Cretaceous Creature Features: Colossally Awesome Dinosaur Movies & Shows
Open the door, get on the floor, everybody rock these dinosaur (movies and shows). From educational to eccentric, here are our fav dino tales.
Let’s be honest, the phase of my childhood where I was obsessed with dinosaurs? It never ended. The Jurassic Park franchise has certainly stamped its name across the on-screen dinosaur, but there are so many other great (and delightfully awful) movies out there about our favorite prehistoric animals. With Jurassic World: Dominion hitting theaters this weekend, we’re in dinosaur heaven.
Dinosaur Shows: Science & Documentary
Prehistoric Planet
David Attenborough and the team from Planet Earth have teamed up with producer John Favreua to bring us a breathtaking look at prehistorical life. Using the most recent scientific evidence and theories about life before man, CGI is used to render our best ideas of what dinosaurs really looked like.
The series is beautiful, and tackled nature with a compelling narrative structure you’d usually associate with the Attenborough’s voice. The final episode of the series just dropped. This is a perfect binge-watch for a day spent in your pajamas.
Stream ‘Prehistoric Planet’ exclusively on AppleTV+.
BBC One’s Walking with Dinosaurs
This six-part series from 1999 is narrated by Sir Kenneth Branagh, and also used the most cutting-edge CGI along with animatronics. The result was the BBC’s definitive nature show featuring prehistorical animals. Twenty years later and the show’s presentation still holds up. It’s a soothing, fascinating watch for dino-fans.
There’s also a movie of the same name – it’s unrelated, and it’s very badly written. If you insist on watching it, do so on mute.
Rent or buy ‘Walking with Dinosaurs’ on your usual platforms.
Action/Adventure Dinos!
The Dinosaur Project
This British found-footage film from 2012 is no Jurassic Park, but it’s not a bad way to spend a couple of hours. The CGI that brings these dinosaurs to life is pretty decent, and the format does allow for some creative shots. As with any good creature-feature, the sub-plot is in how the humans react to the presence of monsters. This plot mostly holds up as good.
Teenage Luke is visiting his dad, a cryptozoologist, for the summer. The kid sneaks onto the helicopter that’s taking his father, some colleagues, a guide, and a camera crew into the jungles of the Congo. The team goes in to investigate legends of a strange creature – but when they’re stranded, the crew must learn to survive a jungle full of big, predatory dinosaurs.
Buy or rent ‘The Dinosaur Project’ on your usual platforms or watch free with ads on Tubi.
Runaways
Marvel’s Runaways started off with a really strong story about a team of teenagers who discover their parents are part of an evil cult-like organization. One member of the team, Gert Yorkes, has an ability to commune with a genetically engineered dinosaur. I know, my parents just got me a grumpy cat in my teens.
Binge all of Marvel’s ‘Runaways’ on Hulu or Disney+.
The Valley of Gwangi
Okay, I think we call all agree that the only way to make a good dinosaur movie great is by adding cowboys. On the whole, this movie is life-changing, but it’s worth it just to enjoy the superb stop-motion effects by legendary artist Ray Harryhausen (Mighty Joe Young).
In the last dino-themed film he worked on, the monster Gwangi is one of the last relics of the monster movie craze that began in the 30s. It’s a little soft on plot, but it’s worth seeing to appreciate the work of a movie legend.
‘The Valley of Gwangi’ is available to buy or rent on your usual services.
The Land that Time Forgot
During the first World War, a German U-boat torpedoes an American ship. The few remaining survivors manage to overtake the U-boat. The whole crew form an uneasy allegiance when they discover a tropical oasis in the middle of the frozen ocean.
It doesn’t take long before the group realizes they’re not alone. All over the island are prehistoric dinosaurs – and prehistoric humans, too. Because, I don’t know, fiction! The film is a pretty faithful adaptation of a 1918 Edgar Rice Burroughs novel and the script is co-written by sci-fi writer Michael Moorcock. The dinosaurs are really well done, and it’s all acted in earnest.
Watch ‘The Land That Time Forgot’ with a subscription to Vudu. You can also rent or buy it on YouTube.
Weirdest Dinosaur Movies
VelociPastor
This film is absolute proof that you don’t need a budget to make an unforgettable dinosaur movie. Special effects? This movie doesn’t need ’em. A devout Catholic priest named Doug seeks enlightenment after the violent death of his parents. He travels to China, where he’s cursed! Now, each time he gets angry, he becomes a Velociraptor.
I know, where is this movie’s Academy Award?!
With the help of a charming local sex worker, Doug has to learn to find balance and use his power to help innocent people. But there are ninjas! And they are bad! He definitely has to fight them! People, this flawless bit of art is what happens when B-movie nerds have and excess of time on their hands.
I give this one 10/10 failed exorcisms. Will watch again.
You can stream ‘VelociPastor’ for free with an Amazon Prime Video subscription or with ads on Tubi.
Tammy and the T-Rex
Y’all, this is a terribad fun movie that’ll hit you right in the nostalgia parts of your brain. I mean, c’mon, it stars Denise Richards as Tammy and a baby Paul Walker as her boyfriend Michael. A local bad boy and gang leader is in love with Tammy, so he terrorizes her and her family. When Michael decides to stand up to him, he’s severely injured, and an opportunist mad doctor transplants his brain into – I cannot make this up – an animatronic Tyrannosaurus Rex.
This movie is so bad it’s magnificent. Everyone involved knows how silly it is, but everyone really commits. This movie is a bucket of laughs from start to finish. I would also recommend enhancing your viewing with this drinking game.
Nostalgic Dinosaur Movie
The Land Before Time
If you subconsciously pair your love of dinosaurs with an unexplained sense of emotional trauma, it’s because of this movie! Like Bambi, but with dinosaurs, The Land Before Time is a beloved Don Bluth classic that was produced by George Lucas and Steven Spielberg in 1988.
Join Little Foot and his band of lost baby dinosaurs as they traverse the prehistoric world. They have to evade the Sharp Tooth and make it to the Great Valley, where everything is green and healthy and no one knows there’s a meteor coming.
Buy or rent ‘The Land Before Time’ on your usual platforms.
Disney’s Dinosaur
Disney’s big-budget 2000 animated film didn’t do so well at the box office. The film uses some pretty stellar computer animation to tell the story of an Iguanodon raised by lemurs. After a meteor shower, the join up with a band of dinosaurs who are migrating to the Nesting Grounds.
The script to this one didn’t have the usual wit and charm that Disney is pretty famous for. But it’s still a beautiful movie that a lot of us watched as kids. The film’s theme emphasizes the importance of caring for the elderly and disabled members of a heard. And after three years in a pandemic, I’m kind of wishing more of us watched this movie growing up…
You can stream ‘Dinosaur’ on Disney+.
Dinosaurs (1991)
Lastly, Dinosaurs was a brilliantly sassy sitcom pitched by Jim Henson. The show came to fruition after his death, when the success of the animated series The Simpsons made the studio decide to lean into the premise.
This 1993 satyrical average-Joe family comedy was exemplary for and of its time. Henson’s animatronic dinosaurs lent an incredible expressiveness to the characters. And the fashion choices made by the two teen dinosaurs give it a nostalgic feel. The Sinclair family may have lived in the prehistoric times, but they were your average American family in the early 90s! What a time to be alive.
You can stream ‘Dinosaurs’ on Disney+.
