Dino e la macchina del tempo

As a lifelong fan of animation, an admirer of Tara Strong and as someone who is interested in dinosaurs and has been enthralled by many films featuring them, 'Dino Time' had potential. Sadly, the execution was a long way from fantastic, much of it lousy.

'Dino Time' is not a complete waste of time. Some of the animation is serviceable enough, the colours are pretty and exotic looking and the backgrounds are nicely rendered and quite rich in detail. Some of the voice cast acquit themselves well, Grey De Lisle, Tara Strong and Pamela Adlon always do their best regardless of what's thrown at them while Jane Lynch is engaging.

Not that either element is completely successful. The character designs are unattractive and stiff and there is a general lack of visual imagination. As for the rest of the voice cast, others do not fare well. Melanie Griffith sounds disinterested, Steven and William Baldwin just don't sound sinister enough for villains and Rob Schneider is unbearably obnoxious.

Every other element is poorly done. The soundtrack is forgettable at best and doesn't rouse, catch or engage. The writing is often very forced, especially in the humour which is never funny (quite the opposite), and the story is dragged out, predictable and contrived. Not even the action engages and the time machine stuff is muddled.

Characters are an infuriating mix of bland and annoying, and the obligatory villains' motives are never made clear, let alone expanded upon.

In conclusion, pretty bad and a long way from dino-tastic. 2/10 Bethany Cox