[6]
A paleontologist (Sean Young) and her husband (William Katt) discover a family of three brontosauruses living in the rain forests of the African Ivory Coast. At first they are thrilled to report their find, but when rival scientists kill the father dinosaur and try to capture the mother and baby, our heroes embark on a rescue mission to restore the dinos to the wild.
Baby: Secret of the Lost Legend is an ambitious Disney production made at a time when the studio was desperate to redefine itself as ‘more adult’. The result is a somewhat confused movie with unconvincing animatronic dinosaurs for the kids, and gratuitous partial nudity for the adults — lots of topless natives here, although I won’t complain about William Katt being shirtless for much of the movie. Disney ultimately released the film under their new Touchstone Pictures label.
But you know what? I like this movie quite a bit. Even though the animatronic effects are outdated, I still found myself falling in love with these creatures. I was heartbroken when the father died and I loved the little brontosaurus enough to keep me watching the rest of the movie, hoping for her safe reunion with her mother. I also think Katt and Young are very good in this movie. These aren’t deep, sophisticated roles, but they’re a little meatier than you might expect from genre fare. Katt has plenty of charisma, as does Patrick McGoohan (Braveheart) as the icy-cold, villainous rival scientist.
While the script is a bit over-plotted, I admire that it allows plenty of ‘hang out’ moments and grace notes, giving the film room to breathe and time for us to enjoy the characters and the atmosphere. My favorite sequence is when the two leads encounter an indigenous tribe in the rain forest and spend the night with them, eating, drinking, dancing, and getting high on hallucinogens. I think scenes like this one are what make movies worthy of repeat viewings. Few plots are so engaging that we want to experience them twice, but if you create a character or a vibe that people enjoy, they’ll want to come back to it. The exotic location photography and gorgeous Jerry Goldsmith score also provide tremendous appeal.
With Julian Fellowes, Kyalo Mativo, and Hugh Quarshie. Directed by B.W.L. Norton (More American Graffiti).