Fantastic Dinosaurs of the Movies

My mom bought this video for my brother for Christmas one year. My brother and I are dinosaurs fans and had a blast watching this documentary, which consisted dozens of trailers from dinosaur, monster and creature B-movies including such classics as King Kong, The Valley of Gwangi, Them!, The Beast from 20,000 Fathoms, and Jack the Giant Killer.

Since my brother and I are also huge Godzilla fans, we were excited that the video included trailers from Godzilla, King of the Monsters; King Kong vs. Godzilla; and Godzilla vs. the Thing. There were also trailers from films we at that time had not seen before including Rodan and Ghidrah, the Three-Headed Monster. At the moment, we made it our mission to collect every monster film made in Japan by Toho Studios, the production company that made Godzilla.

This video is a great collector's item and serves as a good introduction and preview for classic dinosaur B-movies. It serves as a good source of entertainment as well.

Grade A

This documentary goes beyond expectations and includes a wealth of trailers for prehistoric creature features, as well as additional classics that may not quite qualify as "dinosaur movies" but are a hoot to watch. It's a very fun nostalgic collection if you dig Harryhausen FX, dinosaurs, and B-movies.

This came in a DVD set I got many years ago which also included "The Lost World" (1925) and "Planet of Dinosaurs". I had such low expectations for it I didn't watch it until now (I never expected Good Times to produce a competent documentary). I'm impressed by how many trailers are on here!

The picture quality leaves a bit to desired, and I hate that Good Times slaps a "GT" watermark on the bottom right of the frame (I seem to remember them doing that to "Plan 9" in one format or another). Regardless of DVD-mastering issues, I recommend this for anyone into prehistoric cinema, and it's an especially helpful way to get to introduced to the history of the genre for newcomers.

A decent effort, but really, including footage of lizards with fins glued on is anything but fantastic. Irwin Allen's 'The Lost World', other than the use he got out of it for stock footage for the next twenty years, is a really poor movie. If it weren't for scenes from the epics by O'Brien and Harryhausen (who surpassed his master), this wouldn't be worth watching.

"Fantastic Dinosaurs of the Movies" (1990 - 75 minutes), a documentary produced by Good Times and directed by Sandy Oliveri, presents an amazing compilation of classic films images of dinosaurs and monsters. It includes features of the masters Willis O'Brien, Ray Harryhausen, Jim Danforth and trailers of many of their films. Take a look at what you are going to watch: "Gertie, the Dinosaur" (1909), "The Lost World", "Journey to the Beginning of Time", "King Dinosaur", "The Giant Behemoth", "The Spider", "The Giant Gila Monster", "The Loch Ness Horror", "The Land That Time Forgot", "Jack, the Giant-Killer", "It Came From Beneath the Sea", "Them!", "Valley of the Dragons", "Godzilla, King of the Monsters", "Tarantula", "20 Million Miles to Earth", "Godzilla vs. Mothra", "Journey to the Center of the Earth", "The Crater Lake Monster", "The 7th Voyage of Sinbad", "Rodan", "The Beast From 20,000 Fathoms", "Reptilicus", "The Land Unknown", "Jason and the Argonauts", "Ghidrah, the Three-Headed Monster", "At the Earth's Core", "The Valley of Gwangi", "Gorgo", "King Kong", "Son of Kong", "King Kong vs. Godzilla", "One Million Years B.C.", and" When Dinosaurs Ruled the Earth ". Certainly this documentary is a collector item and a very good program for who likes this sort of film. Unfortunately, there are no extras in the DVD.

I could not but enjoy this film, for it is nostalgic. I watched most of these films in theaters, drive-ins, or on my family's black & white tv from when I five through my early college years. GODZILLA was the first movie I saw at age five, when my sadistic older brothers tricked me into seeing it. I could not. sleep for days. Nonetheless, this began my love affairs with monster movies that remain with me into my retirement years. The first SHARKNADO is a favorite.

This feature is mostly trailers promoting the various films ranging from KING KONG through the Doug McClure features somewhat based on Edgar Rice Burroughs, Jules Verne, and Arthur Conan Doyle. Even when young, I recognized how cheesy some of these films are, but I like them. The Ray Harryhausen features are my favorite. Some of these movies have held up pretty well through the decades, like KING KONG and THEM.

I cannot call this film educational in any way, but it is highly entertaining. My only beef is that a number of these clips appeared to be mastered from second or third generation VHS tapes.

Enjoy!