Dinotopia

Two modern-day teenagers find themselves transported to the world of Dinotopia, a magical island where humans and dinosaurs have learned to live in harmony…of sorts. What they actually find is trouble in paradise--as the carnivores are becoming more aggressive, the power of the chief energy source (sunstones) is fading, and Waterfall City's senate refuses to acknowledge the problems. The world's only hope (wouldn't you know it?) is an epic quest to the mythical World Beneath, a mission in which our teen siblings play a major role. While original Dinotopia author James Gurney's world is full of imagination and rich details, Simon Moore's screenplay often falls into clichéd dialogue and the whole shebang could have easily been trimmed by an hour or more. Admittedly, the computer graphics are fairly impressive, but within a few years these effects will seem outdated and--without a solid narrative backbone to support the eye candy--the TV miniseries Dinotopia will simply become part of the video fossil record. The DVD offers a host of extra features, including featurettes, deleted scenes, cast and crew info, DVD-ROM games, and production stills and trailers, but remains trapped in a Dolby Stereo mix. Overall, considering the low price and high profile, this is a strong optional purchase. (B. Grafius)