Dinocroc

This is a low budget Roger Corman horror/creature flick. A DinoCroc is created when manipulation of prehistoric genes runs amok. An engineered croc first kills one of its own then gets the taste of human and becomes a fast growing terror after escaping. None of the characters have any depth, but then they are not the focal point. We only get a few glimpses of the huge two-legged dinosaur descendant and some of the best "kill" scenes in a small budget film.

My favorite scene is of a moronic character trying to use a three legged dog for bait and becomes croc food himself. Nothing left on the pier but ankle top feet. With no real stand out roles: Jane Longendecker, Bruce Weitz and Charles Napier. Most pathetic is Matt Borlenghi and an obnoxious professional croc hunter Costas Mandylor. I was most impressed with the alluring Joanna Pacula as the respectfully feared Dr. P. DINOCROC is redeeming as a crock of pickles.

...In that this movie never seems to deliver exactly what it wants. I, personally, love cheap straight-to-video monster movies, but this one just doesn't satisfy enough. I was expecting Tobe Hooper's CROCODILE, but was left with the sequel. Overall, worth renting if you enjoy the genre.

1.5 (out of 5) Rated: "R" for some creature violence/gore, and language.

Summary: DinoCroc is what you get when you mix SNAKEHEAD TERROR and CROCODILE 2: DEATH SWAMP. Don't expect an oscar.

There are some things I can never understand. Such as this movie. What if I were to create a really really cheap and crappy looking Dino and crocodile polygon model in Maya and then proceed to cut and paste that into an amateur video clip having people scream and getting eaten by the same thing? How can anyone even believe that an utterly fake CGI dinocroc that looks completely out of place, would influence the events in this movie? I know that its B-grade, low budget and all but the producers could do better than making a piece of crap that no one will ever seen see or sit through. It just does'nt make sense. Are people really so stupid that they would sit through this? Apparently so. For laughs? No, this thing isn't even worth laughing at.

This is your standard genetic experiment gone wrong plot - a "dinocroc" is created by Evil Co. (or something like that) and starts munching the locals. The story centers on an animal control officer and her dad (the local sheriff) and her boyfriend. The female lead is quite good, but the male lead plays his part as if he's mildly retarded. It's gets funnier every time he says a line. One starts to wonder about the extremely low standards the girl must have in men. Then there's an Australian croc hunter, loud and obnoxious, but with a tender side, blah blah blah.

The film moves along okay until the ending, which is not only utterly unbelievable, but anti-climactic as well.

Overall, a somewhat below average creature feature, but the CGI was perhaps a bit better than usual. I wouldn't exactly recommend it.

An unscrupulous genetic engineering firm, conducting cloning experiments with crocodiles as a means to resolve the world's impending food shortage accidentally releases a specimen into the woods surrounding a popular lake with predictable consequences. Executive produced by Roger Corman, you might have hoped for better than this limp wristed CGI-dependent cheapie that features some capable and familiar faces. The leads are so busy getting into each other's pants, that poor Michael (Jake Thomas) is left to search for his missing dog alone, ending up on the Dinocroc platter. A grieving brother (Borlenghi) then sets about taking revenge with the assistance of Aussie game-hunter doubling as an ichthyologist (Mandylor) and Corman veteran Charles Napier as the local sheriff.

Joanna Pacula's role as the firm's chief could have been a stroke of deft casting, but she receives so little air time, her role is reduced to a caricature of the stereotypical villain. But even more disappointing is the reliance on CGI animation and post-production effects to create the action sequences with the "Dinocroc". Much of the camp quality of the Corman-inspired monster movie was in the flimsy, plastic construction of the title beast. Some of the sequences on the lake (take the water skiing moment) would have been far more entertaining were it not for the clumsy computer animation.

Co-writer John Huckert does a misguided Peter Benchley inspired cameo as a journalist – now punters will know his face as well as his name, which could jeopardise future writing gigs once you witness the quality (or lack thereof) of this effort. Choral orchestral soundtrack layered over the attacking sequences give the beast an almost unholy reverence, but the CGI effects are out of sync and the result is anything but precision or grace. If there's any redemption at all, you might draw visual relief in the fresh-faced and feisty Jane Longenecker who in spite of her lower order billing, is the constant presence throughout (and much better looking than either Mandylor or the "dinocroc").