What's your favorite nonJP related dino movie?

What are some of your favorite dinosaur movies that aren't Jurassic Park? Are you a fan of life action or animated ones? Ones that are made for Syfy? Lol post your favorites below!

For me, Carnosaur, The Dinosaur Project and The Land Before Time to me are the only ones worth standing out.

Mine are the following

1: The Original 1925 version of 'The Lost World'. This was the Jurassic Park of it's time.

2: The Beast From 20,000 Fathoms.

3: The Ghost of Slumber Mountain

4: Gwangi

5. Super Mario Bros. My favorite "It's so bad it's good" dinosaur movie.

Valley of Gwangi is an absolute classic, but some of my all time favorites were The Land Before Time, and We're Back: A Dinosaur Story.

Anything Ray Harryhausen really, although I'm partial to the 1960 version of The Lost World. It's one of those "so bad it's good" movies.

Case in point:

Spoiler:

Yeah.

Crimsonraptor wrote:

Anything Ray Harryhausen really, although I'm partial to the 1960 version of The Lost World. It's one of those "so bad it's good" movies.

Case in point:

Spoiler:

Yeah.

Is that a real alligator with spikes glued on it?

TheDreamMaster wrote:

Crimsonraptor wrote:

Anything Ray Harryhausen really, although I'm partial to the 1960 version of The Lost World. It's one of those "so bad it's good" movies.

Case in point:

Spoiler:

Yeah.

Is that a real alligator with spikes glued on it?

Yes. They did the same thing with a Jackson Chameleon and called it "Triceratops". I think they also used iguanas. 

Spielberg made reference to this in his TLW movie, when Malcolm asks "What did you think you were going to see?" and Nick replies "Big iguanas".

CT-1138 wrote:

TheDreamMaster wrote:

Crimsonraptor wrote:

Anything Ray Harryhausen really, although I'm partial to the 1960 version of The Lost World. It's one of those "so bad it's good" movies.

Case in point:

Spoiler:

Yeah.

Is that a real alligator with spikes glued on it?

Yes. They did the same thing with a Jackson Chameleon and called it "Triceratops". I think they also used iguanas. 

Spielberg made reference to this in his TLW movie, when Malcolm asks "What did you think you were going to see?" and Nick replies "Big iguanas".

I HATE this movie. The 1960 version of 'The Lost World' makes JP3 look like a masterpiece. Besides, if this isn't animal abuse, it's certainly animal exploitation. BLAH! JP3 was and will never be good JP movie or a good movie in general, but at least it's a movie that sorta cared. Irwin Allen didn't care at all and it showed. The fact that Willis O'Brien, who did the special effects of the original 1925 version of 'The Lost World' and King Kong was made special effects technician and that THIS was the best they could do was just insulting.

It even makes Super Mario Bros. look an Oscar winning classic.

Rhedosaurus wrote:

I HATE this movie. The 1960 version of 'The Lost World' makes JP3 look like a masterpiece. Besides, if this isn't animal abuse, it's certainly animal exploitation. BLAH! JP3 was and will never be good JP movie or a good movie in general, but at least it's a movie that sorta cared. Irwin Allen didn't care at all and it showed. The fact that Willis O'Brien, who did the special effects of the original 1925 version of 'The Lost World' and King Kong was made special effects technician and that THIS was the best  they could do was just insulting.

It even makes Super Mario Bros. look an Oscar winning classic.

I've heard that they originally considered using more sensible stop motion, but they either a) didn't have enough money b) couldn't get someone to do it or c) just didn't care.

Crimsonraptor wrote:

Rhedosaurus wrote:

I HATE this movie. The 1960 version of 'The Lost World' makes JP3 look like a masterpiece. Besides, if this isn't animal abuse, it's certainly animal exploitation. BLAH! JP3 was and will never be good JP movie or a good movie in general, but at least it's a movie that sorta cared. Irwin Allen didn't care at all and it showed. The fact that Willis O'Brien, who did the special effects of the original 1925 version of 'The Lost World' and King Kong was made special effects technician and that THIS was the best  they could do was just insulting.

It even makes Super Mario Bros. look an Oscar winning classic.

I've heard that they originally considered using more sensible stop motion, but they either a) didn't have enough money b) couldn't get someone to do it or c) just didn't care.

In fairness, there was a strike that happened not long before the movie was set to be produced so that was a factor. That being said, Irwin Allen was always apathetic and cheap when it came to the quality of movies so even without the strike, it is very possible that he would have done what he did anyways considering his notorious track record.

1) Land Before Time, easily. It's on my top 10 films overall just as JP is. Most of it's direct-to-video sequels suck but the original 1988 is amazing, and that's just not nostalgia speaking. It's a rollercoaster of emotion and wonder animations rarely achieve.
2) King Kong 1933, if you count it. The remakes have been garbage but the original is a classic, with the T-Rex sumo wrestling,
3) Phil Tippet's "Prehistoric Beast" short from 1984, again you count it. It's extremely inaccurate but thoroughly atmospheric.

Most of the others besides those and JP I've seen I hate (film dinosaurs are cursed just like sharks) although some of the Arthur Conan Doyle 'Lost World' adaptations have been decent-ish.

I think anyone sensible would count King Kong as a dinosaur movie, at very least it's a monster movie. In the second list, this is largely subjective and I'll be the first to admit that as a genre, dinosaurs aren't exactly superheros when it comes to consistent quality. But they still have a few steps above shark movies.

- King Kong (1933)

- The Land Before Time

- The Lost World (1925)/(2001)

- The Valley of Gwangi

- Prehistoric Beast (short film)

Honourable Mentions/Guilty Pleasures:

King Kong (2005), One Million Years BC, When Dinosaurs Ruled the Earth, The Beast From 20,000 Fathoms, The Land That Time Forgot.

Yeah shark movies have it REALLY bad. The first Jaws obviously is a masterpiece but besides that the only ones I can tolerate are cheap-looking TV film called "12 Days of Terror" (2004) and "The Reef" (2010) which was borrowing a lot from "Open Water". I guess Deep Blue Sea had it's moments too despite awful CGI sharks and shady plot. At least the animatronic sharks were cool and not often seen.

Everything else is either intentional trash, like the stuff Asylum produces for "comedic" exploitation cash crab, or unintentional trash that is out of it's depths. Usually all is done very cheap.

At least most of the dinosaur flicks are *sort of* trying, even if they fail.

Have you seen the original 1925 version of 'The Lost World' yet? If not, get the Image Entertainment DVD. That might be one of the rare non-JP dinosaur movies you'll like. It was highly accurate for the time and in a few ways ahead. (The T. rexes eating a sauropod carcass after the volcano erupts.)

I saw about half of it some years ago, and did rather like it for what it was. I've been trying to remember to finish it for some time now, maybe I should hurry up Considering Metropolis and Nosferatu are about the only films I actually really enjoy from that decade, would be nice to have third one added to that 'list' as well!

The 2001 adaptation is pretty decent considering it's limitations. But what I really love is the audio drama from the good old Spock & Q! They have some even better ones in their catalog, like Journey to the Center of Earth, but this one is still really good.
http://alienvoices.net/audio-dramas/the-lost-world/

I haven't seen the 2001 version yet. I did see the early 1990's version when I was a kid and I liked it, but considering how it's got poor reviews, I'm not sure if I'll still like it.

I must make a confession here. I was never a fan of The Land Before Time. To be fair, this isn't my fault. Back when I was a little kid, the VHS tape it was recorded on was faulty and I only saw it in it's entirety once and that's because I fiddled with the rollers via the outside spinner things. I did see the first 2 sequels, but by that time, I was far more into Jurassic Park and dinosaur books. Add in the fact that I was becoming a Godzilla fan too and...yeah...It was too late for me to be a fan of the original Land Before Time movie. The fact that it's been milked to death has also soured my mindset towards seeing the first movie again.

There was a time period of roughly ten years (my teens to early twenties) when I did not see Land Before Time even once or really even think about it, until I one day decided to watch it again out of curiosity... and it was like the greatest thing ever. Sure I was viewing it through nostalgia filled rose classes of when I saw it for the first time in 1995 (although not everything from childhood holds up, so liking something that's nostalgic isn't automatic) but I think I appreciated the art and style much more than I did even as child. Music alone makes you want to cry. It's just so perfect. It's like the thesis for growing up.



But I can understand if it's hard to get into later on.

Sequels were awful as I've said before, mainly because the target audience seemed to be small babies. Couple of of them were okayish, when they at least sort of attempted to play to larger audience. But even worse than the direct to video films was the TV series. It was just god damn horrendous. And same stupid singalong songs played in every almost every episode, it's like they were obligated to play them like in Teletubbies. God it was bad.

I had seen numbers 2-5 of the sequels as kid too, but there definitely was no love for them watching as adult.

If Prehistoric Park counts, then that I guess. We watch the whole first season of that show back-to-back every new year, so I suppose it kinda counts.

Mistral wrote:

3) Phil Tippet's "Prehistoric Beast" short from 1984, again you count it. It's extremely inaccurate but thoroughly atmospheric.

Inaccurate how (for the time, I mean)?

SmugTheFab wrote:

If Prehistoric Park counts, then that I guess. We watch the whole first season of that show back-to-back every new year, so I suppose it kinda counts.

Not a movie.

Prehistoric Beast:

The Land Before Time:

One of my favourites is the family-friendly movie "Prehysteria!" Can you imagine miniature versions of T-Rex (Elvis), Chasmosaurus (Hammer), Pteranodon (Madonna), Stegosaurus (Jagger) and Brachiosaurus (Paula) as pets? In fact, one of my T-Rex toys bears such a striking resemblance to the mini T-Rex in the movie that I named him Elvis.

Minmi wrote:

One of my favourites is the family-friendly movie "Prehysteria!" Can you imagine miniature versions of T-Rex (Elvis), Chasmosaurus (Hammer), Pteranodon (Madonna), Stegosaurus (Jagger) and Brachiosaurus (Paula) as pets? In fact, one of my T-Rex toys bears such a striking resemblance to the mini T-Rex in the movie that I named him Elvis.

Oh right, that thing. I had almost forgotten it existence and only remembered it by the miniature description you just gave. But now you brought it up to my mind again.

I'm pretty sure I borrowed it from the library year or two after watching JP for the first time, because I clearly remember being EXTREMELY EXCITED when the film opened up in the jungle, right? I recall thinking, oh yeah this is going to be freaking amazing just like JP, they're going to steal scary dino eggs or something and have so many adventures and...!

Then when I realized the truth and finished the thing, it was so big of a letdown I never watched it again. To this day.

Maybe as kid I should've read the back side of the VHS before watching, as I guess I was naive enough to expect JP quality. Or probably I did read it but it either lied spectacularly, or I was too excited to see another live action dinosaur flick to care of what it said. Probably both.

But I'm glad you liked it

Here's a link to one of my other favourite dinosaur movies. It's called "Adventures in Dinosaur City".


http://tinyurl.com/z8wfypk