Rating: NR
Genres:
Fantasy
Children's/Family
Release Date: 07/30/2002
Sound: DD2
Run Time: 240 min
Flags: Suitable for Children, Scary Moments
Distributor/Studio: Hallmark
Based on the
children's books by author/illustrator
James Gurney, the three-part, six-hour
ABC miniseries
Dinotopia got under way when a pair of teenaged half brothers,
Karl and
David Scott, took over the controls of their father
Frank's (
Stuart Wilson) private plane. Not surprisingly, the boys crashed the plane into the ocean, whereupon they were washed on the shore of an unchartered continent. While searching for their missing dad,
Karl and
David wandered into Waterfall City, the capitol of Dinotopia, a hidden civilization where human beings and dinosaurs peacefully coexisted. In fact, some of the dinosaurs, notably a neurotic Stenonychosaurus named
Zippo, possessed human intelligence and spoke perfect English. Among the many rules in Dinotopia was the edict that, once an outsider arrived, he or she was never allowed to leave. As
Karl and
David prepared to take their rightful places in their new surroundings, both boys developed a strong bond with young
Marion (
Katie Carr), who was on the verge of becoming a "matriarch" of the Dinotopian society. Unfortunately, the incursion of vicious carnivores, not to mention an unanticipated human villain, threatened to destroy Dinotopia and everyone living on the island. Decked out with special effects courtesy of
Jim Henson's Creature Shop and the British
FrameStore CFC,
Dinotopia was designed as the pilot for a proposed weekly
ABC adventure series. Co-produced by
Disney Television and
Hallmark Entertainment, the miniseries premiered as an episode of the
Wonderful World of Disney anthology on May 12, 2002.
~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
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