O2D This movie is a mess.A group of people manage to launch an escape pod from a large space ship that is in danger.The larger ship is then vaporized and the escape pod crash lands on a nearby planet.Sounds like a good set up but it goes horribly wrong.For some reason they have chosen to have about 15 characters in this thing but that's about 10 too many.In the escape pod they do a scene where the guy in charge video talks with all of them and it's just plain silly.It seems like a joke but sadly it's them introducing more than a dozen extremely boring characters.Of course they do kill off a few of them(it literally takes them an hour to figure out to stop going places alone),but it's still too many characters.At least half of the time on the new planet is spent pretending to climb a rocky hill side and it looks suspiciously like the American south west.And the entire time they keep talking about who works for who and who is in charge.They never gave any back story but constantly expect us to understand all this babble about things that were never explained.The dialogue is terrible,the acting is worse and the special effects are a joke.Did I mention that there are dinosaurs on the new planet?No? It doesn't even matter.The best part of the movie is when a woman sees a big spider and just lays down to let it attack her.Why are there always giant spiders near dinosaurs? This movie is terrible but I can't force myself to give it 1 star.

Wuchak Remember the first 40 minutes of the original "Planet of the Apes" in which the surviving team of a spacecraft explore the desert-like environment of the mysterious planet wherein they crash? (It was the best part of the movie, except for the very end). Okay, imagine that scenario for an entire 84 minute flick, albeit WITHOUT notable actors, great soundtrack and first-rate filmmaking; not to mention replace the apes with dinosaurs. If you can picture that, and it sounds like your cup of java, you might want to pick up "Planet of the Dinosaurs."This film is so amateurishly done on most levels that the average person would likely rate it pretty low. I grant it 5/10 Stars, however, for five reasons:The picture was filmed at Vasquez Rocks, Northeast of Los Angeles (I visited this park in July of 2003). If you're not in the know, this location is where many of the original Star Trek episodes where filmed, such as "Arena" wherein Captain Kirk fights the Lizardman. The stop-motion dinosaur animation is very good for the time period and, I hear, won some kind of an award when the film was released in the late '70s. It's pretty much on a par with "One Million Years B.C." There are four (count 'em, four) female survivors of the space wreck and two of them are babes (the other two aren't that bad either, that is, if you're stranded on a deserted planet). One beauty unfortunately gets eaten almost immediately, but the other survives for quite awhile. The latter, by the way, appears to be of Native American ancestry and her tight outfit shows off her midrift and bellybutton the entire stint she appears in the film. And, trust me, if you have any doubt that American Indian women can be truly beautiful, you need to see this fine piece of womanhood. After the first 20-30 minutes I was able to mentally adjust and accept the film's limitations; I strangely started to get into the story at this point and even care about the characters. Lastly, this is definitely not a kiddy flick, nor is it goofy, comedic or even campy. It's a serious sci-fi story.If "Planet of the Dinosaurs" had better actors, sound, music and worked out various other kinks in the story, direction, etc. I would give it a higher rating.BOTTOM LINE: It's worth picking up if (like me) you're a sucker for Sci-fi survival-on-deserted-planet type flicks. Just keep in mind it's strictly Grade Z and mental adjustments will have to be made to appreciate it."Planet of the Dinosaurs" has garnered a worthy "guilty pleasure" spot in the cult/independent film section of my video library.GRADE: C+

drystyx The plot is B movie. Astronauts somehow crash land on a planet with a perfect Earth like atmosphere and carbon life forms, including dinosaurs.Aside from the plot, the film is anything but B movie. It is a bona fide drama, with only one "throw away" character. The "throw away" character brings this down from a rating of 8 to 7. He really didn't fit in with the other three dimensional characters.That's what makes this an interesting film. We have genuine "drama" here. There is a conflict that slowly brews over the decision making.What makes the film extra refreshing is that the writer is savvy enough to show characters in a state of panic. Yes, panic. If you think you would keep your head in unknown territory, with these kind of creatures, you have watched too many real B movies.The characters squabble a little, but not as much as modern people, but the people who wrote and directed this can't be blamed for not knowing that people of the future would be immature. This is well written drama.Again, it's the times of panic and split second decision making that make this look realistic on a human behavior standpoint. And that's what makes good Adventure films-credible characters in an incredible situation. This fits the bill.

JoeB131 After the success of Star Wars, there was a boost in interest in Sci-Fi movies. This was one of those cheap attempts to cash in quickly.A group of survivors from a spaceship land on a planet inhabited by stop-motion dinosaurs, where half of them are systematically killed off (the people not the dinosaurs). Porn-movie level acting. Cheap special effects, even for the time, although it looks like a lot of effort was put into them.Costumes were pure 1970's, as were the hairstyles. Ahh, the 70's. I expected a disco to break out at any minute.Nothing to really recommend in this film.