills and an extended section of the film allows for quite an overall fun time. The other big scene here is the finale which is really exciting here with the barricade in the warehouse as the boards and gunfire hold them off and make rather good use of the different floors for some suspenseful times leaping up to take them and getting some really nice gore along with the action which carries into the big chase away into the quarry which has a ton of gunfire and explosive action along the way, resulting in a lot of fun. Along with some enjoyable non-dino scenes that keep this going, this is good enough to hold out over the flaws. The main issue here is the rather inane plot line about the corrupt, shady businessman trying to buy over the conspiracy at any cost here, which is so unrealistically portrayed here he comes off as completely unbelievable in how he continually ignores every bit of common sense, even in the form of a creatures' carcass right in front of everyone around them yet he pushes on to his other commitments rather than follow common logic. The only other problem area here was the CGI, which manages to come through on pretty much the same issues they usually present in obviously-pixelated skin, constant special awareness flaws and the inability to react to anything in the environment which makes them all the more obviously fake. Otherwise, this one had a lot to really like here.

Rated Unrated/R: Graphic Violence and Language.

Excuse me while I kiss the sky

[nogodnomasters · 6/10 · 16 January 2018]

Also known as "Jurassic Hunters" the film takes place in modern times. Cowboy Val Walker (Rib Hillis) is back in town after falling off his horse. Sky (Casey Fitzgerald) his former girlfriend and domestic violence victim is now living with the sheriff (John Freeman). Meanwhile, a blast at the mine has let loose velociraptors. These aren't your run of the mill raptors, but methane breathing reptiles who survived in a sealed cavern for millions of years, a cavern that has lots of iridium.

The movie is Asylum quality, using many of their regular actors. In one scene john falls down face first, and then in the next he is on his back. Iridium has nothing to do with dinosaurs. Eric Roberts plays the town drunk and Val's dad. Did he have his teeth bleached?

The film goes through the motions and ends with 20 minutes of campy dinosaur fighting at the end, which was "so bad it was good."

Guide: No swearing, sex, or nudity. Pretty girls in bikinis

Passes the time better than many of its kind

[Leofwine_draca · 5/10 · 14 July 2018]

JURASSIC HUNTERS is a straight-up B-movie that was better than I expected, thanks to a wealth of dinosaur action and some CGI effects which, while poor at times, aren't nearly as bad as those seen in films made by The Asylum. The silly storyline has members of a mining town attacked by a wave of raptors that emerge following a mine explosion and lay waste to the countryside. The human characters are negligible, aside from minor roles from a couple of old-timers in the forms of Eric Roberts and Vernon Wells, both of whom are fun. The film is mildly gruesome and action-packed, and although stupid it passes the time better than many of its kind.

Casting took longer than filming

[bitbucketchip · 3/10 · 19 August 2022]

This movie has the feel of a movie where the casting director and his drinking buddies auditioned every attractive person they could find. A day before production began they grabbed whoever was in the room at the time and told them they got the part. The acting is that amateur.

Not that it matters, really, because the story is completely nonsensical. Dinosaurs are living in their iridium mine and the dopes in charge try to hide the discovery?!? Have none of this lot seen Jurassic Park. I don't care how much iridium goes for, the dinosaurs are worth more.

Three stars for some solid unintentional laughs and for attractive people in various states of undress.

Cowboys vs Dinosaurs!

[Absthelion · 4/10 · 14 July 2023]

I love rubbish Syfy movies, especially creature features! The good bits about this movie are that there are dinosaurs and horses in it. The bad bits about this movie is really just everything else. There was just nothing original about the plot, it's all been done before many times, and been done better. The dialogue is standard for these movies, cheesy, forced and sort of out of time with the responses. The CGI isn't too bad looks wise, but the movement is just horrible. The characters were so generic I didn't know who was who at some points. I gave it 4/10; worth a watch if you have very low expectations, I've definitely seen worse! However, if you're looking for a good cowboys vs dinosaurs movie then go watch Valley of the Gwangi.

Ridiculous - but can be fun

[kosmasp · 5/10 · 15 October 2021]

Do not rate the CGI ... if you do, you are probably going to give this negative points ... although it has come quite far all things considered. Just a few years ago, the same budget, this would have been worse. As it is, it is just ridiculous. I mean the title alone should be a give a way.

What did surprise me a little: the acting. And I don't mean just the familiar names on the cover/poster, but the ones I did not know. They are quite good - I mean there is not anything close to an Oscar worthy performance here, that is not what I mean obviously. No the performances actually feel like they portray real characters with gravitas ... again, if I read that and watched the movie, I would be making fun of myself (I'm actually kinda doing that right now) ... but if you've seen really bad performances and acting, you'll understand what I mean. Anyway, this will not be on anyones list ... well anyone who is watching movies in lower frequency than I am ...

Western dudes & babes in Daisy Dukes fight dinosaurs in modern-day Montana

[Wuchakk · 5/10 · 15 December 2017]

RELEASED IN 2015 and directed by Ari Novak, "Cowboys vs Dinosaurs" chronicles events in modern-day Montana after an accidental explosion at a mine somehow unleashes dinosaurs to terrorize a small mountain town. Western dudes & babes in Daisy Dukes team-up to defend the populace.

Like 2010's "Triassic Attack," this is basically a TV-budgeted "Jurassic Park" taking place on the mainland rather than a tropical island. It's not as 'good' as "Triassic Attack" story-wise, but it has superior locations (breathtaking, actually) and women (just as breathtaking). Heather Foote and Sara Malakul Lane stand out in the female department; Casey Fitzgerald also has a notable role. The other women are lousy actors (term used loosely), not that cutie Heather is great, but she's okay and certainly pleasing to the eyes. Sara as the girl-next-door mine manager is a revelation.

Rib Hillis and John Freeman are effective as the 'cowboy' protagonists, in rivalry over Sky (Fitzgerald). They have a quality confrontation in the first act while Hillis and Fitzgerald have a surprisingly moving scene in the last act. I say "surprisingly" because you wouldn't necessarily expect good drama in a low-budget, slightly goofy dinosaur flick like this.

The dinosaur CGI is actually decent, but other CGI is lousy, like cave-ins, explosions and fire. The story needed the kinks worked out and some scenes are dubiously executed. These factors explain my relatively low grade.

THE MOVIE RUNS 89 minutes and was shot in Livingston and Emigrant, Montana. WRITERS: Anthony Fankhauser & Rafael Jordan. ADDITIONAL CAST: Eric Roberts has an entertaining bit part while Vernon Wells plays the mine mogul. Kelcey Watson is on hand as the black gunslinger.

GRADE: C (4.5/10)

Jurassic cowboys

[TheLittleSongbird · 4/10 · 18 April 2018]

Watched 'Cowboys vs Dinosaurs' knowing exactly what to expect, with the title (a dead giveaway off the bat) and premise the film has. Was expecting it to be ridiculous and not particularly well made. Part of me was hoping though when watching out of curiosity that it would have a little entertainment value and be a small guilty pleasure.

'Cowboys vs Dinosaurs' is not a good film by any stretch and doesn't have enough to it to make it a guilty pleasure. It is a mediocre at best film that has its good things but its bad things are pretty awful, and sadly as indicated there is too much of the latter. Having said that, 'Cowboys vs Dinosaurs' also could have been far worse and there are definitely worse films around, dinosaurs or not. It gets a couple of brownie points for at least knowing what it wanted to be and not being intelligence insulting. It also didn't leave me completely bored and there were signs of some story.

The scenery and photography are not too bad. Neither is the jaunty music score.

John Freeman, Rib Hillis, Casey Fitzgerald and particularly Sara Lane give reasonable performances.

Unfortunately the rest of the acting is very bad, especially from the rest of the women. And then there is the biggest name Eric Roberts sleepwalking through his role. The characters though in all fairness are not that interesting or easy to get behind, thanks to sketchy development and stupid character behaviours. Then there are the special effects for especially the dinosaurs, which were quite terrible. Not much personality or menace to the dinosaurs either, when they weren't being "there for the sake of it and not much else" they were pretty goofy.

Writing is rambling and juvenile, while the direction is fairly characterless and while there is more story than expected it's a ridiculous one as well with very little tension or suspense. The last 20 minutes takes camp to a whole new level and this is not meant in a good way, culminating in one of the silliest endings seen in a while.

So all in all, not good but also not a complete waste. 4/10 Bethany Cox

So bad there should be a negative number review.

[saganhill · 1/10 · 7 June 2020]

A girl firing a pump shotgun in semi-auto mode. Another girl firing an auto AK with a mag that holds 2000 rounds. She never reloads. A guy firing a SAW and the belt feed is not ejecting anything. The muzzle flash is all CGI. BAD CGI. The acting is such that it boarders on the insane. The action sequences with the quads were laughable. A totally unwatchable movie. If you treat it like a real life cartoon then maybe you could get through it.

Uh, cowboy (singular) and dinosaurs

[richardlindseycsc-94678 · 1/10 · 26 February 2021]

Pretty poor. Premise was promising, however, product lacking. I suppose that adding a name like Eric Roberts was supposed to increase it's appeal, but he only appeared in less than 5 minutes of the film as the worthless drunken father of the protagonist. (Probably the best role in the last ten years) And the cowboy (sic) was just a washed up rodeo rider. A town sheriff lacking legal morality. An ex-girlfriend with no loyalties. About the only redeeming acts were that all the bad people end up dead. But then again, so many innocent die as well. Shame they killed off the sheriff before he could apologize or admit he was wrong. Not my greatest review, but hard to put onto words how bad it was. It did keep me on the edge of my seat (pondering going to the kitchen, the bathroom, to bed.)

Yet to see a cowboy and dinosaur movie better!

[austin-46918 · 10/10 · 19 September 2021]

If you like cowboys and dinosaurs you'll like this movie.

A Fun Ride of Petrol, Guns, Dinosaurs, Hot Chicks & Bravado

[clauzy82 · 7/10 · 11 August 2021]

What happens when you mix petrol guzzling psychopathic dinosaurs, a mentally unstable sheriff and somebody on set who loves guns? A pretty smoking schlock.

The movie starts off introducing the packed to the rafters character actors in their cameo-like set ups. A local crackpot miner, Quaid (Kelcey Watson) is warning the town of the dangers lurking in a mine after a mining incident. Mentally unstable sheriff Henry (John Freeman) with anger issue's is too busy fighting and chastising. The mine's greedy owner Marcus (Vernon Wells) is willing to turn a blind eye once the profits keep rolling in. Bad boy Val Walker (Rib Hillis) has returned to the town to win over his love Sky (Casey Fitzgerald). Drunkard Trent Walker (Eric Roberts) is pre-occupied spewing up his insides. These all pretty much set up to what is a cheesy, over-the-top action adventure as a bunch of gun junkies take on a bunch of petrol guzzling dinosaurs. Please! Somebody tell the residents to stay off the streets, dinosaurs are literally ripping them limb from limb. As it says in the tagline, "Let the best species win."

It's a pity the story telling is weak in this film because the actors killed it, great performances all round for what they had to work with. Special effects are pretty good for the low budget, falls into the trap of show rather than tell, but with the weak story telling, I'm not surprised and that seems to be the norm since advances in CGI (lazy story telling). Not everyone's cup of tea, but if you love action, cheese, guns, dinosaurs and lets not forget the hot women, then give this a watch, you won't be disappointed. It's the best monster flick of 2015 which includes Jurassic World.

Just in case your letting the smallies watch it, I was surprised it was on daytime television as it is pretty gory.

For the fans of the Cheese: Final kill is a definite nomination and the dramatic mounting of a horse.

Horrible

[yopopsitsyourboy · 2/10 · 27 June 2019]

The only good thing about this movie is the actor who pukes in the holding cell. The main blonde actress wasn't horrible either who knows she may do well with a decent script producer and director. Everything else, lol I don't know, I see all these reviews of being a decent cheesy movie, I don't see it. I've seen some stupid decent cheesy movies, and I really wouldn't classify this as one of them. I really don't know what to say about this except I didn't enjoy it, but the drunk in the cell seemed like he got effed being stuck in this film because he seems like the only true professional who knows how to do his job for entertainment.

Terrible. Just terrible

[jaxxx-w · 2/10 · 26 January 2020]

Bad film and not in the self-aware or Showgirls kind of bad. Just bad. Idk if it was supposed to be funny or not but I laughed a lot at the plot, wooden acting and poorly rendered cgi dinosaurs. Best to avoid this movie