Going to a planet of dinosaurs is not just an idea the bad reboot of Turok but the main plot of two different movies almost 50 years apart. This means it must be a winning formula. The first is more explicit with its title as Planet of Dinosaurs from 1977 and 65 a bit more subtle with it just being the reference of how many millions of years dinosaurs died off on the planet. Sci-Fi meets dinosaurs is a good combination. They’re definitely different movies but at the same time they do share some ideas in the end. How do they fare? Well neither is amazing though there’s stuff you can rescue from both of them.
65 (2023)
I remember this movie coming out of nowhere with a trailer, it was not on my radar and boom it was coming out in just a few months. The trailer made it seem like it could be something really unique and I always saw it as it taking place in the world of Terra Nova based off the trailers. We get the story of a space ship stranded in a planet because reasons. The CG is pretty decent and Adam driver is a good actor, the movie has potential and we see the struggles he has to go through. It’s a problem that it’s only a cast of 2 since it doesn’t allow for casualties or more intriguing plot.
The two characters just aren’t that interesting and the plot doesn’t go too many places. The dinosaurs are alright I can’t say I loved or hated them take that as you wish. It has some interesting scenes but overall the plot is too thin to keep you invested during the whole movie. I wish there was something more to the movie, whether great action scenes and dialog. As long as you have an interesting set up you can have more.
Realizing your loved ones are gone forever. He carries the movie, but he can’t do it alone. The concept might be neat but there’s not enough there. Too serious, some nice camera and effects, but no interesting music or set pieces to build the tension. I think it needs more. I mean it’s pretty intense. Lizard alien dinos. I want to love it but its hard. Ends with the meteorite.
Planet of Dinosaurs 1977
Another sci-fi movie where the space ship gets stuck on a planet. The crew knows it’s dangerous and they don’t know why. Well we know it’s because of the budget but this actually helps the build tension in a way so it’s not all bad, just like Jaws. The totally rad 70s outfits make this a fun futuristic setting. They have stop motion dinosaurs and they’re pretty damn decent. In fact I was very impressed. I’m guessing a lot of the budget went into them as they’re very short scenes but at least we got those scenes that save the movey from just being all around bad.
The story in general is not that great, a fight between leadership doesn’t work since the acting is so bad. Some stuff doesn’t make sense like a girl just strips to a bikini to go on the lake and she dies and no one seems to care, but they care when others die later. At least since there is a bigger cast there’s more room for characters to die. The story is not great though and the drama dynamics isn’t done well. The dialog is also pretty bad. I don’t know it’s hard to get through but they had some decent ideas here and there. With the right polish this could’ve been a classic.
Overall neither movie is going to do much for anyone, but I think dinosaur fans might have enough in there to at least want to check them out. I’m sure this plot will be repeated again in the future. Perhaps in 50 years they can get a better formula in. I mean it’s bound to happen, space ships randomly crash on planets all the time, why won’t it be one full of dinosaurs?