This movie is like nails on a chalkboard. It's noisy and quite obnoxious to look at. Even more so when you consider that the film was produced by Steven Spielberg, whose other Dinosaur picture released the same year is so pleasant to listen to and watch.
Captain New Eyes (Walter Kronkite) travels back in time and feeds four dinosaurs his Brain Grain cereal. They are a Tyrannosaurus named Rex (John Goodman), a Triceratops named Woog (René Le Vant), a Pterodactyl named Elsa (Felicity Kendal) and a Parasaurolophus named Dweeb (Charles Fleischer). The cereal makes them intelligent and non-violent. Since the dinosaurs have gained the power of speech and reasonable thought they agree to go to a modern-day New York to grant the wishes of the children there. They are supposed to meet up with Dr. Bleeb (Julia Child) who runs The Museam of Natural History. In the first three minutes of their arrival in the Big Apple the dinosaurs meet a tough-talking kid named Louie (Joey Shea) and a neglected rich girl named Cecilia (Yeardley Smith). Eventually they come across the evil brother of New Eyes. His name is Professor Screw Eyes and he's voiced by Kenneth Mars. Basically Screw tricks the Dinosaurs into taking his Brain Drain, the antidote to his brother's Brain Grain. This reverts the dinosaurs back to being "monsters" and Louie and Cecilia must find a way to get the dinosaurs back to being goofy.
The drawing style in the film is not worth viewing. It's wooden and grainy. There is only one song in the picture and it's not a good one. And can someone explain how becoming more intelligent changes physical appearance and the color of an individual? Additionally when the dinosaurs travel to the present day they are somehow knowledgeable about things like lights and cars and know how to act like balloons in the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade (which incidentally is going in the wrong direction). I find it a little irksome that we are supposed to feel okay with the fact that normal dinosaurs are monsters. Why did Spielberg allow the dinosaurs as monsters here but wanted to portray them as animals in Jurassic Park?
Much like Ferngully: The Last Rainforest the film fails on many levels but on one that it does succeed is it's villain. Professor Screw Eyes is theatrical and sinister at the same time. As a comparison every other character is boring and stupid. He's in the film just the right amount of time. There's nothing like a good, well-written and acted bad guy.
★
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