THE DINOSAUR HUNTER (2000) **1/2 The search for treasure on so many levels. Ostensibly a film about a young girl looking for dinosaur bones, the heart of the tale is the interior dynamic of a depression era family. Is it overly dramatic? I don't know, but I do know that people who lived through that have a certain fear that never leaves.one of my cousins calls it "The Grapes," after The Grapes of Wrath. So all these people are suffering through The Grapes together, scratching out whatever kind of living that they can. Meanwhile, and this is less than a hundred years ago remember, the local preacher is assuring them that good Christians don't believe in dinosaurs as they aren't mentioned in the Bible. Um, the government guy is a little too friendly, but what's Christopher Plummer playing at, still totally studly and possessed of a raffish charm at 71? He made it through The Grapes, anyway, but I wouldn't get too close. It's made for tv and you could guess that, but you'd be wrong to linger on such triviality in the face of some wonderful performances, particularly young Alison Pill. I would further suggest that anyone casting a dark, mysterious beautiful mystic any time in the next 50 years begin their list with Enuka Okuma. Dinosaurs are symbols, dinosaurs are the past, dinosaurs are legend, and we're making all of those things right now. So let's keep The Grapes in the rearview and work towards.aw, hell, I dunno, The Bananas, or The Melons, something totally cool, you know.
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