Dinotopia: Quest for the Ruby Sunstone (2005)

It is a performances centric movie

It's not great by any means, but it's a pretty good movie that didn't leave me filled with regret for investing time in it.

The film creates a perfect balance between action and depth of basic needs, in the midst of an infertile atmosphere.

It is encouraging that the film ends so strongly.Otherwise, it wouldn't have been a particularly memorable film

I first saw Dinotopia when it first came out and received the DVD as a gift from my grandfather. Thus, I fully admit to reviewing this through my nostalgia goggles. There's actually allot to like about it. The animation, while not Disney or Bluth quality, is both crisp and soft. Plus, both the plot and characters are really engaging. Basically, it features a slightly older version of 26, the hatchling from the miniseries, who has to find the reason why all the sunstones (an energy source) are going out. The characters are enjoyable, although I would have preferred if Ogthar had stayed in his armour as it would make him appear more menacing. Also, I personally found Spaz, a dinosaur that 26 travels with, to be funny (although I admit that the part where he's sucking on 26's nose is gross). Plus, unlike many animated movies there aren't any songs (okay, technically there's one that seems to come out of nowhere but thankfully it only lasts for about 15 seconds). In terms of critique, some of the modern references/dialogue got a bit distracting. I don't have a problem with this within the context of the outside world, but since Dinotopia is supposed to be isolated I don't think that they would have any slang or at least no recognizable slang. But for the most part I enjoy it. I would like there to be a sequel but I can dream.

Having never read the book(s) and having not seen enough of the show to judge, I saw Dinotopia: Quest for the Ruby Sunstone aiming to judge it on its own merits and with no expectations. After seeing it I don't think it is as bad as I'd heard it was, I have seen far worse animated movies out there though at the same time I've seen better also. However, it also seemed on the bland side. The good points are the animation, which is mostly bright and fluid, a whimsical and sometimes haunting background score, cute characters(with the exception of Spaz who I found irritating) as well as some suitably antagonistic villains, some good non-preachy messaging and some good voice acting from Alyssa Milano, Kathy Griffin, Carol Burnett and Malcolm McDowell. However Dinotipia: Quest for the Ruby Sunstone's flaws are mainly to do with the script and the story. The script is very simplistic, while the story is structurally thin and also rather predictable. The film is also too short and there are some bizarrely placed and forgettable musical numbers. Overall, not bad but rather bland for my liking. 6/10 Bethany Cox

I'm going to be brutally honest about this movie. It's mislabeled. I'll explain that in a moment. Suffice it to say that if you are older than 10 this movie will either cause you an emotion of rage or bore you to tears.Generally when you make a children's movie out of a popular series the intent is usually to bring young people into a fantasy world in a safe environment. Apparently they missed that idea because it doesn't bring you into anything. It makes a lot of references to the TV mini series and they traced a few of the backgrounds out of the original book but mostly they ignore all of the important plot devices from the series and replace them with Saturday morning cartoon plot devices. It may as well have been called "Kids in Dinoland", because the ideas surrounding Dinotopia are just not there, which is why it is mislabeled.Moving on to the technical side of the movie, it is not terrible but it is by no means great. The character animation is surprisingly smooth for a goofy straight to video movie. The backgrounds look alright most of the time, and the animation is mostly consistent. It mostly looks like a Saturday morning cartoon though.The story is baked terrible with a side of fried stupid. It's chock full of clichés and stupid jokes from 90's pop culture. There are really vague references and allusions to plot points from the mini series and books but they never go into any of them. Dinotopian culture is not explained at all, which would be alright if it were not about someone being introduced to Dinotopian culture.Now for some nit picking. The characters are mostly forgettable and bland, except for the bad guys and 26. There were even a few attempts at musical numbers that were bizarre. The sun stones and what they supposedly do made even less sense than they did in the mini-series. I seriously thought we had gotten over idiotic skateboarding in the 90's. Oh yeah and the ending leads me to believe they made this as a pilot for another TV series that just didn't happen.To wrap up, as a fan of animation, movies, sci-fi, and other nonsense I refuse to call something that is bad good. People use the fact that this is a children's movie to defend it's problems, but as it is based on a series I give it no quarter because when it's based on a series for everybody it should not exclude the majority of it's fans or people who may be interested. So while I'm not prepared to call it horrible because it is by no means the worst thing I have ever seen, it just isn't good. If you are a fan or passerby who may be interested (like me) this movie is not worth your time. If you need to distract a 5 year old for an hour than this may be for you.

If you're an adult watching this, you're going to hate it. Especially if you're a fan of the books. Seems to me, that's what the other reviewers were.However, my 3-year old son, who happens to be a dinosaur fanatic, LOVES this movie. He's too young to be able to watch the mini-series or read the books. However, this was a great way to get him introduced to the Dinotopia world at his early age. No violence, no risqué dialogue, just wholesome child-friendly dinosaur fun. Why look for inconsistencies in a kid's movie? So it's not like the books - most kid's movies aren't.My son has every word of this movie memorized - subsequently, so do I. If you have young children, especially those that like dinosaurs, this movie is perfect.