Starring Vladimir Bejval, Petr Herrman, Zdenek Hustak, Josef Lukas
Directed by Karel Zeman
(actor & director credits courtesy IMDB.com)
Four boys journey through each of the prehistoric eras, encountering wild beasts and dinosaurs along the way.
Karel Zeman was a well-regarded Czech filmmaker, who used detailed backgrounds and animation to create fantasy films. This film is one of his triumphs, using a cast of four youngsters that witness and interact with fantastic special effects, bringing creatures of the distant past to life. Stop-motion animation is utilized, along with rear projection, full-sized creature models, and intricately drawn background images. Although the movement of the animation isn't quite fluid, it is still accomplished and in many scenes quite realistic. The showpiece of the film might be a gigantic stegosaurus, rendered in terrific detail, which the boys get up close to and climb over its sharp edged plates. Although the film is more travelogue than narrative in some respects, the boys are frequently separated as they wander off in search of fantastic sights leading to dramatic situations. The production is slow paced but there are new images to look forward to in each new setting and age the boys encounter.
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