Rating summary

Movie		2.0
Video		4.0
Audio		4.5
Extras		0.5
Overall		2.5

Dino King 3D Blu-ray Movie Review

Probably too scary for young kids, and definitely too annoying for adults.

Reviewed by Jeffrey Kauffman May 28, 2013

It’s getting confusing out there in niche label land: titles one might reasonably expect to be released by one label are popping up on others. There have been several cases in point recently. Lost Girl, a Canadian live action series with supernatural overtones, would seem to be a perfect bedmate for Entertainment One’s similar releases Haven and Sanctuary, but instead somewhat improbably ended up being released by anime stalwart Funimation Entertainment. Funimation itself obviously isn’t immune to this phenomenon; though by far the vast bulk of its releases are animated fare (usually from Japan), aside from the above referenced Canadian television series, recently the label has also ventured into live action territory with a veritable glut of various live action films hailing from various Asian countries, a genre some might associate with Well Go USA. These outings include such fare as Girl$, Incredibly Ever After, Athena: Goddess of War, The Woman Knight of Mirror Lake, Confucius and Incredibly Ever After. This label round robin continues with some unexpected releases from Well Go USA, including the Australian comedy Not Suitable for Children and now this 2012 Korean CGI animated feature, which was evidently originally released under the title Tarbosaurus 3D. This inter-label confusion might be even more prevalent with regard to this particular feature, for some might wonder why it wasn’t released under the Disney/Buena Vista imprimatur, and with the title Dinosaur, since the now renamed Dino King 3D bears some unmistakable similarities to Disney’s 2000 film, one which famously blended live action backgrounds with CGI characters. That particular gambit isn’t at hand in the Korean film, but the story may give fans of the Disney film a certain unmistakable feeling of déjà vu.

There may be even another reason for a Disney connection to this film: those of you who are old enough to remember the old Disney True Life Adventures series may well feel like you’ve stumbled into some alternate CGI universe featuring elements of those old documentaries, for while the main story of a young dinosaur named Speckles who is ripped from his family bonds (sound familiar?) unfolds, that same character, who narrates the film (more about that in a moment) often pauses to impart whole strings of kind of bizarrely technical data about the Cretaceous Period as well as the various other species with whom the character comes into contact. This gives Dino King 3D an oddly bifurcated feel, as if the creative staff behind the film weren’t quite sure as to what kind of film they were making. Some might even allege that Dino King is trifurcated, as evidenced by its reworked title, which may or may not have been chosen to evoke yet another Disney enterprise, The Lion King . There are in fact more than a few similarities between these two films, including a young "heir" avenging a parent's death and a badly "scarred" villain.

Playing into this slightly schizophrenic quality is the fact that the film seems to be geared toward younger children, especially with regard to both the “educational” element as well as some of the character narration. But that then begs the question as to why the film is so graphically violent at times, with some admittedly nicely rendered beasts who will probably end up giving younger tots nightmares for days (maybe weeks) after they’ve seen the film. Maybe Korean children have more stalwart constitutions for this kind of fare, but if my children were still young, I would probably think twice about letting them watch at least some of this film.

What may actually turn off adults more than wondering if their kids should be watching this is some really annoying narration, especially in the sequence where the baby dinosaur is introduced. While the opening sequence has an adult male narrator giving us the character’s birth story, once the story delves back into the character’s childhood, we get a distracting quasi-“baby” voice evidently done by a female. It’s a jarring disconnect, and one that threatens to fatally sink the film. Luckily, once the dinosaur makes it into adolescence, things improve markedly.

Dino King 3D is an object lesson in how useless top rate technology can be when more basic elements like story and character aren’t properly developed. The film often looks fantastic, with some wonderfully rendered characters that are viscerally exciting at times (the big baddie of the piece, a Tyrannosaurus Rex named One Eye, is especially terrifying). If the backgrounds don’t ever quite match the objects in the foreground, they still add a dash of color and visual allure. But it’s all largely for naught in a film that is too episodic and disjointed to ever gel as an entertainment. We’ve become spoiled in a way by the generally brilliant writing of some of the contemporary stateside animation houses like Pixar, Disney and DreamWorks, writing that often effortlessly (and in many cases ebulliently) supports the stunning visuals (and vice versa, for that matter). Dino King 3D has a lot to look at, but very little which ultimately engages.

Dino King 3D Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Dino King 3D offers surprisingly robust MVC (3D) and AVC (2D) 1080p transfers in 1.78:1 courtesy of Well Go USA. The CGI animation is quite spectacularly detailed with regard to the dinosaur and other beastly characters, though as noted above, the backgrounds are somewhat less incredibly detailed. The biggest complaint some may have with regard to this high definition presentation is the rather strangely subdued palette, something that's especially noticeable in the kind of pale, lackluster backgrounds. The dinosaurs have some excellent texture and One Eye is a neatly sinister purple color. Again, with regard to the characters, the image maintains a remarkably crisp and sharp appearance, while the backgrounds tend to be considerably softer.

Similarly, the 3D experience here is largely laudable, with some nice depth that offers a nice sense of space. Perhaps unexpectedly, some of the most effective shots are not the wide vistas that help establish the Cretaceous environment but rather close-ups where things like a palm frond will easily establish foreground parameters while Speckles or one of the other dinosaurs goes about their business in the background. There are a couple of "gimmick" shots in the film, including dinosaur heads thrusting out at the viewer, which work relatively well, all things considered. The rather subdued palette isn't helped by having to wear glasses for the 3D version, but otherwise, this is a surprisingly effective and visually immersive experience.

Dino King 3D Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Dino King 3D's lossless DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 mix is also nicely detailed, with some really well done foley effects that offer some unusual sounds for various beasts as well as other environmental sounds. The opening sequence with Speckles bursting out of his egg is a case in point, with great little "cracking" noises which are followed by the weird, lugubrious sound of the mucus in the egg sac and even Speckles' mouth. Throughout the film, there are some nicely immersive moments, including some of the flying dinosaur's weird caws that pan from side to side as they make their way over various landscapes. A couple of the scary attack scenes are awash in LFE and other more nuanced effects. About the only downside to this track is the excellent fidelity on the totally annoying "baby" narration (that's a joke—more or less).

Dino King 3D Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• Trailer (1080p; 1:25)

Dino King 3D Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Dino King 3D would have been a lot more effective if two changes had been made: the most important would have been finding a less annoying voice for the baby Speckles, and the second would have been a more artful way of introducing the ostensible "educational" aspect, something that just stops the narrative flow of this enterprise in its large dinosaur tracks every few minutes. The best thing about this film is its really rather engaging animation style (save for some kind of dull backgrounds), and its very well done sound design. If you can ignore some of the more lamentable elements, this is probably a worthwhile 3D outing for those with older kids interested in dinosaurs. Anyone with toddlers up to, say, 6 or 7 years olds (maybe even a year or two older, depending on the child's tolerance for violence) will probably want to screen this first before sharing it with the family.