Reviews

This is worth the watch on Netflix and I enjoyed it. What I liked about it was that it used stop-motion animation. The same technique that was used in those Rankin-Bass specials. I like how the character, Obie, the elf, was a nice tribute to Willis O'Brien, the man who animated the title apes in the original versions of KING KONG and MIGHTY JOE YOUNG. Not to mention inspiring the Chiodo Brothers, the men behind this special, get into film-making and animation in the first place. Audiences young and old will enjoy it. It is not annoying.

Give it a watch. You will like it. I guarantee. Merry X-Mas.

That's right. This pilot is Hanna-Barbera's attempt to rival Jim Henson. Specifically THE MUPPET SHOW. B. B. Beagle is like the show's answer to Kermit the Frog, there is a female dog who is a stuck up starlet who doesn't like this show "It ought to be illegal" as she said in the theme song. There are two burly guys in the bar who love the show and they are their answer to Statler and Waldor.

If THE HANNA-BARBER HAPPY HOUR was round one on aping Henson, then this is round two. If people say that there is no such thing as a MUPPET SHOW knock-off, show them this video on YouTube. You're warned.

Before "Frosty Returns" (1992), this Christmas special, "The Christmas Raccoons", was one of the first Christmas specials to have an environmental message. Most Christmas specials have messages about togetherness, family and giving. Sure, this one does, but at least it doesn't cram it down your throat like "Frosty's Returns". The characters are interesting and likable. Bert Raccoon is a funny and lovable. The villain, Cyril Sneer, is a representation of corporate greed. Nothing says 1980's like corporate greed being abstracted in a cartoon. There are two things I would like to point out: The part where Ralph Raccoon (who akin to Melissa Raccoon, is the straight character/voice of reason), said to Bert, "Let the sleeping dog lie" is a laugh. Because it is reference to the old saying, "Let sleeping dogs lie." Another scene, is where Cedric Sneer, Cyril's son, held up a skinny Christmas tree and talked about Christmas. This is a blatant reference to "A Charlie Brown Christmas" (read my review on this 1965 special). This Canadian cartoon referenced this American cartoon, 15 years later. If you want to spoof/reference/homage a childhood classic, you got to wait until you grow up. All in all, it is worth the watch, it is sweet, funny, and utterly charming. Not rated, but a TV-G will do.

This is a pretty good sequel in the most adult fashion. I'll explain later why. Remember in the first GODZILLA film where it has the memorable quote: "If they keep making more H-bomb testings, another Godzilla will appear in another part of the world." Well there was another Godzilla found and he is fighting against Angilas (in his film debut). There was drama and intrigue in this film that dealt with romance and tragedy. The film pays homage not only to the original KING KONG, but to ONE MILLION B.C. (1940). When Godzilla and Angilas fought, it looks rapid and energetic. This is because the camera got accidentally undercranked giving the illusion that it looked like stop-motion animation making it looks almost like stop-motion (reminsent to the original 1925 silent classic THE LOST WORLD). The happy accident was used again in later Godzilla films such as MOTHRA VS. GODZILLA (1964) and GODZILLA VS. HEDORAH (1971). Remember when I told you how adult this film was for adults? Well, there was a plan for sequel to called BRIDE OF GODZILLA? This idea was so whacked out that it would work better on paper. It is about a scientis who lost his wife and says there was a lost world under the earth where there were a lot of Godzillas, a lot of Angilas, giant chameleons, giant archaeopteryxes, mermaids and mammoths! So a giant robot built under the image of his daughter (made to honor her I guess, also she would look like the robot from METROPOLIS) go to that underground lost world, fights Angilas by breaking his jaw apart and approach Godzilla, the giant lizard falls in love with her. However, it is a trap and her body is a bomb and the King of the Monsters gets blasted to death. If that got made, it would be too whacked out, too adult, and the franchise would be killed off too quickly. The giant archypoteryx would end up as Rodan and perhaps the giant chameleon would end up as Varan the Unbelievable. It is good thing that BRIDE OF GODZILLA? was left unmade, then we would have no franchise! Going back on topic of GODZILLA RAIDS AGAIN, this is a rather interesting movie, though the ending is enough to build up for a sequel that is going to happen and it did. Give it a watch, especially if you don't like campy Godzilla films. Not rated, but a PG would workd and it is best if kids over the age of seven can watch it.

This timeless classic is memorable and highly enjoyable. This is one of the many classics that avidly gets broadcasted on CBS every Christmas. I enjoyed the animations, the design and the voices. Especially Paul Frees' voice talent. It is highly entertaining with sweet songs. When I first heard the song, this cartoon special came to mind. Later, I learned that the song came from a cartoon that was made 19 years before this special. It was a UPA cartoon that featured the song and revolved entirely around it. Anyway, I highly recommend watching this cartoon, despite having two sequels that came out decades later. It is timeless. Amusing in 1969, amusing in 1978, amusing in 1986, amusing in 1995, amusing today. Give it a watch, it is fun for the family and it is the kind of special you let the kiddies watch. Bottom line: Highly enjoyable, but watch the sequels at your own risk.

This was in no doubt inspired by the success of ONE MILLION YEARS B.C. (which premiered in 1966) with Rachel Welch and the popularity of THE FLINTSTONES (which ended in 1966). Here the Pink Panther and the pointy-nosed little caveman try to move a slab of rock (perhaps inspired by the then-new film 2001: A SPACE ODYSSEY). Along the way, they discover the creation of the wheel, but find out that it is dangerous and reject it. All in all, it is a really entertaining and funny cartoon. Rated G, so it is worth the watch.

In 1969, "Sesame Street" premiered on PBS. Created by Joan Gantz Cooney, this educational show had puppet skits, animated skits, musical numbers, and filmed skits (that used to be shot on 16 millimeter film). During the show's run, there was merchandising during the seventies and eighties. This gave Joan Gantz Cooney an idea to make a movie out of it! So it did. I had run-ins with the movie when I was little, I ran into the film's poster in various toy stores in malls. I also ran into the film's video cover in the stores too. One day during a nice vacation in Kentucky, I saw the ending of it on HBO (years before the show itself went there). It was funny. There were a few jabs to the show with an animated sequence showing Big Bird blowing up a balloon of the Warner Bros. logo followed by Big Bird announcing the so-called "sponsors" of the show. The reason why I said that is because that in the show, the episodes were sponsored by the letter of the day and the number of the day as they were commercials for products. Also from the late sixties to the mid seventies, there were animated bumpers made before the show started. This movie is fun and enjoyable. It is one of those movies that kids will enjoy and parents will enjoy, than get annoyed. I enjoyed it and I wouldn't mind watching it again. However, what makes the film different from the TV show, is that it didn't get interrupted by animated sequences, song and dance numbers (OK, there were a few songs in this movie), and short films that talk about letters, numbers, morals, and the world around us. This movie is story-driven with a capital S. Also, this movie had villains! Comical villains that is. Another thing I like to point out that, while it is a fun and happy movie, it flopped in the box-office. That's right, mainly because of such movies as, "The Goonies", "Back to the Future", and "Pee-Wee's Big Adventure". This caused Joan Gantz Cooney to change her mind and go back to the show and ruin it. You see, with the success of "Pee-Wee's Big Adventure" lead to the creation of "Pee-Wee's Playhouse." That show got popular and this caused Joan Gantz Cooney to change it and catered it, not only for those who watch shows like "Pee-Wee's Playhouse" and "You Can't Do That On Television", but cartoons like "Mighty Mouse: The New Adventures", "Dennis the Menace", and "A Pup Named Scooby-Doo". So the more wacky shows that come out, the more "Sesame Street" tries to emulate them. When I was a younger kid, I asked other kids my age and younger if they have seen this movie and it is watched like "Care Bears", "The Wizard of Oz", or any other Disney movie. However, I see that younger generations are watching another one made 14 years later (i.e. "Adventures of Elmo in Grouchland"), causing this picture to be left in the dust. This movie deserves to be watched by younger generations, because it is rated G for crying out loud! I highly recommend it.

In 1969, SESAME STREET premiered on PBS and it was the longest running show for 50 years. This educational series for preschoolers had Muppet skits, comedy skits, animated skits and filmed skits (usually shot on 16 millimeter film). However, during the show's run there was a lot of merchandising in the 1970's and 80's. Joan Gantz Cooney thought, if the show made a lot of money from it's merchandising, why not make a movie! And so the film was made. When I was a youngster I saw the film's poster in various toy stores at a lot of malls, and I even saw the video cover in video stores. I stumbled upon this movie on HBO, years before the show even came to that channel. As you know, I was familiar with the show, but seeing them in a movie. I saw the film and let me tell you it is enjoyable from beginning to end. From the animated sequence showing Big Bird blow up the film's company, as a humorous take on the show's "sponsors" which happen to be letters and numbers and those animated bumpers that played before the show starts back in the late sixties to mid-seventies, to Count van Count appearing in the credits and after the credits (what a laugh). This is the first film to have a villain in it and these villains are laughable! My brother and I enjoyed it. However, when the movie came out, it flopped. Why? Because it got out-shined by Tim Burton's "Pee-Wee's Big Adventure". This caused Joan Gantz Cooney to do something. Since shows like "Pee-Wee's Playhouse" and "You Can't Do That On Television" along with cartoons like "Mighty Mouse: The New Adventures" and "A Pup Named Scooby-Doo" were so popular, she decided to make the show as wacky as these shows causing it to lose it's charm. As a kid, I asked some kids younger than me if they have seen this movie and they did as if it was something commonly watched like "The Wizard of Oz" or a Disney film. I believe that younger generations have not seen the movie because they have been seeing another movie that Joan Gantz Cooney made 14 years later which was "Adventures of Elmo in Grouchland," but that is another story. "Follow that Bird" is funny and enjoyable so give it a watch, it is rated G. I highly recommend it because I think younger generations should see it. By the way, Happy 50th Anniversary Sesame Street.

This is a really interesting cartoon that I remember watching on the Disney Channel back in the 80's and 90's. It even appeared on HBO back in the 80's and a clip of it appeared on THE GREAT SPACE COASTER. Speaking of which (no pun intended) when I watched it for the first time, one title came to mind: SESAME STREET. Now why that? Are the characters Small and Tender like Ernie and Bert? (Because one is orange and one is yellow?) Do you think that the characters Rotten and Malicious are like Oscar the Grouch and Grundgetta? (Because of their negative attitudes?) Does Goodly look like Mr. Johnson, the fat blue guy who gets annoyed by Grover, with a makeover? (Because he is blue and has a mustache?) Does Nicely look like a mixture between Big Bird and Prairie Dawn? (Because she is pink and fluffy looking?) Oh shut up already! While that could be a possibility, the reason why SESAME STREET came to my mind was that because John Leach, created that cartoon as well as various animated segments for SESAME STREET. Going back to the review, I would like to point out that Gilda Radner voiced the title witch in the cartoon. Also, I would like to point out that the music is really cool. Dig that Casio synthesizer! That is my guess. All in all, it is not scary, but the design and animation is no SCOOBY-DOO, so it is trippy. Bottom line: Give it a watch the kids will enjoy it and they won't get scared. This is purely family fun. Not rated, but a TV-G would work. Happy Halloween.

Poor Charlie Brown. He didn't get anything for Valentine's Day. Poor Linus. He is in the same mess too! This special is fun for the family and highly enjoyable. It is kind of normal for children who are in love with older people or adults. This is a good way to teach children to accept the fact that adults go with adults and kids go with kids. The good thing about this cartoon is that we see Snoopy's lovable tomfoolery with Lucy, Charlie Brown and Woodstock which gives out a good laugh (especially with his "pawpet show"). Bottom line: Worth the watch. Rated TV-G because it is fun for the whole family, plus parents can tell their kids the importance of love for their right age and how to accept it. Happy Valentines Day.

Back by popular demand, it is time for "Matthew Rants!" Popeye the Sailor. He is one of the most celebrated icons of the 20th century. Now we all know that Popeye has to be modern. He sang the song "Man on the Flying Trapeze" in the 1930's. He fought in World War II in the 1940's. He fought aliens in the 1950's. He went into a Beatnik's club in the 1960's. He danced in a disco with Olive Oyle in the 1970's. So what is he going to happen for the 1980's? Make them yuppies. Have them settle down and have families. Let Popeye and Olive get married and have a son. Have Bluto get a wife and have a son who is a bully for Popeye's son. Now the tradition continues. This has to be the dumbest idea ever made since THE ALL NEW POPEYE SHOW added in two stories where Popeye is living the life of a caveman and Olive Oyle is in the army (!) THE ALL-NEW POPEYE SHOW (which was made by Hanna-Barbera), was known for replacing the violence (which the theatrical cartoons were known for) with the deus-ex-machina. Now this new cartoon has the two rival becoming a family and having kids and put in a few characters here and there such as Professor O.G. Whatasnozzle, Eugene the Jeep, Nana Oyle, Poopdeck Pappy, and the goons. What happened to Sweet-Pea and Popeye's nephews? Anyway, this bobera from Hanna-Barbera aired on CBS (the same channel that aired the 1978 reboot). The stories in the episodes are dumb to begin with. On the plus side the only good thing apart from the music, is when Popeye Jr. takes his spinach he gets disgusted first but through time has to accept it. This teaches kids how to accept food like spinach. All in all, this iteration of the beloved cartoon can make the 1980 movie look like an epic. As a kid, I loved it, so did my mother, but with age comes a new pair of eyes. Looking back, this is stupid with a capital S! When I told about it to my mother, she felt disgusted, or as Popeye would say, "disgustipated". She said that the show is stupid. Somethings work well on paper. No wonder the cartoon had a short run. Around that time the show was on the air, there were Quaker Oatmeal commercials with the beloved hero. This show like those commercials are on YouTube, you have been warned! Poor Popeye, he has gone through the mud just like other great heroes like Batman with his campy show during the sixties, Spider-Man with his skits on the original ELECTRIC COMPANY, The Teen Titans with their jokey cartoon on Cartoon Network (which gets too much air time), and speaking of which, The Powerpuff Girls and their jokey reboot where everything we knew and loved about it, is thrown out the window (because they want make money out of it). Bottom line: Avoid it at all costs. Rated TV-Y, but it contains some cartoon violence that happen to be downplayed.

In 1942, stop-motion animator Willis H. O'Brien, who was known for doing the special effects work on the original versions of THE LOST WORLD (1925) and KING KONG (1933) faced a tough time between 1933 and 1946. He had an idea for a movie about cowboys catching a dinosaur and bringing it back alive (where it escapes and wreaks havoc and gets killed by the heroes). The project was called GWANGI, he pitched it to RKO with a script, storyboard, diorama and a puppet built by Marcel Delgado. Sadly, the project was left unmade due to how expensive it was. Obie ended up working on the original MIGHTY JOE YOUNG four years later. Enter 1967, after the success of Hammer's ON MILLION YEARS B.C. (1966), Ray decided to rework the project with his producer and friend, Charles Schneer. The result was THE VALLEY OF GWANGI (1969). Taking place in the old west, a group of cowboys, lead by Tuck Kirby, played by James Franciscus (who would later appear in BENEATH THE PLANET OF THE APES in 1970), track down a big blue Allosaurus-Tyrannosaurus Rex hybrid, to bring it back alive, where it wreaks havoc in the city. James Franciscus does a great performance as the film's protagonist. Gila Golan as the lovely T.J. is added for the film's sex appeal akin to Rachel Welch with ONE MILLION YEARS B.C. Laurence Naismith as the quirky old Englishman, Professor Bromley, is enough to supply some laughs and chuckles. Curtis Arden as Lope is a nice addition for the kids, and horror actress Freda Jackson (you might remember her on 1965's DIE MONSTER DIE with Boris Karloff) as Tia Zorina, The Witch, giving the film a chilling and eerie feel to it. If there is anything that steals the picture and attracts audiences, it is Ray Harryhausen's wonderful special effects and animation! Gwangi the Big Blue Allosaurus is one thing, but the other monsters are another. There is a Styracosaurus that fights and looses to the prehistoric blue meanie. An Ornithiomimus, which as the protagonists best describe it as, "a plucked ostrich." A pterodactyl that take Lope and gets lassoed down. Plus, an Eohippus, the prehistoric ancestor to the modern horse to add cuteness factor to it. There were a lot of changes in this production. Obie's unmade version had a Triceratops, a lion fight in the arena (which got used in MIGHTY JOE YOUNG), and gets knocked off a cliff by a truck (which predated the death of the T-Rex in DINOSAURUS (1960) where the beast gets knocked off a cliff by a crane). In this version, there is a Styracosaurus, an elephant fight in the arena (a throwback to 20 MILLION MILES TO EARTH), and Gwangi meets his fate inside a burning cathedral, (taking a page out of FRANKENSTEIN). This monster, like King Kong and the Rhedosaurs in THE BEAST FROM 20'00 FATHOMS (1953), caused people to tear up when dying a horrible death. While the film did have a lot of good merchandising and promotion like any blockbuster film, this movie flopped in the box-office! Why? First of all, most people are not into this whole escapism films. Most of the films at that time consisted on sex, drugs, and rock n' roll. According to Ray Harrhausen, he said that no one wanted to see a naked dinosaur. Well guess what? This movie gained a cult following. Joseph Laudati, who is a stop-motion animator and Harryhausen fan, made an animated amateur super-8 film in 1976 called THE PRIMEVAL KINGS. Tony Luke's animated amateur films from the 80's featured Titanus, and he is modeled after Gwangi. One time someone asked me if I heard of THE VALLEY OF GWANGI and seen it. I replied that I did, and the person who asked was relived because most people never heard of it. What does it come to show? Two things: It is an underrated classic and a cult classic. Bottom line: Worth the watch so give it one. Rated G, but it contains violence and some gore. Best watched for children over the age of seven.

With footage taken from CAVEMAN INKI, it is basically the same old Bugs Bunny versus Elmer Fudd story, only this time it is set in prehistoric times. While Elmer Fudd has hair and a unibrow, Bugs Bunny has a long buck tooth. Here is a fact, there is such thing as a prehistoric rabbit. It is called a Palaeolagus, which looks like a rabbit, but smaller on the years. It is pretty fun to watch and it is directed by Robert McKimson. In one scene there is a narrator that sounds like Hanna-Barbera cartoon character, Captain Caveman. All in all, give it a watch, it is highly enjoyable. Not rated, but a G-rating will work.

Before GODZILLA and before THEM! there was THE BEAST FROM 20'000 FATHOMS. It was the first atomic-blast-brings-giant-monster-to-attack-civilization movies ever made. Underrated? It sure is because people think that GODZILLA was the one that started it all, but really it was inspired by this movie. This was (loosely) based on a short story by Ray Bradbury under the same name (which later got changed as "The Foghorn") and this movie was Ray Harryhaussen's first spot on the stop-motion animation (since Willis O'Brien turned it town). The music purely defines the decade, tone and feel of this movie. While this movie with amazing special effects is impressive, the film as a whole is underrated, when I bring it up, only a few people heard of it, but when someone brings it up, I tell them that I heard of this movie. It would be great if this movie got remade, just like the way Peter Jackson remade KING KONG. Have the story be set in the 1950's and have the whole atomic-age paranoia be the subject. (Say, wasn't it remade in 1998 as GODZILLA? Well, I guess that the filmmakers got their monsters and story lines all mixed up.) In the 1950's Americans worried about two things: The atomic bomb and the communist threat. The giant monsters are an allegory to the bomb, while the aliens are an allegory to communism. So give it a watch, I highly recommend it. Not rated, but a PG will work due to some violence and gore there.

This short plays out like something straight out of a science-fiction/fantasy story. Popeye and Olive go into a cave and encounter a dinosaur and a caveman, who happens to be Bluto. It is up to Popeye to save Olive from Bluto's ancestor. The gags are funny. For instance, when Popeye beats up the dinosaur, it flies out of frame and lands in frame as a skeleton with a sign that reads "Dinosaur. Now Extinct." I highly recommend this cartoon as a short subject to play if you are having a screening party with friends and the main feature is a creature-from-lost-world movie such as UNKNOWN ISLAND (1948) or LAND UNKNOWN (1957). Not rated, but a G-rating would be nice, despite the silly cartoon violence that would strike nerves on the politically correct snot-balls who overreact at a drop of hat. On the bright side, the animation is nice, not to mention the music.

In the tradition of Wille E. Coyote and Roadrunner, there is no dialogue and the action speaks louder than words. Inki the hunter was going to hunt a dinosaur, but instead goes after the Mynah Bird leading them in a series of wacky events. It is a great cartoon, the dinosaurs are interesting to look at and the animation is great, not to mention the music. But with every up there is a down. It is politically incorrect. First of all, the character is offensive to look at and is bound to cause an uproar. There are some running gags there. It must be seen to be believed. Give it a watch. Although it is not rated, but a G-rating would be nice.

From the team responsible for bring characters like Betty Boop and Popeye to life, were the first to bring Superman to the screen. The story is about a report of a giant prehistoric monster that was found frozen in ice, when it got defrosted, the monster is loose and it is up to the Man of Steel to stop him. This film, must of sparked the imagination of various film-makers and writers such as Ray Harryhausen, Ray Bradbury, Inshiro Honda, Eiji Tsuburaya, and Gianfranco Parolini (Frank Kramer) (creator of (read my review) YETI: GIANT OF THE 20TH CENTURY). The animation is great, the story is awesome and the visuals are thrillingly wonderful. The dinosaur looks like a precursor to Godzilla. This cartoon is worth the watch and would be a great short to play in a screening party as an appetizer to your main course, which is a Godzilla-type monster movie. Highly recommended, so give it a watch. Not rated so a G-rating will work. By the way, I think this is in the public domain.

Yup that's what it is. It is one of their Stone-Age cartoons that came out in 1940 inspired by the success of ONE MILLION B.C. They were created by Max Fleicher's animation team. Their cartoons predate THE FLINTSTONES so expect to see a lot of modern stone-age humor. In a nutshell, this cartoon is a prehistory retelling of The Ugly Duckling, except it had dinosaurs and had saber-toothed tiger as the villain. While the gags are good, it is a great cartoon worth watching. Not rated, but a G will work.

With the success of the film, ONE MILLION B.C., it is no wonder that Looney Tunes finds this movie fresh meat for it to lampoon. Boy and how! Pop-culture nut Bob Clampett takes on the movie with Porky Pig and his pet brontosaurus named Rover. (Do you think he was inspired by Chuck Jones' DAFFY AND THE DINOSAUR? Or was it a coincidence?) In this cartoon, we see Porky Pig trying to find a fur coat he got from a magazine, but it won't be easy. We see some jokes and gags that are highly dated with a capital D! Reference to Ned Sparks, an Irish vocal quartet, "Esquire" (spoofed as "Expire"), the NBC chimes (back when it was a radio station), and famous boxer Tony Galento. The gags are good, the dinosaurs are fun to look at, and it is in black and white, so all in all it is a good cartoon.

I read about it on the book "When Dinosaurs Ruled the Screen" by Marc Shapiro. I saw it on Turner Classic Movies and I took a kick out of it. While the acting is great, the music is awesome, the sound effects are imaginative and the cinematography is wonderful, there is one mammoth problem (pun intended), the special effects. While I don't mind the men in dinosaur suits, the lizards, alligators and armadillos, whether they have horns and spikes glued on their bodies or not, and elephants with fur coats on their bodies look super fake. I know, audiences were not sophisticated back then as they are now, but hey, that was the 1940's. Who can not forget the infamous scene where the Dimetrodon and Lystrosaurs (or should I say, dwarf alligator with a fake fin on his back and tegu lizard) fight. In the years that followed, footage and outtakes from this movie was used in other movies (even in foreign films from countries like Turkey and India). That is bound to outrage the ASPCA. If Hal Roach had half a brain, he would let Willis O'Brien do the special effects and have dinosaurs that would look like dinosaurs and not just lizards with horns and spikes glued on their bodies. However, if the special effects were done by Willis O'Brien, it would be a whole lot better and there would be no 1966 remake with Ray Harryhausen's special effects (or would there?) On the plus side, the film did get an Oscar Nomination for Best Special Effects and Best Original Score. It was a big smash at the box-office. If I were you I recommend the remake because it is better than the original, but give the original a watch if you want to.

Just one year before ONE MILLION B.C., Chuck Jones made this cartoon that was the primitive ancestor of Wille E. Coyote and Road Runner cartoons. Casper Caveman (Wille E. Coyote's ancestor) wants to catch Daffy Duck (Road Runner's ancestor). Daffy comes up with many ways to stop him in order to survive. Fido, the dinosaur, a brontosaurus to be specific, is the goofy old stooge that gets clobbered around. Daffy in this cartoon is the source of all jokes. He was influenced under Tex Avery and Bob Clampett. Later, Jones would make him the butt of all jokes. A punching bag who gets walked on, stepped on and a total underdog looser. This public domain cartoon is a caveman compared to the later works Chuck Jones did in the 1940's and 1950's that happen to be timeless. Chuck Jones would go back to having another funny prehistoric adventure eleven years later in CAVEMAN INKI.

Before Robert McKimson, Chuck Jones, and Bob Clampett ever got their hands dirty with making cartoons with dinosaurs in it, Jack King did it first. In this film that pays homage to the 1925 silent classic, THE LOST WORLD. I guess this was made when Jack King decided to spoof this movie, not because the film was ten years old back then, but I guess it has something to do with the popularity of the original KING KONG, and since that movie got spoofed in other cartoon studios in Hollywood parodied it (not to mention the Warner Bros. cartoon I LIKE MOUNTAIN MUSIC spoofed KING KONG), he decided to spoof THE LOST WORLD. The cartoon nowadays is politically incorrect, apart from a harmless reference to The Three Stooges, there is are scenes that make fun of gay people. (Why did I write this? It is Jurassic June and this month is LGBTQ month. In fact, why did i choose it? Oh my gosh! I have been writing all those dinosaur movies earlier, did I? I got to end this.) The animation is good and so are the voices. Later, Warner Bros. would make cartoons that would take place in prehistoric times like Chuck Jones' DAFFY DUCK AND THE DINOSAUR (1939), PREHISTORIC PORKY (1940), CAVEMAN INKI (1949), PREHYSTERICAL HARE (1958) and WILD WILD WORD (1960). Give it a watch, I recommend this movie as a short subject to play in a screening party when you are going to show the original 1925 classic THE LOST WORLD. Give it a watch. Not rated, but a G would work.

I heard about it. I read about it. The only thing that ever came out was the clip of the Triceratops family, the man hunting the baby triceratops leading him to be chased by the angry mother where he gets gored. You can find the footage exclusively at the second disc of the original KING KONG Two-Disc Special Edition. But, there was more to it than just test footage. I saw storyboards and photographs of the puppets (such as the prehistoric mammal Arsinoitherium). The story of the film can be seen on the second disc of the original KING KONG Two-Disc Special Edition. It features storyboards, and narration from the film's outline. It played out like a READING RAINBOW episode. It is fun to watch. In a nutshell, the plot is like SWISS FAMILY ROBINSON meets THE LOST WORLD. This was Harry O'Hoyt's idea and Willis O'Brien would do the animation effects along with the talents of Marcel Delgado and Mario Larrinaga. However, the plug was pulled when Merriam C. Cooper and Ernest B. Shoedstack saw the test footage and had O'Brien and his team do the special effects for KING KONG. The dinosaur puppets, Stegosaurus, Brontosaurus, Triceratops, Styracosaurus Pterodactyl and Tyrannosaurus Rex, all ended up in KING KONG. In that production, new models were made such as the serpentine Elasmosaurus and the Spider Pit inhabitants. Harry O Hoyt changed the film to THE LOST ATLANTIS in 1937 and had Fred Jackman, who did the special effects for THE LOST WORLD be in charge of it and have the stop-motion animation be done by Edward Nassour (who later do 1956's THE BEAST OF HOLLOW MOUNTAIN) and Walter Lantz (of Woody Woodpecker infamy). The puppets were made. He pitched it for Colombia Pictures in 1937 and again in 1940. If CREATION did get made, it would end up being a monster movie memory on the late-night show in the 1950's, 60's and 70's and would end up playing on cable in the 80's and 90's on channels like AMC and TNT, plus it would end up sitting on Turner Classic Movies. Then there would be no KING KONG and it would disturb the chain of events. If THE LOST ATLANTIS did get made, it would give Walter Lantz a change of heart and he would become the next Ray Harryhausen. Or when he realized that his Woody cartoons are getting bad, he would stop and go back to his stop-motion roots. If only. Not rated, but the kids and adults wouldn't mind that extra on the KING KONG DVD, especially when they grew on READING RAINBOW. Give it a watch, but you don't have to take my word for it. I'll see you next time.

What I like about this film was that it was once a lost film, but now it was found in 2015, except that there happens to be some footage missing. This film has the eras. Paleozoic, Mesozoic, and Cenozoic. Expect creatures like trilobites, dimetrodon (here called Masosaurus), dinosaurs, and ice-age mammals like Woolly Mammoth and Woolly Rhinoceros. The models like kind of crude compared to the models used in THE LOST WORLD. This film was made in 1924 and was from Germany. It came to the U.S. a year later, just a few months after the release of the original 1925 film, THE LOST WORLD. I guess the American distributors want to cash-in on the success of the film. Give it a watch, hey the kiddies won't mind.

I knew that movie is great and this helped Willis O'Brien be hired to work on the original KING KONG. This is the first adaptation of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's novel. What caused me to watch this movie was that there was this episode of MUPPET BABIES called "Out of this World History." In that episode, there were clips from the 1925 version THE LOST WORLD. I was seven years old. This was out of the ordinary. I couldn't identify the movie until I was nine or then years old when I read the book "When Dinosaur s Ruled the Screen" by Mark Shapiro. This was the book that inspired be to track down monster movies. What makes this extraordinary was because nobody in 1925 never seen a dinosaur before. Even for people who saw scenes from this movie for the first time in the years that followed the release of the 1925 classic never seen anything like it. The dinosaurs were made by Willis O'Brien and Marcel Delgado and animated by Obie and Joseph L. Roop (who would later do the parody, THE LOST WHIRL from 1926). Clips of this show were featured in other TV shows and commercials in the 80's and 90's because it is in the public domain. However, as of 2017, a new version of the film came out with a longer length and never before seen footage. There is no word weather the new version is copyrighted or not. Give it a watch and spread the word. If you think black and white (silent) movies are boring, guess again. Not rated, but a PG would work despite the violence and blood courtesy of the stop-motion dinosaurs. The brontosaurus attacking London might scare the kiddies.