Search - Warbirds on DVD

Classic B Movie Dino Theme With Delightfull Twists

John P. Fischner | Needville,TEXAS, USA | 01/15/2009

(5 out of 5 stars)

"This Sci Fi Channel production was sort of a dream come true. For those Boomer Dinosaur fans there was a run of comic books in the 60s pitting the WW2 military men against dinosaurs and other prehistoric monsters. In the back of this kids mind was always the question"Wouldn't this make a great movie?" The battles of blazing machine guns against the roaring monsters begged to be put on the screen. It looked like a great movie for Ray Harryhausen to gift us all with. Alas,it was not to be.....Untill now! CGI replaces the stop motion animation and delivers the most vicious looking Pterasaurs ever seen.Delightfully,this flock of creatures does not look like anything seen on the Discovery Channel.The monsters look much more like the paintings of flying horrors painted by J.Alen St.John for The Land That Time Forgot,or other pulp magazine covers from the 40s.In some aspects this movie looks hauntingly like Harryhausen's unmade movie concept about flying monsters invading 1950s modern times titled "The Elemenatals".But who is to say? The look of the props,and the womens make up all hold true to the retro feel of the film.How much more retro can you get than dinosaurs,anyway? There is even a King Kong refurance. No acting awards will be given for this film. But the visions of pilots dogfighting with leathery winged monsters are all that one could ask for and then some on such a meager budget. If you are too grown up,this might be a one timer. For me,it's a keeper for sure!

JPF"

THE GREATEST GENERATION

Joseph R. Matteini Jr. | melvindale ,michigan | 03/28/2009

(3 out of 5 stars)

"I liked it.So did my father,a World War 11 veteran.He was awarded the silver Star for bravery and if any generation could defeat prehistoric creatures,THEY COULD!He told me the uniforms,firearms,holsters,vehicles,etc.were all authentic. Even the women's hair-do's.Someone did their homework.I liked the idea of women heroes and wished for more character development,though. I liked the tall woman whose plane crashed when the Pteranodon landed on it.Wish she lived.I realize this is a low budget affair and special effects were very good even so.I liked the sky colors(background) when the B-29 was in flight.I never heard of the stars and they did a good job and the film had a good pace to it.Maybe a sequel,where some of the pteranodons survived and mutated form the atomic blast?"

One Of the Best Sci-Fi Has To Offer!

brownie | ca | 03/14/2009

(4 out of 5 stars)

"Warbirds: DVD review

Grade: B

The Sci-Fi channels movies are usual good, but I must start out this review by saying that this is probably the best movie it has made. Yes, I did give it a grade B, but I did that for a reason about the DVD, not the movie itself. (More on that later in the review.) People usually judge Sci-Fi movies, almost stereotyping them, and it just makes me mad, furious, because if you're going to take the time to watch a Sci-Fi movie in the first place, you can't really expect to find the next Oscar nominee for best picture. You're crazy if you do.

Yes, their movies are usual laughingly low-budgeted (they almost seem to take pride in the fact), but the simple truth is this: their movies are fun to watch; they're simple entertainment, in this case, Pterodons assaulting a group of Woman's Airforce Service Pilots.

The movie starts off with a group of Japanese soldiers mining for oil on an island somewhere in the middle of the Pacific, and the time is in the final days of World War 2. The Japanese unearth some preserved Pteranodon eggs, and they hatch and run amok from there. Simple, yet highly entertaining plot, and no, the plot is not only for the weak-minded; the Pteranodons don't even have much screen-time, which is my only complaint about the movie. (More dinosaurs!! Needs more dinosaurs!!!)



The acting is also surprisingly good for a Sci-Fi movie, and the characters don't always act suicidal, like in other recent Sci-Fi movies, such as Yeti. Yes, you do feel for the characters, and you do want them to get out of their situation alive.

The other problem with the movie though is the special effects. The Pteranodons look great (their made using CGI effects), but did they really have to make almost everything else CGI? I mean, even the ocean is CGI in some parts. Once again, kind of cheap guys.

As for the DVD itself, the cover is sort of misleading. At first glance, it appears as if there is a Tyrannosaurus Rex attacking the planes. There is no Tyrannosaurus Rex in the movie. If you want to see Pteranodons and T. Rex's in one movie, go watch Pterodactyl. (Which is not as great as this movie.)

Another problem with the DVD is the special features. I wasn't exactly expecting a whole "making of" documentary, but I wanted at least something else! All there is to the special features is the trailer for the movie, and a trailer for some other movie. That's it. Whoop-dee-doo.

Overall, if you love dinosaurs and the Sci-Fi channel, this is a must-see. They really hit gold with this one, I just wish they would keep making gold like this all the time...But it never hurts to dream, does it?

"

Does it Get Any Worse Than This?

Eric Sanberg | Berwyn, IL United States | 10/20/2009

(1 out of 5 stars)

"The user reviews on this were mixed, but since it's the type of movie I'm predisposed to watch I thought I'd give it a try. I figure there might be the few faults that are worth overlooking to enjoy the good stuff. Boy was I wrong. If you overlook the faults there is little left TO enjoy.



The story revolves around a group of female WWII test pilots who are handed a mission to deliver a few military types escorting some top secret cargo to some base in the Pacific. A storm wipes out a couple of their engines and brings them down on an Island inhabited by Japanese soldiers and killer flying dinosaurs.



This is one of the worst movies I've ever seen. The credits list 4 names with the story and the the director as having written the final script. They still managed to screw things up almost entirely. The acting is awful. The directing and camerawork are equally so. Even the costumes and makeup are terrible. The few Japanese soldiers on the Island that haven't been killed by the monsters are wearing uniforms that are way to clean and nice. The women, even after some number of days working on the planes and fighting these creatures, still sport rosy red lipstick. This is all really basic stuff. How did it get past everyone? The special effects are one of the better things going here but it's a small payoff given what the viewer is made to put up with.



This is not at all a bad idea for a movie but all involved managed to scuttle this project at every turn. Stay away."