This past weekend I rented & watched the animated adventure:
T U R O K SON OF STONE . . . and it was a truly enjoyable romp, quite exciting, owing as much to Fire & Ice, and Heavy Metal, as it thematically does to its origins in TUROK of the old Gold Key comics, it swings along in a spirit of fast, murky High Adventure, rather like the old "Jonny Quest" TV series, except on a decidedly more adult level . . and hence comes the WARNING part:
This is NOT - I repeat - NOT a "cartoon" for kids! And let me be explicit in my caveat here: I'm not talking about sex, blasphemy, perversion, nudity, profanity or any advanced concepts r.e. politics, religion and/or child-safety issues.
In a nutshell: this is far and away the bloodiest and most violent animated feature I've ever watched.
Gratuitous? Not in the least; this spin on Turok, the 19-Cent. Native American trapped in a mysterious "lost canyon" of dinosaurs, cavemen and exploding volcanoes, is, unlike the original dime comics from the 50's, rooted in a dark & violent mythos, continually framed in the chain-reaction consequences of tribal warfare and predatory cycles of vendettas & blood-feuds. Therefore, as this tale unfolds (with far more backstory than the comic series ever provided!), events became increasingly more benchmarked with death-by-combat, hands-on murder, prisoners being tortured, villagers being slaughtered, ghosts demanding vengeance . .
You know . . kinda like Shakespeare, in Jurassic Park!
Along with the kids, and the adults with little tolerance for violence, the stricter Turok purists might also want to sidestep this feature, as it is to a large extent, the Turok legend re-imagined: as I stated above, the title character is here given a neat little biographical backstory, putting even trusty nephew/sidekick Andar into perspective; Turok gets chased into the "lost land" (with Andar and his sister-in-law in tow) only after being an adult exile of many years, is continually pursued & bedevilled by an evil Indian rival who totes a musket, and the home territories of these central characters seems to be somewhere in the Dakotas, rather the American Southwest, as the comics always suggested.
Finally, in my estimation, as exciting as the Prehistoric predicaments were, there was just too little story time devoted to the dinosaurs & the volcanoes . . and greatest sin of all, I can't recall even once hearing anyone call the dinos "honkers"!
But again, back on the plus-side, it does feature vocal performances by Adam Beach, Irene Bedard, Graham Green, and my one-time fellow-Vashonite, Russell Means.
So, see it, or don't?
Well, if you're an adult like myself who fondly remembers those grand old TUROK comics, and can allow a little latitude in telling a good story differently, and can tolerate what Johnny Cash called "the mud, the blood & the beer", then "Yes!", by all means, go for it!
I doubt that you'll feel your time or your money's been wasted!
But be advised, whether the DVD case concedes this point or not, this one's definitely deserving of an NC-17 rating!
A Recommendation . . and a Warning!
-
klondike
Good points all, CP; well thought-out & well-spoken.
Truth to tell, my views on rating films are probably closer to your own than might be guessed; by & large, I feel that most of the time the ratings code system is functionally unnecessary or at least marginally misapplied.
In the case of Turok, my overwhelming concern is for the nearly universal assumption by the majority of overworked, middle-income parents that any animated video rental is produced specifically for children ("Well, it's a cartoon, right?!").
Ideally, parents would take an active interest in, and supervision of, their children's audio/visual enetertainment, via music, broadcast or DVD rental, just as they would always provide them with sensible, adequate clothing, and a nutritious, balanced diet, as well as taking responsibilty for a home-based education for their age-appropriate needs in the areas of health, hygiene, sexuality & gender identity, rather than leave those pressing concerns to the vagaries of multi-media input, street-level peer pressure or our overburdened school system.
But the reality for most of our youth is quite different, isn't it?
Truth to tell, my views on rating films are probably closer to your own than might be guessed; by & large, I feel that most of the time the ratings code system is functionally unnecessary or at least marginally misapplied.
In the case of Turok, my overwhelming concern is for the nearly universal assumption by the majority of overworked, middle-income parents that any animated video rental is produced specifically for children ("Well, it's a cartoon, right?!").
Ideally, parents would take an active interest in, and supervision of, their children's audio/visual enetertainment, via music, broadcast or DVD rental, just as they would always provide them with sensible, adequate clothing, and a nutritious, balanced diet, as well as taking responsibilty for a home-based education for their age-appropriate needs in the areas of health, hygiene, sexuality & gender identity, rather than leave those pressing concerns to the vagaries of multi-media input, street-level peer pressure or our overburdened school system.
But the reality for most of our youth is quite different, isn't it?