The lizards were great, both animatronic and CGI. Now, if they only had something meaningful to do....
A previous reviewer listed all the "why" questions raised and left unanswered by this movie; I can't do better than that. The plot has so many loose ends, you could weave a nice sweater out of them. The cast is equally forgettable. In particular, Jill Hennessy is out of her depth as the psychiatrist, who oddly seems to know very little about medical practice. Kevin Zegers plays the teenage boy, whose facial expression never changes. (Zegers has carved himself a niche as "kid who always co-stars with animals with more personality then he has.")
I guess I was supposed to be cheering for the "good guys" and hoping they'd fry the lizards. Instead, I found myself rooting for the lizards. Hey folks -- they were just hungry! I felt sorry for the critters. First the kid, tries to trap them for no apparent reason; them we find out the oil company's poisoned their land and is trying to exterminate them; then the kid's psychiatrist and a biologist team up to fight the lizards... by halfway through, I was hoping they'd eat the oil company guys AND the main characters. I'm usually not that cynical, but this movie is that bad.
BTW, the producers need a basic geography lesson. The locale is identified in the movie as "Emerald Isle, North Carolina"; the DVD box calls it an island off the coast of Florida; the license plate on Victoria's license plate reads Chatham county, Georgia (Savannah); and the credits show that it was actually filmed in Queensland, Australia. This might seem nitpicky, but it's important -- seeing the rocky coastline ruins credibility for anyone who's familiar with the south Atlantic US coastline. (And the closing scenes include a clearly visible sign on a building: "Pacific Bank"! Couldn't they afford a few hundred dollars to change it for the day of shooting?!?)
I gave it four stars because Lantieri really did do a nice job with the special effects, and because the movie did inspire me to learn more about Komodo dragons. (Also, for those who are interested, Jill Hennessy does look kind of nice in a soaking wet tank top and tight pants with thong underwear showing.) But overall, they could've done a lot better with their money.
A previous reviewer listed all the "why" questions raised and left unanswered by this movie; I can't do better than that. The plot has so many loose ends, you could weave a nice sweater out of them. The cast is equally forgettable. In particular, Jill Hennessy is out of her depth as the psychiatrist, who oddly seems to know very little about medical practice. Kevin Zegers plays the teenage boy, whose facial expression never changes. (Zegers has carved himself a niche as "kid who always co-stars with animals with more personality then he has.")
I guess I was supposed to be cheering for the "good guys" and hoping they'd fry the lizards. Instead, I found myself rooting for the lizards. Hey folks -- they were just hungry! I felt sorry for the critters. First the kid, tries to trap them for no apparent reason; them we find out the oil company's poisoned their land and is trying to exterminate them; then the kid's psychiatrist and a biologist team up to fight the lizards... by halfway through, I was hoping they'd eat the oil company guys AND the main characters. I'm usually not that cynical, but this movie is that bad.
BTW, the producers need a basic geography lesson. The locale is identified in the movie as "Emerald Isle, North Carolina"; the DVD box calls it an island off the coast of Florida; the license plate on Victoria's license plate reads Chatham county, Georgia (Savannah); and the credits show that it was actually filmed in Queensland, Australia. This might seem nitpicky, but it's important -- seeing the rocky coastline ruins credibility for anyone who's familiar with the south Atlantic US coastline. (And the closing scenes include a clearly visible sign on a building: "Pacific Bank"! Couldn't they afford a few hundred dollars to change it for the day of shooting?!?)
I gave it four stars because Lantieri really did do a nice job with the special effects, and because the movie did inspire me to learn more about Komodo dragons. (Also, for those who are interested, Jill Hennessy does look kind of nice in a soaking wet tank top and tight pants with thong underwear showing.) But overall, they could've done a lot better with their money.