reviewed by: Charity Bishop
           

A magnificent, magical adventure into an enthralling world of sinister characters, ingenious animation and likable situations, Dinotopia is one of Hallmark's finer mini-series. In fact, if it weren't for a few subtle flaws, I would encourage everyone with a sense of imagination to spend several hours in this wondrous place.

Karl and David Scott (Tyron Leitso, Wentworth Miller) are quarrelsome half-brothers who have very little in common. Karl is prone to rebellion, while David is the bookworm and scholar. While on a pleasure flight with their father in his private plane, a storm comes up while Karl is driving and blows them off course. Unable to control the downward spiral, they're sent careening into the current, where the plane drops like a dead weight. The boys are able to swim free but their father (Stuart Wilson) is trapped inside. Swimming through the night, exhausted, half-drowned and terrified for their father's life, they find themselves on a massive unknown island seemingly uninhabited. But soon thereafter they meet Cyrus Crabb (David Thewis), an archeologist exploring the northern territories. The kindly but strange older man who walks with a limp informs them that they are on Dinotopia, an island from which no man has ever escaped. To their surprise, here men and dinosaurs live in peace and prosperity in a magnificent series of settlements, the largest of which being Waterfall City.

Encountering Marion (Katie Carr), the mayor's daughter and future ruler of Dinotopia, on the brac bus, the boys are both captivated by her beauty, intelligence, and ability to communicate with the reptiles. But something is going wrong... the settlements in the lower valleys, mostly dominated by carnivores, are falling one by one. The T-Rex are hunting in packs rather than alone, and the source of protection... the sun stone whose light keeps away all evil... is failing. Their traveling caravan is attacked by angry carnivores, but they make it to Waterfall City safely. Welcomed into Dinotopian society, David soon learns to love this strange and often fascinating world into which they have been thrust. With the aid of their dinosaur host, Zippo, he learns to read the language, speak with dinosaurs, and makes himself at home in the massive library run by the humorously likable Zippo. But Karl wants to leave. His desire is to find and rescue his father and make it over the rumored reef that separates them from the rest of the world. Crabb has promised to help him, but in order to make it out of Dinotopia alive, they may need something that Marion and her people cannot give.

With a cast of likable characters (including "twenty-six," a baby dinosaur, and the CGI character of Zippo) Dinotopia is both an adventure and a mystery. Some of its elements I was able to predetermine but other twists I never foresaw. Familiar and unfamiliar faces, a wonderful world of gorgeous panoramic landscapes, and surprisingly realistic dinosaurs mingle reality with fantasy. It's a great miniseries, not quite ranking as high as The 10th Kingdom on my "Most Enjoyable" list, but still is a lot of fun and surprisingly light in content issues. Some mild language peppers the dialogue, but there's only two accounts of mild innuendo and non-graphic violence, mostly involving dinosaurs attacking and chasing homo sapiens.

The only thing that puts a damper on Dinotopia is its emphasis not only on evolution but New Age philosophy as well. Become a part of the earth; our lives are not worth more than that of an animal. While it's true that God desires us to be compassionate toward His other creatures, he also has given us divination and lordship above them; we are their protectors, but also their masters. Marion's mother encourages her students to meditate and "listen to the earth," which is nothing less than Indian spiritualism. There's also an anti-gun, anti-war message; violence is "unnecessary," even against hungry T-Rex. Ha!

Visually, it's a beauty to watch and the adventure is a lot of fun, while it does last longer than it needs to. I especially enjoyed the "hatchlings," and the orphaned dinosaur baby that Karl is asked to care for. I do wonder why they chose to use Snow White's score... and the acting often leaves something to be desired... but overall it supports ideas of honesty, charity, compassion, forgiveness and working together for the good of all. The New Age philosophy, as well as the fact that Dinotopia relies only on the power of "sun stones" for protection, may keep more wary viewers away but for the rest of us in all other ways it's a humorous and delightful twist on the ordinary.