Dinosaur Island

The animated Dinosaur Island cleverly turns a television trend inside out with the story of four teens sent to the Amazon to compete in a Survivor-like reality TV series, but forced to cooperate when they encounter dinosaurs and prehistoric, proto-humans. After their jet crashes in an unexplored region of the enormous forest, the kids soon discover a large pocket of arrested (evolutionary) development. Chased by Pterodactyls, preyed upon by Raptors, and threatened by at least one angry Stegosaurus mom (after an effort to dine upon one of her eggs), the adolescent heroes begin to live by their wits without the benefits of televised celebrity. The script isn't pure sci-fi hype: At least one of the characters offers some educational touchstones about the great lizards as well as ancient stages of human development. Mostly, however, this is just a fun family movie. --Tom Keogh