Dinotopia: Quest for the Ruby Sunstone

Dinotopia: Quest for the Ruby Sunstone
DVD cover of Dinotopia: Quest for the Ruby Sunstone
Directed by	Davis Doi
Produced by	Steven Squillante Robert Winthrop
Written by	Sean Roche James Gurney (creator)
Edited by	Scott Arundale Bruce Cathcart
Production company	SD Entertainment Hallmark Entertainment
Distributed by	GoodTimes Entertainment
Release dates	May 17, 2005
Running time	75 min.
Country	United States
Language	English

Dinotopia: Quest for the Ruby Sunstone is a 2005 American animated film directed by Davis Doi. Based on the Dinotopia series, this is the first related animated version. After the Hallmark Entertainment live-action television series adaptation ended, Hallmark made this animated adaptation mostly as a marketing tool. It is noted for hardly following elements from the original book series and even shows a great lack in character development, which is one of the main criticisms of the film.

Plot

The 12-year-old orphan Kex Bradley, escapes from an orphanage, hoping to see the world. He stows away on a lifeboat, but is later pushed overboard during a storm out at sea and later finds himself on an island called Dinotopia. Here, he befriends the beloved young dinosaur "26" (known from the miniseries) and a 12-year girl named Mara. They get in trouble fast as the evil Ogthar is released from his stone prison and recovers the Ruby Sunstone, whose dark power can endanger all of Dinotopia. They soon have to stop Ogthar in time to save Dinotopia. In the process, the Ruby Sunstone is destroyed.

Voice Cast

• Alec Medlock - Kex Bradley
• Tara Strong - Mara
• Diedrich Bader - John
• Gregg Berger - Skybax Captain
• Kimberly Brooks - Female Skybax Patrol
• Michael Clarke Duncan - Stinktooth the Tyrannosaurus
• Kathy Griffin - Rhoga the Parasaurolophus
• Wayne Knight - Thudd the Euoplocephalus
• Jamie Kennedy - Spazz the Dilophosaurus Hatchling
• Malcolm McDowell - Ogthar
• Alyssa Milano - 26 the Young Chasmosaurus
• Masasa Moyo - Shanise the Female Corythosaurus
• George Segal - Albagon the Elderly Dryosaurus

Notes

• Much like the Hallmark Entertainment live-action series adaptation, the setting of this animated adaptation is transferred from the 1860s (as was the setting in the original books) to modern day. The reason for this change in time was so it could connect with the young audience much more.
• 'Kex' is not an actual given name or even an actual surname in any language.
• The dinosaurs in this movie have the abilities to speak like humans whereas in the books, most cannot speak the human language (there are few exceptions of dinosaurs and non-dinosaurs that can speak in human words but with grunting, creaky or parrot-like voices, such as with Bix the Protoceratops multilinguis ambassador). In fact, they are even at times given physical traits just to make it more appealing to the young audience.
• In this movie, 26 the young Chasmosaurus from the live-action series is featured as a main character (and the main protagonist). She was most likely added in just for marketing purposes. One theory as to this movie not being a continuation of the live-action series is because 26 is in the care of a human named John, whereas in the live-action series it was Karl Scott who adopted her as an egg.
• This movie still uses "sauro-partners" (a human and a dinosaur that have known each other for a long time) from the live-action series.
• In this movie, sunstones are portrayed as large as quartz stones (used in the original books like lighthouses) and are even given the ability to trap radio waves and create a shield that seals Dinotopia away from the rest of the world (even though in the books, the reason why Dinotopia is cut off from the rest of the world is because of storm systems and nearly impassable coral reefs). In the books, sunstones emit bright lights and are even able to power up machinery.
• In this movie, Ogthar is portrayed as a human who long ago arrived on Dinotopia, hated it because it was primitive, and was given immortality by the ruby sunstone (even though in the books, the ruby sunstone really makes one act mentally insane). In the books, Ogthar is a legendary being, said to look like a cross between a human and a ceratopsian, who was king of the now-sunken island city of Poseidos.
• The mechanical, animal-like strutters of Poseidos from the original books are featured, but they are given a different backstory. Here they were built to do destructive things, even though they were originally meant to revolutionize labor in the original books. They were also given digital screens inside the cockpits, when in the books, they did not have digital screens since the devices are thousands of years old.
• The Dilophosaurus character named Spazz is given a neck frill like that of a frilled lizard, which is how the Dilophosaurus in Jurassic Park was incorrectly portrayed.
• In this movie, Iguanodon was given the ability to shed its skin. The most likely reason for this is probably because the writers incorrectly believed that because the dinosaur is named after an iguana, it could shed its skin like one, which it did not do in reality.
• In this movie, Stinktooth (from the second book Dinotopia: The World Beneath) is featured, but he is portrayed as a Tyrannosaurus, while in the book he is a Giganotosaurus. The probable reason for this change in Stinktooth's species was because Tyrannosaurus is much more recognizable.

External links

• Dinotopia: Quest for the Ruby Sunstone at the Internet Movie Database
• Dinotopia: Quest for the Ruby Sunstone at The Big Cartoon DataBase