ReelBob: ‘Jurassic Island’ ★

By Bob Bloom

As a kid growing up in New York, I used to love dinosaur movies. My favorite was “One Million B.C.,” a 1940 feature made by the Hal Roach Studio, which was better known for its Laurel & Hardy and Little Rascals comedy shorts.

The creature effects in “One Million B.C.” were primitive — basically it was lizards with fins glued onto them and shot in slow motion as well as one sequence with an actor in a dinosaur costume.

A similar method was used in 1948’s “Unknown Island,” which had men in two-legged dinosaur costumes walking around a primitive landscape.

Even at a young age, I realized the special effects in these movies were cheesy, but that did not deter my enjoyment.

Today’s CGI effects provide more realistic dinosaurs — and many more movies that take advantage of the technology to display them.

Since the release of 1995’s “Jurassic Park,” dinosaur movies have taken on a life of their own — with sequels and rip-offs.

“Jurassic Island” leans more toward that latter category. The feature looks and plays like a college film school project or like a group of “Jurassic Park” fans who pooled their meager resources to create their own movie.

And while they get an “A” for effort, honestly, “Jurassic Island” is a mess. The movie has no sense of geography, which is a problem since it deals with a “lost island” that Ava (Sarah T. Cohen) wants to find since she believes it is where are archaeologist father — as well as her grandfather years earlier — disappeared.

The island’s topography looks like an English woodland; it fails to suggest a primitive or lost world vibe.

Rummaging through her father’s papers, Ava’s boyfriend, Luke (Alistair Stoneman), finds a map that conveniently shows the location of the island.

So, recruiting a couple of friends and renting a boat skippered by a captain who seems to be molded from Quint of “Jaws,” only younger, they set out. And before you know it, they arrive at the island.

For a lost island, it was an easy, no-hassle and quick trip to find.

Once on the island, Ava and her friends begin searching for her father. It’s at this juncture the movie diverges, adding a subplot about an insect-leech-like creature that attaches itself to people, infecting them with some sort of virus that turns their eyes black and transforms them into raging killers.

Just think of this as a dinosaur adventure meeting up with “The Walking Dead.”

The movie’s special effects are rudimentary; the matte work inserting the dinosaurs onto the picture are better than the work done by Bert I. Gordon in his 1950s and ’60s creature features, but just barely.

“Jurassic Island” is thankfully a short 77 minutes, so you can slog through it quickly. The main takeaway from the film is the passion shown by director Dominic Nutter, writers Tom Jolliffe, Scott Jeffrey and Dom Ellis, their special effects person, Stephanie Harrison, and the rest of their crew to use the tools available to them to create their own prehistoric world.

I am a founding member of the Indiana Film Journalists Association. I review movies, 4K UHD, Blu-rays and DVDs for ReelBob (ReelBob.com), The Film Yap and other print and online publications. I can be reached by email at bobbloomjc@gmail.com. You also can follow me on Twitter @ReelBobBloom and on Facebook at ReelBob.com or the Indiana Film Journalists Association. My movie reviews also can be found at Rotten Tomatoes: www.rottentomatoes.com.

JURASSIC ISLAND
1 star out of 4
Not rated, bloody violence, language