Cowgirls vs. Pterodactyls

This is not Jurassic Park. This is not a great film. It is however, a fun film. If you go in to it with the right attitude you might enjoy it. Sometimes that's all I want.

Living in the Old West, a woman discovers that a series of disappearances and attacks are caused by a breed of pterodactyls running wild in the community, and after failing to find male support gathers a posse of women to track down and kill the creatures to retrieve their kidnapped partners and stop them from spreading.

On the whole, this one was quite cheesy and fun overall. One of the better elements present here is the incredibly fun setup that gets things going. Making their existence known from the very beginning, there's a lot to like here involving the dinosaurs interrupting the daily lives of the other citizens around the town. From the married couple trying to keep their marriage going with some sexual spice, the incompetent sheriff looking for the escaped convict, and the gunslinger getting involved in the traveling prostitute group that eventually brings them all together in the quest to recover her missing husband, the early setup on display here gives the film quite a lot to like as the seemingly disparate storylines here actually come into a cohesive whole. This allows the film to feature a lot of fun creature attacks which is all cheesy fun. The first attack on the jailhouse where the creature sets fire to the building looking for food which sets the outlaw free gives this a great start, while the grabbing of the husband which sets everything off is a goofy enough sequence as it takes him away. The big confrontation with the creatures, where the entire group of girls encounters the dinosaurs flying around and attacking serves as a highlight sequence that's just cheesy enough to come off as a series of encounters full of goofy tactics to fight them off that's quite enjoyable. The explosive finale, where they battle the creatures in their cave lair, contains all the expected over-the-top elements expected in such a wild finale and really works nicely to give this some likable positives. There isn't much to dislike here but there are some flaws featured here. The biggest issue here is the final half where the film pulls off an incredibly bone-headed happy ending that doesn't mesh with anything that's come previously. The idea of killing off the majority of the group in one fell swoop without being done by the creatures is bad enough and feels like a cheat in and of itself yet to turn it around even more so that is completely unnecessary when this finale comes into play. Providing a happy ending that turns everything around and erasing what happened is a real cheat which isn't all that much fun. The other flaw present here is the utterly goofy effects done for the creatures, being either puppets or stop-motion which blend together well but look obvious that they've created in these manners. These are the films' only real issues.

Rated Unrated/R: Graphic Language and Violence.

One doesn't go into a film titled "Cowgirls vs Pterodactyls" and expect cerebral fiction. If you're in the right mood., this is one of those "so bad it's fun" films. In places it moves slower than a constipated snail, but other than that it's a romp.

First thing to realize: this is intentional schlock. It's not an "Asylum bad" film... this is intentional camp and absurdity. To mention just a few points that happen within in the first 5 minutes of the movie:

* Pre-credit rubber pterodactyl props * Cracking whip and horse whinys in the theme soundtrack * Narrarator: "They were indeed pterodactyls... creatures, that no MAN could stop..." * Nice opening credit landscapes with ridiculously large lettering. * Narrarator: "Our story begins on a dark, and stormy night." * A cowboy is smoking a FILTERED cigarette * Many of the guns are obvious toys. This had to be intentional, because real black powder pistols aren't expensive. * They actually used stop-animation along with paper mache puppet heads rather than CGI

Best line in the movie: "Yaaay horsies!"

I didn't go in taking this movie seriously, and as a result somewhat enjoyed the terrible directing, hammy acting and ludicrous script. I actually chuckled at a few of the lines and comic bits-- which says something of itself.

This isn't a "bad" movie. It's a goofy movie; there's a major difference. If not for the current pandemic I would actually put this on my "watch with friends and have a good laugh" list. They'll either enjoy it with you or question your sanity. : )

Don't bother. The special effects are truly dreadful but they are stellar in comparison to the script.

To rate this movie would be unfair because I haven't seen something this bad since Sharknado. The props are so bad that the gun is obviously a kid's toy. A girl with a gun is an age old formula indeed but this is ridiculous. I suppose that the world needs a bit of the absurd to remind us not to take life so seriously all of the time. Who knows maybe it might get a sequel made.