FILM: Walking With Dinosaurs 3D
DIRECTOR: Neil Nightingale, Barry Cook
CAST: Karl Urban, Angourie Rice, Charlie Rowe
Voiceovers: John Leguizamo, Justin Long, Tiya Sircar, Skyler Stone
From the hearth of BBC Earth Films, “Walking The Dinosaurs” is an edutainment film that educates the audience about animals, particularly the dinosaurs that wandered on the surface of the planet, about 70 million years ago, during the Creataceous period.
This is not a documentary film. In fact, it is a charming love story bordered around the hero’s journey of existence. It exposes the dinosaurs’ survival instincts in a truthful and convincing manner.
The film starts off with a present-day scene, where Paleontologist Zack (Karl Urban) tugs along his niece Jade (Angourie Rice) and disinterested nephew Ricky (Charlie Rowe) to the Alaskan hinterland to excavate and study a dinosaur tooth in his custody.
On the outskirts of the forested land, Ricky encounters Alex (John Leguizamo), a talking crow who tells him, “Every fossil tells a story. It opens a window to the ancient past.”
With this, Alex morphs into an Alexornis, or a sort of prehistoric parrot and zooms into the sky teleporting the audience to the prehistoric period.
Here, Alex introduces the audience to Patchi, (Justin Long) a baby Pachyrhinosaurus and his tribe.
The Pachyrhinosaurus is a strange choice for heroism. This dinosaur, which looks like a rhinoceros, has a thick skin, a bulbous nose and several horns, one of them growing from a tuft of flesh that blooms on its head like a thick leaf.
Patchi, who is the weakest among the litter, lacks in size but makes up with his courage. During one of his early adventurous exposures, he acquires a hole in his crown thus making him unique.
He often stumbles along behind the herd, occasionally being tormented by his older alpha sibling Scowler (Skyler Stone).
Apart from the Pachyrhinosaurus, there are a plethora of dinosaurs and other wildlife creatures that keep you glued to the screen. The most prominent and magnificent of the lot are the lizard hipped dinosaurs, the two and a half tonnes, fierce looking Gorgosaurus and the duck-billed Edmontonsaurus.
The film shows the rugged and harsh realities of nature’s survival dispositions. To make the film palpable, the plot involves family bonding, romance between Patchi and Juniper (Tiya Sircar), a Pachyrhinosaurus from another tribe, and team spirit.
John Collee’s screenplay is simple and uncomplicated, keeping in mind that it is targeting kids.
But, unfortunately, the narration is verbose and continuous, and thus one tends to be attentive in order to ensure that you do not miss a vital link.
Dialogues like, “When life gives you lemons, make lemonade.” or “They are going to have a dinner party and you are going to be the main course,” bring in the wry British humour.
The images provided by director of photography, John Brooks are life-like and real.
The animated, computer generated images seem so authentic that it makes you believe you are in that era.
The wide-angled images capturing the migrating herds look amazingly naturalistic.
The 3D effects are very effective especially in the scene where Patchi shrugs off the crab or when the omnivorous squirrel jumps to catch its prey. These scenes are out of the ordinary.
The background score too is engaging. The vocals are lively and especially the last number “Live like a warrior,” invigorates a sense of heroism.
Directors Neil Nightingale and Barry Cook’s “Walking With Dinosaurs” is indeed a gorgeous visual feast that would delight kids. (IANS)
FILM:Jackpot
DIRECTOR: Kaizad Gustad
CAST: Naseeruddin Shah, Sachiin Joshi and Sunny Leone
So here’s the bottom line. Sunny Leone hardly ever strips in “Jackpot”.
The film is not about skin show. It’s more about scratching smooth surfaces to get to the evil avaricious core of the human heart. Everyone is greedy in Kaizad Gustad’s film, some more than the others. And every character is an imposter.
If you like films where a briefcase stashed with currency notes is tossed around with the cast in frenetic pursuit (think Guy Ritchie), then this is the film you would probably want to check out.
Noire cinema gets a twist in the tale. Ten years after his controversial and colourful “Boom”, Gustad takes us on a Goan caper.
Shot with dexterity by Artur Zurawski in rain-drenched boats and the dockside desolation of Goa “Jackpot” is the kind of wild gambit of one-upmanship where heroes and wimps exchange places so swiftly and suddenly you don’t know who is doing what. And to whom.
There are three main characters – let’s just call them the Boss (Naseeruddin Shah), his moll (Sunny Leone) and the Boss’ right hand man Francis (Sachiin Joshi).
The tightly packed episodes of the spiralling plot leave very little room for porous moments. There is no breathing space in the narration. Gustad piles up ‘atmosphere’ so aggressively, you fear the narration may collapse.
At 90 minutes “Jackpot” clocks quite a curious yarn, more notable for what it attempts than what it actually achieves.
The narration dares damnation with episodes from the lives of the three main characters going back and forth as if time never really mattered to people who are on the road to monetary salvation.
It’s all very confounding.
Gustad, who last made the badly received “Boom”, does a ritzy take on the noire genre.
Admittedly he lends an erotic edge to the game of one-upmanship with the Goan monsoon lending a sizzle and a drizzle that remain sadly unmatched by Leone’s voluptuous presence.
Sachiin, toned up physically and underplaying his charlatan’s part, and Leone can’t seem to keep their hands off one another.
Naseer in an interesting blonde Bob Marley hairstyle brings a wicked gleam into every frame.
And yes, he is in almost every frame probably trying to make sense of the plot the way he did while shooting for M.F. Hussain’s “Gaja Gamini”.
There are as many coils, twists and tangles in the film’s plot as there are in Naseer’s wig, though the plot is not half as riveting as Naseer’s hair.
Sadly the stylish packaging and striking cinematography remain unsupported by the plot and characters. Neither are interesting or dangerous enough to be endearing in their immorality.
Sorry, it just doesn’t add up. (IANS)