''The Dinosaur Project'' is a 2012 British
found footage science fiction
Science fiction (sometimes shortened to Sci-Fi or SF) is a genre of speculative fiction which typically deals with imaginative and futuristic concepts such as advanced science and technology, space exploration, time travel, parallel uni ...
thriller drama
adventure film edited by Ben Lester, produced by Moonlighting Films, Kent Films,
LoveFilm
LoveFilm was a United Kingdom–based provider of DVD-by-mail and streaming video on demand in the United Kingdom, Sweden, Norway, Denmark and Germany.
Acquired by Amazon.com in 2011, the service had reached 2 million subscribers. It claimed ...
,
Anton Capital Entertainment, Dinosaur Productions and Nick Hill, distributed by
StudioCanal
StudioCanal S.A.S. (formerly known as Le Studio Canal+, Canal Plus, Canal+ Distribution, Canal+ D.A., Canal+ Production, and Canal+ Image and also known as StudioCanal International) is a French film production and distribution company that owns ...
, music composed by
Richard Blair-Oliphant, based on an original idea by Sid Bennett and Tom Pridham, written by Sid Bennett and Jay Basu, and directed by
Sid Bennett. It stars
Richard Dillane
Richard Dillane (born 1964) is a British actor. He appears in a lead role of the Netflix series ''Young Wallander'', based on the character Kurt Wallander created by novelist Henning Mankell. He played British intelligence agent Peter Nicholls i ...
, Peter Brooke,
Matthew Kane,
Natasha Loring, Stephen Jennings, Andre Weideman with Abena Ayivor and Sivu Nobongoza. The visual effects for the film were provided by Jellyfish Pictures. ''The Dinosaur Project'' was filmed in South Africa on 8 August 2012. The film was rated PG-13 for some violence, terror and a brief suggestive image. The film was released in cinemas in the UK on 10 August 2012 by StudioCanal. The movie has received mixed reviews from critics and grossed $2,412,576 worldwide. The film was released on DVD and Blu-ray on 27 February 2013 by StudioCanal.
Plot
A group of explorers from the British Cryptozoological Society (and two television cameramen) goes on an expedition into the Congo in search of a
cryptid—the so-called
Mokele-mbembe
In cryptozoology, the Mokele-mbembe (also written as "Mokèlé-mbèmbé"), Lingala for "one who stops the flow of rivers", is a water-dwelling entity that supposedly lives in the Congo River Basin, sometimes described as a living creature, some ...
—which is believed to be a
Plesiosaur called
Elasmosaurus
''Elasmosaurus'' (;) is a genus of plesiosaur that lived in North America during the Campanian stage of the Late Cretaceous period, about 80.5million years ago. The first specimen was discovered in 1867 near Fort Wallace, Kansas, US, and was se ...
.
The explorers' leader, Jonathan, discovers during the helicopter flight, that his son Luke sneaked into the chopper as a stowaway. Shortly after that, a flock of large flying reptiles (
pterosaur
Pterosaurs (; from Greek ''pteron'' and ''sauros'', meaning "wing lizard") is an extinct clade of flying reptiles in the order, Pterosauria. They existed during most of the Mesozoic: from the Late Triassic to the end of the Cretaceous (228 ...
s) called
Pteranodons appears next to the helicopter, causing the helicopter to crash. Everyone but the pilot escape just before the chopper explodes. Now lost, they discover that the satellite phone they had with them was broken during the crash, Amara, their local guide, suggests to go to the village they saw while in the helicopter. Upon arriving, the group discovers the village destroyed and the villagers dead. Jonathan chooses a hut to stay in for the night while his son installs a night vision camera outside the hut.
At night, everyone is wakened by a swarm of bat-like reptiles (maybe
Dimorphodon or
Anurognathus
''Anurognathus'' is a genus of small pterosaur that lived during the Late Jurassic period ( Tithonian stage). ''Anurognathus'' was first named and described by Ludwig Döderlein in 1923.Döderlein, L. (1923). "''Anurognathus Ammoni'', ein neue ...
) outside. They try to flee the village because it's infested with the animals. Liz, their medic, is attacked and killed while the rest escape in a pair of wooden boats. After the boats get wrecked by an unseen force they arrive on a small island and decide to camp out for the night. As they talk around the fire they encounter a small unknown
theropod
Theropoda (; ), whose members are known as theropods, is a dinosaur clade that is characterized by hollow bones and three toes and claws on each limb. Theropods are generally classed as a group of saurischian dinosaurs. They were ancestrally c ...
with a frill around its neck. It particularly takes a liking to Luke. Luke names it "Crypto" after the term
cryptozoology
Cryptozoology is a pseudoscience and subculture that searches for and studies unknown, legendary, or extinct animals whose present existence is disputed or unsubstantiated, particularly those popular in folklore, such as Bigfoot, the Loch Ness ...
for short and decides to attach one of his cameras onto Crypto's neck to see where he would go. The broadcast cuts out as the dinosaurs swim into a cave.
When the broadcast returns, Luke and Charlie see that Crypto went straight to some kind of underground gateway, where the camera is dropped. When they try to steer through a whitewater, Luke's and Charlie's boat gets separated. The rest of the explorers rejoin them in a river canyon, where they encounter a magnificent Elasmosaurus. As they view the beast a vicious
Pliosaur
Pliosauroidea is an extinct clade of plesiosaurs, known from the earliest Jurassic to early Late Cretaceous. They are best known for the subclade Thalassophonea, which contained crocodile-like short-necked forms with large heads and massive toot ...
(
Liopleurodon
''Liopleurodon'' (; meaning 'smooth-sided teeth') is an extinct genus of large, carnivorous marine reptile belonging to the Thalassophonea, a clade of short-necked pliosaurid plesiosaurs. ''Liopleurodon'' lived from the Callovian Stage of the Mi ...
) suddenly emerges and attacks the group. The Elasmosaurus flees as well. Believing that the rest of the group died, Charlie and Luke continue to search for the place where the dinosaurs came from. When Charlie learns that Luke has fixed the satellite phone, he pushes Luke down into the gateway to kill him.
On the other side of the underground passageway, Luke speaks into the camera, trying to reach the other survivors via the monitor to no avail. Meanwhile, Amara leaves the other survivors, taking one of the boats. Jonathan and Pete continue the search for Luke and Charlie. In the meantime, Luke meets Crypto and follows him deeper into the jungle, where he is attacked by the bat-like creatures. He is rescued by Pete, who chases the creatures into the jungle, when he is suddenly encircled by them and presumably killed. Charlie is seen, speaking to the camera, when he is interrupted and forced to hide by Jonathan and Luke, continuing through the jungle. They follow a steep cliffway, when they are hit by a rockfall caused by Charlie. Luke tries to help his father who is holding onto a rock, but his father ends up falling down the cliff.
Luke hides in the dense jungle, evading Charlie who is chasing him, when he meets Crypto who leads him to the place where he dropped his camera earlier, when suddenly Charlie emerges in front of him, intending to kill him. Crypto spits fluid into Luke's face, when two adult giant theropods with frills (presumably Crypto's parents) appear. Sniffing at Luke and smelling the fluid, they leave him alone, most likely because he smells like one of their offspring, and they brutally kill Charlie.
Luke proceeds into the jungle and stops at a high cliff, filming himself and Crypto, he says that the satellite phone has been crushed again and that he has to destroy the cameras to use the parts, he waves the camera over the view from the cliff, showing a big valley full of dinosaurs from afar which seems there is a herd of large
sauropods
Sauropoda (), whose members are known as sauropods (; from '' sauro-'' + '' -pod'', 'lizard-footed'), is a clade of saurischian ('lizard-hipped') dinosaurs. Sauropods had very long necks, long tails, small heads (relative to the rest of their b ...
and a
Tyrannosaurus rex
''Tyrannosaurus'' is a genus of large theropod dinosaur. The species ''Tyrannosaurus rex'' (''rex'' meaning "king" in Latin), often called ''T. rex'' or colloquially ''T-Rex'', is one of the best represented theropods. ''Tyrannosaurus'' live ...
-like theropod stalking the herd. In the next scene he is seen throwing the backpack down a waterfall into a river. Luke's fate is unknown.
The floating backpack is found by men in a boat, who find video hard drives and tapes labelled "the Dinosaur Project" inside. In a blurry video, Luke says "I think it works".
Cast
*
Richard Dillane
Richard Dillane (born 1964) is a British actor. He appears in a lead role of the Netflix series ''Young Wallander'', based on the character Kurt Wallander created by novelist Henning Mankell. He played British intelligence agent Peter Nicholls i ...
as Jonathan Marchant
* Peter Brooke as Charlie Rutherford
*
Matthew Kane as Luke Marchant
*
Natasha Loring as Liz Draper
* Stephen Jennings as Dave Moore
* Andre Weideman as Pete Van Aarde
* Abena Ayivor as Amara
* Sivu Nobogonza as Etienne
Production
Filming
''The Dinosaur Project'' was filmed at South Africa on 8 August 2012.
Release
Theatrical release
The film was released in cinemas in the UK on 10 August 2012. It was scheduled for release in cinemas worldwide through 2012–13, starting with South-East Asia on 23 August 2012.
International releases
*UK – 10 August 2012
*Ireland – 10 August 2012
*
Brazil
Brazil ( pt, Brasil; ), officially the Federative Republic of Brazil (Portuguese: ), is the largest country in both South America and Latin America. At and with over 217 million people, Brazil is the world's fifth-largest country by area ...
– 7 September 2012
*
Estonia
Estonia, formally the Republic of Estonia, is a country by the Baltic Sea in Northern Europe. It is bordered to the north by the Gulf of Finland across from Finland, to the west by the sea across from Sweden, to the south by Latvia, a ...
– 5 October 2012
*Singapore – 18 October 2012
*
Greece
Greece,, or , romanized: ', officially the Hellenic Republic, is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the southern tip of the Balkans, and is located at the crossroads of Europe, Asia, and Africa. Greece shares land borders ...
– 1 November 2012
*
Mexico
Mexico (Spanish: México), officially the United Mexican States, is a country in the southern portion of North America. It is bordered to the north by the United States; to the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; to the southeast by Guatema ...
– 2 November 2012
*France – 9 November 2012
*Russia – 7 February 2013
*
Sweden – 27 February 2013
*
Philippines
The Philippines (; fil, Pilipinas, links=no), officially the Republic of the Philippines ( fil, Republika ng Pilipinas, links=no),
* bik, Republika kan Filipinas
* ceb, Republika sa Pilipinas
* cbk, República de Filipinas
* hil, Republ ...
– 13 March 2013
*Japan – 16 March 2013
*Australia – 20 March 2013
*Italy – 18 July 2013
*
Taiwan
Taiwan, officially the Republic of China (ROC), is a country in East Asia, at the junction of the East and South China Seas in the northwestern Pacific Ocean, with the People's Republic of China (PRC) to the northwest, Japan to the nort ...
– 16 August 2013
*
Venezuela
Venezuela (; ), officially the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela ( es, link=no, República Bolivariana de Venezuela), is a country on the northern coast of South America, consisting of a continental landmass and many islands and islets in th ...
– 16 August 2013
*
Argentina
Argentina (), officially the Argentine Republic ( es, link=no, República Argentina), is a country in the southern half of South America. Argentina covers an area of , making it the second-largest country in South America after Brazil, th ...
– 18 September 2013
Home media
The film was released on DVD and Blu-ray on 27 February 2013 by
StudioCanal
StudioCanal S.A.S. (formerly known as Le Studio Canal+, Canal Plus, Canal+ Distribution, Canal+ D.A., Canal+ Production, and Canal+ Image and also known as StudioCanal International) is a French film production and distribution company that owns ...
.
Reception
Critical reception
The movie has received mixed reviews from critics. Review aggregator
Rotten Tomatoes
Rotten Tomatoes is an American review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee, and Stephen Wang ...
gave the film a 49% rotten rating based on 14 critic reviews, with an average rating of 5.33/10.
The Financial Times
The ''Financial Times'' (''FT'') is a British daily newspaper printed in broadsheet and published digitally that focuses on business and economic current affairs. Based in London, England, the paper is owned by a Japanese holding company, Nik ...
awarded the film 4 out of 5 stars (80%) and called it "rip-roaring fun...Feature debutant Sid Bennett's motion-capture movie also does emotion capture. You will jump, gasp, grimace, just like the characters. The creatures are often very creepy. The Cloverfield-style dependency on "found footage" means everyone on screen must have a camera, but even that is carried off with dash and nonchalance."
Digital Spy awarded the movie 3 stars out of 5 (60%) and labelled it "Decent found-footage caper...The Dinosaur Project is good and undemanding fun. There are enough sharp claws to overcome the flaws and ensure this is never a dino-bore...
The Guardian
''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers ''The Observer'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the Gu ...
wrote 'The CGI monsters are surprisingly convincing and children will identify with the intrepid 15-year-old lad who stows away on his dad's helicopter and turns up trumps by using his computer wizardry." Katie Fraser of Screenjabber.com awarded the film 3½ stars out of 5, writing "If you don't mind the shakiness of the found-footage genre (beware – a headache is likely), definitely go see this film if not for the computer-generated dinosaurs. It's no Jurassic Park, but they did create some pretty cool-looking prehistoric monsters."
Total Film
''Total Film'' is a British film magazine published 13 times a year (published monthly and a summer issue is added every year since issue 91, 2004, which is published between July and August issue) by Future Publishing. The magazine was launched ...
awarded it three stars out of five and said "Though it's desperate to be the next Jurassic Park, there's little Spielbergian bite to this low-budget Brit flick. Instead we get wobbly cameras and equally wobbly acting from a cast of unknowns as a group of explorers hunt dinos in the Congo....Its money shots generally impress, and the breakneck pace bounds over a multitude of sins – including Park's deadly
dilophosaurus
''Dilophosaurus'' ( ) is a genus of theropod dinosaurs that lived in what is now North America during the Early Jurassic, about 193 million years ago. Three skeletons were discovered in northern Arizona in 1940, and the two best preserve ...
getting a makeover as a cute little critter that'll have the nippers cooing."
IGN
''IGN'' (formerly ''Imagine Games Network'') is an American video game and entertainment media website operated by IGN Entertainment Inc., a subsidiary of Ziff Davis, Inc. The company's headquarters is located in San Francisco's SoMa distri ...
awarded the film 4 out of ten and said "Writer-director Sid Bennett does manage to eek moments of tension out of the premise, and the vast African vistas glimpsed throughout are a joy to behold...a found footage flick that disappoints at just about every turn, and makes you wish the tapes had remained lost."
The Independent
''The Independent'' is a British online newspaper. It was established in 1986 as a national morning printed paper. Nicknamed the ''Indy'', it began as a broadsheet and changed to tabloid format in 2003. The last printed edition was publish ...
awarded the film two stars out of five and said "The script stinks like dino-poo... but for all the silliness you may find yourself entertained."
SFX awarded the film two and a half out of five stars and said "...has just enough charm to be worth a look – particularly if you have kids who like watching giant reptiles eating people...A few unexpected twists that mark it out as interesting (the running order of the deaths isn't quite what you'd expect, for example) and the dinos are a cut above most films of this nature – particularly one little cutie who's basically dino-Lassie. Admirably, the vast majority of the action is shot on location, with some white-water rafting to spice up the scenes with no reptiles in. Despite the plus points, though, it's still a cheesy, childish adventure which tries very hard not to be the TV movie it actually is."
Empire Magazine awarded the film two stars out of five and said that the film was "More Terra Nova meets Sanctum 3D than Jurassic Park meets Cloverfield." On its international cinema release, debuting in South East Asia, the movie was a commercial hit, entering the Malaysian box office charts in second position behind ''
The Expendables 2
''The Expendables 2'' is a 2012 American action film directed by Simon West, written by Richard Wenk and Sylvester Stallone and based on a story by Ken Kaufman, David Agosto and Wenk. Brian Tyler returned to score the film. It is the sequel to ...
''. On its release in Thailand, The Dinosaur Project attained third spot.
Box office
''The Dinosaur Project'' grossed $2,412,576 from cinemas worldwide.
DVD and TV sales totals to date have not been collated.
Rating
''The Dinosaur Project'' was rated PG-13 for some violence, terror and a brief suggestive image.
Music
Richard Blair-Oliphant scored the music for the film and on its soundtrack.
See also
*
List of films featuring dinosaurs
This is a list of films that feature non-avian dinosaurs (that is, not featuring birds) and other prehistoric (mainly Mesozoic) archosaurs, pterosaurs and prehistoric (mainly Mesozoic) marine reptiles (such as mosasaurs and plesiosaurs).
Liv ...
References
External links
*
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Dinosaur Project, The
2012 films
Films about dinosaurs
Films shot in South Africa
Films set in the Democratic Republic of the Congo
Films set on fictional islands
Found footage films
British science fiction films
2010s English-language films
2010s British films