Dino Time

Stars: Voices: Pamela Adlon, Melanie Griffith, Jane Lynch, Fred Tatasciore, Rob Schneider, William Baldwin, Stephen Baldwin, Tara Strong, Yuri Lowenthal

Director: Yoon S Choi, John Kafka

A harmless cartoon feature, with lots of flatulence jokes for younger kids to giggle over, though these are becoming rather too familiar in today's animation world.

Dinosaur-crazy skateboard menace Ernie (Adlon), grounded by his (sexily-drawn) mom (Lynch), escapes to visit his friend Max (Lowenthal), whose dad Diego (Tatasciore) has invented a time machine that doesn't work - until the kids, Ernie, Max and Ernie's sister Jules (Strong), spill soda pop on it and bingo! find themselves transported to prehistoric times, where they emerge from the egg-shaped machine to be greeted as 'her new babies' by a bright pink dinosaur (Griffith).

Thrills and spills ensue in frenzied fashion, including a ride through the rapids, as Ernie loses the key to the machine, while Dino-Mom must contend with Lower Valley kingpins the Sarco Brothers (the Baldwins), who want to take over her territory and, with the help of three blue spy-birds (who suffer from the aforementioned flatulence), intend to kidnap her 'babies' to achieve it.

Meanwhile, back at home, Mom, whose heroic bosom will probably be the star of the film for bored dads, helps Diego to transform her car into another time machine.

Vivid animation from South Korea, and lots of zippy action should keep tots happy. Incidentally, Strong, who plays Jules, has racked up more than 400 TV and film voice-over credits since she began as a teenager in the late 1980s. She must be hoarse by now.

David Quinlan

USA/South Korea 2012. UK Distributor: Signature. Colour by Fotokem/Prints by deluxe.
84 minutes. Not widescreen. UK certificate: PG.

Guidance ratings (out of 3): Sex/nudity 0, Violence/Horror 0, Drugs 0, Swearing 0.

Review date: 17 May 2015