Solidrariol Am I Missing Something?

Comwayon A Disappointing Continuation

Ketrivie It isn't all that great, actually. Really cheesy and very predicable of how certain scenes are gonna turn play out. However, I guess that's the charm of it all, because I would consider this one of my guilty pleasures.

Payno I think this is a new genre that they're all sort of working their way through it and haven't got all the kinks worked out yet but it's a genre that works for me.

ultramatt2000-1 The year was 1918, a century ago. This was the first movie to have scenes that combine live-action with stop-motion animation. The scenes were intercut because there was no split screen effects and no special projectors. We get to see a T-Rex for the first time, a Brontosaurus, a Triceratops, and for the first time, a Diatryma which is a prehistoric flightless bird. It is one of the those stories where a guy dreams he meets the ghost of Mad Dick (played by Willis O'Brien, who did the dinosaur effects for this film), who shows him a device that can see through time. When the Tyrannosaur sees him he chases him and it turns out to be a dream. Whoop-dee-freakin'-doo. End it by all means of Lewis Carroll. While the ending is meh, you got to admit that the only good parts here are the stop-motion dinosaurs by Willis O'Brien. To know more about the classic, I suggest you read the book, "Silent Roar." Not rated but it contains some blood.

Woodyanders A man (co-writer Herbert M. Dawley) ventures into the woods with his friend and a dog. The guy has a dream in which he encounters the ghost of an old hermit (director and legendary special effects artist Willis H. O'Brien) with a magic telescope that enables the guy to see dinosaurs back in prehistoric times. Told as a simple and straightforward little story by an uncle to his nephews sans any pretense, this picture manages to vividly capture a true sense of awe and wonder in an innocent and appealing way. Moreover, O'Brien not only makes good use of the sweeping valley location, but also maintains both a steady pace and a pleasant tone throughout. The stop-motion animation creatures all look pretty cool: A brontosaurus, a giant bird, a triceratops, and the ever-popular Tyrannosaurus Rex, which fights, kills, and eats the triceratops before chasing after our hero. In addition, O'Brien's special effects still hold up really well and are quite impressive for the period (O'Brien also deserves extra praise for his accurate rendering of the dinosaurs as large lumbering beasts). A fun vintage silent movie.

Michael_Elliott Ghost of Slumber Mountain, The (1918) *** (out of 4) A man travels to Slumber Mountain where he encounters a ghost who takes him to a part of the island where dinosaurs rule. This short film by Willis H. O'Brien starts off very slow but when the stop motion starts up things pick up some. The highlight includes a T-Rex eating another dinosaur and then another scene where the T-Rex is shot in the head. O'Brien also plays the ghost in the film. If you're a fan of The Lost World or King Kong then you should enjoy this film.The movie is now available on a few public domain releases but the quality is pretty poor. Turner Classic Movies shows a restored print from time to time.

Robert Reynolds This short hasn't aged well-and I don't simply mean film stock aging either. The plot, the script and the idea are now creaky. Given that Willis O'Brien was part of the technical crew on King Kong some 15 years later, the stop-motion work in the last fourth or so of the film is really training for what he did on that film. It has a certain historic significance, but little else. Not even as a charming, if dusty curio. For ardent film buffs only, with the above caveats.