Turok: Son of Stone

[Loki]

never heard of this

 

[3dman27]

have you heard of turok dinosaur hunter?
that series was an update on tourok son of stone

 

[Timstuff]

I might buy this tomorrow. I like animation, and when I read that one of the directors directed Return of the Joker (best DTV evarz) my interest piqued considerably. I was gonna rent it, but my blockbuster doesn't have it, so buying may be my only option for watching it. I hope it's good, because I really want there to be proof that there's a market for hand animated movies made for adults, since I'm persuing an animation career and I don't want to spend my life making just kiddy crap.

BTW, my Wal-Mart has this stocked in the "Just for Kids" section of the DVD department, even though there's a label on it that says "Contains graphic violence. Not suitable for children." I bet some mom is gonna buy it and return it in a fury, saying "I bought this cartoon for my son because he loves dinosaurs, and there was blood and body parts flying everywhere!" LOL

 

[Timstuff]

I bought the DVD on a blind purchase today. I'll hopefully watch it tonight when my brother gets home from work.

 

[3dman27]

you 'll like it

 

[Timstuff]

It was good. The animation wasn't quite as good as Batman Beyond: ROTJ's, but it was still on par with a lot of stuff from the DCAU cartoons. I really appreciated the fact that they didn't make the movie with the assumption that kids would be watching it. The documentary was good too, especially since I didn't know much about Turok outside of the video games. It definitely earns my recommendation.

 

[3dman27]

now if only gold key/valient hero magnus robot figher got HIS animated due

 

[Timstuff]

I would definitely like to see more stuff from these guys in the future. Hopefully they can get access to better animation teams in time, as well. I'll probably loan Turok to one of my buddies sometime next week so he can check it out.

 

[Iron_Stark]

Good video. Very violent.

 

[Dread]

The weird thing is, when this DVD came out originally on 2/5/08, it seemed to vanish from most shops. I haven't found it in BEST BUY or a TARGET ever since. I knew little about TUROK aside for some N64 games from the 90's, and naturally heard the release of this animated DTV was meant to "synergize" with a new Turok video game. Some basic research led me to learn that not only was Turok one of the old VALIENT staple, but he was a Golden Age creation circa the 1950's. The concept was simple; Native American (then called Indian) warrior named Turok and his teenage sidekick Andar stuck in a "lost world" type setting fighting all sorts of dinosaurs, prehistoric animals and even Neanderthals.

However, I read some positive online reviews about this and so I wanted to see this animated DTV, but the distribution appears to have been crap. I live in New York City and I couldn't find it in retail chains or even to rent at Blockbuster. Fortunately, I spotted it in a DVD Shop that has 50% of it's stock invested in hentai & porn and nabbed it for $23. It just seems weird to have a hard time finding this when even the worst selling Marvel DTV, DOCTOR STRANGE, can be had rather easily.

Looking at the back of the box, I immediately recognized some names on the creative team. There's Tad Stones, the supervising director. He's had a long career on cartoons, but his most recent works include the excellent HELLBOY ANIMATED films and of course a little show called SPECTACULAR SPIDER-MAN. The two men also credited with directing roles are also well known. Curt Geda is a longtime director of "Timmverse" DC animated fare, including what may be the golden standard for animated DTV's, BATMAN BEYOND: RETURN OF THE JOKER. He's also worked on the TV shows for Batman Beyond, Superman, New Gotham Knights, the MYSTERY OF THE BATWOMAN DTV, and even some episodes of X-MEN EVOLUTION and the first Marvel/LG DTV, ULTIMATE AVENGERS. Next to these two is Dan Ripa, who has worked on Batman Beyond, Batman, Superman, and Justice League/JLU. Immediately I knew I was getting a good product.

Aside for Cree Summer, the cast isn't terribly recognizable. The lead role of the title hero is played by Adam Beach, who is best known on LAW & ORDER: SVU. It was cool that they got an actual Native American to star. Not that these things matter 100%, but it is cool to have diversity in the studio. Quite a few Native Americans were involved in the product and that helps add some authenticity to it.

The story is simple and straight-forward, but this isn't a bad thing. We're introduced to Turok as a teenager, having fun with his brother and his brother's girlfriend, Catori. A chance encounter with some opposing tribe ruffians exposes Turok's berserk fury, resulting in his brother getting injured and his exile from his own tribe. Some 16 years later, Catori has given birth to Turok's nephew Andar and that old river battle has come back to haunt his brother, now chief. Chichak, a ruthless warlord who utilizes advanced technology (18th century guns, apparently) leads a slaughter of Turok's tribe, leaving only Andar and Catori the survivors. Turok and Andar chase after Chichak when he kidnaps Catori and they all find themselves into a savage and vast "lost world" that offers no end of nasty surprises. Turok & Andar have to contend with dinosaurs, monstrous birds, and even a newfound tribe as they try to avoid being killed by Chichak, who has formed an unholy alliance with a legion of ravenous Neanderthal warriors.

The animation is pretty decent, on par with the DTV quality of the Marvel LG films. It bares Tad Stones' style to the animation. What most impressed me was the fact that the subject matter was kept mature and serious, and the results followed through. When a fight starts and spears are thrown, they actually go THROUGH chests. Axes hack off limbs. Arrows sear into flesh. Blood is spilled. This isn't SUPERMAN: DOOMSDAY where Doomsday is merely punching or throwing people he could easily just rip through. To people who found it "gory", alls I can say is, "you must never have watched any anime from the 90's". I thought the violence was realistic and entertaining for a PG-13 (a hard PG-13), even if the disc is Unrated (standards for violence are higher for cartoons than for live action films). Turok is a bad ass, able to tear through dinos and warriors alike. Best of all, the story allows some development of Turok from a loner trying to isolate himself from the world out of not wishing to kill others to finding a land where he fit in, even if he didn't exactly want to. He also takes on a fatherly role for Andar.

Beach isn't the best voice actor around but he gets the job done and the rest of the cast are pretty good. The dinosaurs looked great and the vistas and music were done well, too. But what most impressed me was that this was a flick with balls. This flick chose it's audience as older than 16 and ran with it, offering bloody battles and serious situations (like alluding to invading warriors raping women, which they would have back then). There was no fence straddling, "please both kiddies and adults" bull**** here. I like that. Western cartoons need more of this range, having stuff purely intended for adults (or older teens). It was accurate to the 50's mythology while making things more serious for a modern audience. The whole "entering a lost dinosaur world" may be a bit cliche and old hat now, but it provided the backdrop for a lot of good sequences and battles. In the end, writer Tony Bedard (who worked on some of the comics for VALIANT) never forgets about the struggles between the characters regardless of what T-Rex they are evading, and that is what's important.

The only quibble is that when the Neanderthal army first arrives, they are incredibly tough MoFo's, able to withstand multiple arrow shots or hacket-throws. But by the final battle when it is required for the good guys to win, it seems everyone is able to land, uh, "critical head/neck shots" and down them with single arrows. Considering both attacks were ambushes, it just seemed a little predictable. But that is really more of a nitpick than a concern. There were moments of choppy or off-model animation but overall the work looked just like most other DTV's, and sometimes better.

It is the entertaining and action-soaked story and combat that carries the title, and a rare example of Western Animation saying farewell to corporate censor bull**** and allowing a story to progress to natural levels of violence. Tribal warfare wasn't all missed shots and punches, folks. I was never a Turok fan but I can't imagine him being handled much better in a small screen release.

Recommended. If you can find it. A must-have for fans of American Comic based animation.