The Dinosaur Project

Warning up front, this is a found footage film, as I know some folks don't like them. Unfortunately the premise of the film is kind of ruined by the framing sequence, but it does a good job of making us forget we're watching a patchwork tale of a doomed expedition... most of the time.

At least the reason we get to see all this footage, especially when things go to hell, is plausible. The one thing I hate about found footage films (Blair Witch and Cloverfield, I'm talking to you) is that there's a point when you just drop the freaking camera and run. Circumstances overwhelm the need to continue filming. Some films like Chronicle and this one offer an explanation that works.

The premise is an expedition by a cryptozoologist team into the Congo to find the legendary Mokele Mbembe, a dinosaur believed to exist in the jungles there. When terrorist fire brings down their helicopter, the team, which includes a big time explorer and his precocious and estranged teenaged son, have to contend with - you guessed it - dinosaurs.

Richard Dillane, who I remember from a couple episodes of "Doctor Who," plays the explorer doing his best impression of Sam Neill's Dr. Alan Grant from the Jurassic Park movies right down to his difficulty with kids. The rest of the cast are adequate, as are the special effects and dinosaurs when we see them.

This wasn't a great movie but it wasn't bad either. I liked it and it was a good watch. Well worth watching.