Turok – Son of Stone (DVD Animated Feature)
Picture:
B- Sound: B- Extras: C- Film: C
This
reviewer being a huge videogame fan was both ponderous and hopeful about what a
73 minute Turok – Son of Stone
feature could bring to the table. In the
end what it brought was a lackluster storyline and even worse animation
stylings. Like many of the most recent Turok videogame releases this film
failed for an array of reasons and this reviewer was less than impressed.
Unbeknownst
to many people, this reviewer is sure, is that Turok has had a lot longer life
than people realize. Turok started in
comics in the 1950’s and gradually fell from people’s memories as superheroes
like Superman and Batman grew in popularity.
Turok’s claim to fame was revitalized in an updated comic series in the
early 1990’s and was only furthered by a Nintendo 64 (N64) game series that was
extremely popular. But before long
Turok’s charm as a dinosaur hunter was lost again and with a slue of unread
comics and one bad video game sequel after another, Turok once again went the
way of the dinosaur around 2002. Also
let’s note that the company that resurrected Turok in the 1990’s, Acclaim one of the largest game
manufacturers of the day, has now also gone under completely. Well, it is now 2008 and a new company has
the rights to the dinosaur hacking bastard, so let’s see what Turok’s got! He not only has the Turok: Son of Stone film, but also a multi-system videogame release
as well. The videogame is apparently
better than this outdated and unnecessary film is based on recent reviews.
The
storyline of Turok: Son of Stone
begins with our hero Turok, his brother Nasoba, and a girl who they seem to
love named Catori running through the peaceful forest. Not before long, however, Turok finds himself
in a battle to the death with a couple of men from a neighboring, hostile
tribe. The animated featurette suddenly
turns into a gore fest in which Turok cuts of arms, splatters blood everywhere,
and even hatchets a few skulls. Needless
to say Turok killed a few people that day.
In the heat of the moment, however, Turok injures his brother by gashing
his arm. The brothers return to their
village where Turok’s father grants his son forgiveness, but the tribe’s
medicine man is not so forgiving. The
medicine man tells Turok he has brought great trouble to the village by killing
those other tribesman (what was he suppose to do? Say, ok ‘kill me…rape her!’)
and he should be forever banished for his fatal acts. Well the village did see the war the medicine
man predicted…sixteen, freakin, years later!
Anyhow,
their greatest warrior (Turok) is still banished , but now they need his
help. Turok’s brother is now the chief
and sends his son to find his brother to help them not die and such. Turok is found, but not before being
terrorized by some members of the other tribe and being transported with his
nephew (Andar) into a ‘long lost world’ filled with dinosaurs and primitive
beings. Isn’t Turok primitive? Soon
Turok finds himself pitted against the EVIL chief of the other tribe in this
new and strange world. His brother is
dead, he is a strange land, and all he has is time to kill. Literally, that is what happens the whole
time…killing…no storyline. Can Turok
save his tribe and the friendly cave people of this new world? The bigger question is, does anyone care?
The
storyline is pretty much was described above, there is no real depth and is
mostly filled with poor animation and bloody, gory violence. This reviewer and videogame fan was hoping
for a more in depth plot with animation that would be more like something from
the DC Comic Universe, but haste there was only animation that appeared to be
from a bad 1980’s series and violence that should be left for the Grand Theft Auto games. Turok may have been resurrected from the dead
several times now, but lets leave him in videogames…it seems film is not his
medium.
The
picture quality is nice, clear, and bright.
Even with the poor style choices of the animators the 1.78 X 1
Anamorphic Widescreen looks solid and well presented. The animation style may be over simplified
and look like a 1980’s reject, but to be fair the picture is crisp with tight
lines. The sound is adequate, but not
impressive in its Dolby Digital 5.1 Mix.
The bigger and higher production scenes (like battles) obviously got the
higher degree of attention, because the normal dialogue throughout the feature
truly falls flat, failing to ‘pop’ and more sounding like a simple stereo. The extras are pretty awful. One extra is a commentary track that put this
reviewer to sleep since there was not much said (dead air) and when the
creators did pipe-up it was useless dribble describing the scene. NOTE: I have eyes I can see what is going on,
feed me some trivia or go away. There
was also a feature on the origins of Turok, but spoke nothing of the videogame
series that made him a star. Sure the
comics were nice, but the videogames are where we all know Turok from, get a
clue guys.
In the
end, this is a definite let down of a film.
Turok- Son of Stone had
little depth, too much unnecessary violence, and seemed to be in limbo if this
was for adults or children. The
animation suggests kids, the violence suggests adults, and the lack of plot
suggests crap. Maybe the next Turok film
could be entitled Turok- Son of the Scoop; where he shovels dinosaur feces in a
comedic form. I would watch that.
- Michael P. Dougherty II
