Uriah43 When a spaceship from Earth develops severe mechanical problems the captain of the vessel, "Lee Norsythe" (Louie Lawless) has no choice but to crash land the emergency space pod onto a world that is inhabited by prehistoric dinosaurs. Five men and four women manage to survive. Unfortunately, none of them are quite prepared to cope with the dangers that await them. Now, while this plot sounds pretty good the problem with this particular film involves the acting—which was pretty bad. As a matter of fact, in some cases it seemed as if the actors were actually reading their lines from a cue card and didn't have the presence of mind to realize just how flat and monotone their voices were. I even had to check a time or two to see if perhaps this was a foreign film and whether their voices were being dubbed from another language into English. At least that way I would have felt justified in cutting this movie a bit of slack. But no such luck. Another issue with this movie was that it lacked passion. Yes, there were some cases of human emotion but not with any great feeling or depth. Again, it goes back to the acting. One good thing though is that the graphics weren't too bad and it helped the movie to a certain extent. Still, I don't consider this movie to be very good by any means and I have rated it accordingly.

Wuchak Remember the first 40 minutes of the original "Planet of the Apes" in which the surviving team of a spacecraft explore the desert-like environment of the mysterious planet wherein they crash? (It was the best part of the movie, except for the very end). Okay, imagine that scenario for an entire 84 minute flick, albeit WITHOUT notable actors, great soundtrack and first-rate filmmaking; not to mention replace the apes with dinosaurs. If you can picture that, and it sounds like your cup of java, you might want to pick up "Planet of the Dinosaurs."This film is so amateurishly done on most levels that the average person would likely rate it pretty low. I grant it 5/10 Stars, however, for five reasons:The picture was filmed at Vasquez Rocks, Northeast of Los Angeles (I visited this park in July of 2003). If you're not in the know, this location is where many of the original Star Trek episodes where filmed, such as "Arena" wherein Captain Kirk fights the Lizardman. The stop-motion dinosaur animation is very good for the time period and, I hear, won some kind of an award when the film was released in the late '70s. It's pretty much on a par with "One Million Years B.C." There are four (count 'em, four) female survivors of the space wreck and two of them are babes (the other two aren't that bad either, that is, if you're stranded on a deserted planet). One beauty unfortunately gets eaten almost immediately, but the other survives for quite awhile. The latter, by the way, appears to be of Native American ancestry and her tight outfit shows off her midrift and bellybutton the entire stint she appears in the film. And, trust me, if you have any doubt that American Indian women can be truly beautiful, you need to see this fine piece of womanhood. After the first 20-30 minutes I was able to mentally adjust and accept the film's limitations; I strangely started to get into the story at this point and even care about the characters. Lastly, this is definitely not a kiddy flick, nor is it goofy, comedic or even campy. It's a serious sci-fi story.If "Planet of the Dinosaurs" had better actors, sound, music and worked out various other kinks in the story, direction, etc. I would give it a higher rating.BOTTOM LINE: It's worth picking up if (like me) you're a sucker for Sci-fi survival-on-deserted-planet type flicks. Just keep in mind it's strictly Grade Z and mental adjustments will have to be made to appreciate it."Planet of the Dinosaurs" has garnered a worthy "guilty pleasure" spot in the cult/independent film section of my video library.GRADE: C+

lost-in-limbo Lazy entertainment, which leads to a good way of spending your Saturday/Sunday afternoon. This low-budget, independent feature sees a stranded group of astronauts (in flashy sport tracksuits!) on a planet inhabited by dinosaurs. First they are simply trying to survive and wait for help, but eventually decide to turn that around and take on the predators. Largely that of a Tyrannosaurus Rex who's hunting them and goes on to demonstrate quite a few crushing headlocks.It's perfect b-grade fluff, which delivers on what the title suggests. It's hard to put my finger on it, but even though it's terribly shoddy and lamentable with it's laughably forced dialogues (moralistic claptrap), indifferent acting (with James Whitworth dominating the screen) and a chintzy electronic score with an eerie experimental side. However it consists of charm, some atypical touches and technically speaking the stop-motion animation looks impressive. For such a low-end production it's capably executed. Surprisingly it can be quite exploitative in its violence too. Director James K. Shea mixes many lively moments (mainly the prehistoric encounters) with ponderous stages (focusing on the turmoil or interactions between the group), but he commendably uses the weathered and rough terrain good enough.

JoeB131 After the success of Star Wars, there was a boost in interest in Sci-Fi movies. This was one of those cheap attempts to cash in quickly.A group of survivors from a spaceship land on a planet inhabited by stop-motion dinosaurs, where half of them are systematically killed off (the people not the dinosaurs). Porn-movie level acting. Cheap special effects, even for the time, although it looks like a lot of effort was put into them.Costumes were pure 1970's, as were the hairstyles. Ahh, the 70's. I expected a disco to break out at any minute.Nothing to really recommend in this film.