Speckles: The Tarbosaurus

January. 26,2012      
Rating:
5.5
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Trailer Synopsis Cast

The story is set 70 million years ago, when dinosaurs ruled the Korean Peninsula the same way they ruled the rest of the earth. Spotty is a curious and playful Tarbosaurus child, and along with his mother and siblings, he lives happily in the forest. One day the cunning One-eye, an older Tyrannosaur looking for a new home, attacks Spotty’s herd and separates Spotty from his family. Alone, he befriends another lost girl Tarbosaur who becomes his friend and constant companion for two decades and the mother of his own children. But Spotty’s troubles with One-eye are not over, and revenge, death, fear, and sadness are all in Spotty’s future―as is happiness and hope.

Shin Yong-woo as  Youth Spotty (voice)
Koo Ja-hyoung as  Adult Spotty (voice)

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Reviews

Doomtomylo
2012/01/26

a film so unique, intoxicating and bizarre that it not only demands another viewing, but is also forgivable as a satirical comedy where the jokes eventually take the back seat.

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Jonah Abbott
2012/01/27

There's no way I can possibly love it entirely but I just think its ridiculously bad, but enjoyable at the same time.

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Lucia Ayala
2012/01/28

It's simply great fun, a winsome film and an occasionally over-the-top luxury fantasy that never flags.

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Justina
2012/01/29

The film never slows down or bores, plunging from one harrowing sequence to the next.

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stoygop
2012/01/30

People are ridiculous complaining about random dinosaur inaccuracies. This is a movie for children - a little brutal - but somehow my boys don't care and love it. They've watched this as many times as I used to watch Dumbo. (Wait, you mean elephants can't fly?) If you want a documentary on tarbosaurus or tyrannosaurus or velociraptor, then this isn't for you. I wouldn't watch an action film and then complain about how the drama was unrealistic. My recommendation: don't overthink this people.

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hauntedmyst
2012/01/31

The animation in this movie is outstanding. Sadly, that is the end of what's good about it. It's told from the point of view of Speckles, the youngest dinosaur in the pack and that is the main problem. They put a tremendous amount of work into creating a incredible graphics, a photo realistic world to depict the violent life of the dinosaurs and then used a anthropomorphized child's voice with horrible dialog that sounds like its from a PBS kids show as the main narration. Imagine watching Jurassic Park with Fifel the Mouse narrating the movie for the first third of the film and you get the picture. Eventually, the voice get older as Speckles get older but the dialog gets no better and the story becomes ridiculous (including showing a Tarbosaurus (similar to a Tyrannosaurus) cliff dive into the ocean). While it's not a documentary, it would have been better served with adult documentary like narration. That change alone would have made this movie more watchable. No narration would have been better and made this movie much more watchable.

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Blueghost
2012/02/01

It's hard for me to review this movie as it's allegedly a sort of quasi- children's film with some very harsh elements of prehistoric life shown. As such the film has this kind of odd intent of wanting to show how competitive life was during the age of dinosaurs, but at the same time inject a kind of family friendly children's fair to the whole thing.So it is that we see Pangea as seen through the eyes of Speckles, the Tarbosaurus, a breed of Tyrannosaur, as he and his family struggle to survive the the very unforgiving environment of the late Cretaceous period, where supersized hyper-predators hunt and prey off of equally gigantic sauropods. We are spared the bloodshed, but not the hunt and the bite.And this is kind of the odd thing about this movie; all the violence is there, but not the explicit element that makes violence so abhorrent; shedding blood. Which, for a children's film, is a good thing, but one is hard pressed to gauge the violence as the actual attacks and bites are shown, as well as dinosaurs (friendly, non-friendly, and hapless prey) are shown dying, attacking, or being attacked.That's kind of the duel edged nature of a movie like this. The film makers put in the presence of a family, even a romance and the rebuilding of a family to give the film a kind of life that we mere humans can relate to, but the reality of the dinosaur era was that the "monsters" often so referred to by scientists, were, in reality, truly monsters. They were predators that knew only one thing; they needed to kill to eat. when you go to a museum and see the skeletons of creatures of epochs long since gone, we tend to marvel at them from a distance and then put them out of our minds. But if you really thought about those times, and what the behaviors of the creatures that lived back then would have been like, it should make your shiver a little. There was no more violent time to be alive than to be a dinosaur in the mix of a predator prey relationship.So the film is successful in presenting an honest look at dinosaur lives, and doesn't pull too many punches to deliver us a children's tale. The film is, on its own level, a resounding success. But I wonder if it was wise to make such a film in the first place, one where we see dinosaurs killing other dinosaurs. Then again I thin of all the Westerns I saw as a child, and all of the gunfights and all of the actors and stunt-men who played people getting shot in those movies and TV shows, and I think perhaps I'm worrying too much about this film.All in all it's a decent watch. I'm still out to lunch on deciding whether I'd let any of my children watch it. So I guess my best advice to any parent reading this review is to watch the movie yourself first, and then decide whether you think your young one can handle the action in the film.Then again, remember, hey are dinosaurs, creatures that lived a long time ago, and are thankfully gone (mostly anyway).Give it shot, and see what you think.Overall a decent movie.

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Hussain Talib (devil_hunter12500)
2012/02/02

(Note, this review MAY contains Spoilers!)I remember watching this movie on YouTube two years ago. I was initially pessimistic about it, considering that this movie is Korean. As I watched more, I couldn't help but find myself liking this film. After all, I am a lover of dinosaurs and its quite badass having a Tarbosaurus as the protagonist.To start off, the story is basic: The life of a Tarbosaurus named Speckles. Initially having a happy life, his family and life is shattered when a Tyrannosaurus named One Eye appears usurps their territory, killing them in the process. What follows is the tribulations and struggle of Speckles who tries to survive during his lifetime. Overtime, we get to see his character mature as he grows up.So, what are my thoughts of this film? As stated before, I like this film. For kids, it is an enjoyable dino-flick and I think the film is suitable for families of all ages. However for dino-nerds and professional critics, its a hard watch as many usually point out the lack of logic and the excessive flaws of any film possible (Even the best ones).The Good: To start off, I like the character of Speckles. You can quickly empathise with him and his maturity and growth over the course of the story is very well done. Other characters include Blue Eyes (Another major character), Speckles's family and One Eye (The antagonist) who while somewhat generic, seem to serve their purpose quite well. One Eye is a character that you WILL hate, so that's a good plus for me. The animation is brilliant and that's what I think is the movie's best element, considering that Speckles was meant to be a 3D film. The story is simplistic, but I think it works and flows with the coming-of-age genre quite decently. Aside from the titular Tarbosaurus and Tyrannosaurus, there are also several dinosaurs not known to the public (E.g. Tsintaosaurus, Therizinosaurus, Pukyongosaurus and Charanosaurus) featured which I think helps the film in being colourful and more diverse in establishing different fauna. Lastly, the music of the film is superb in my opinion. It catches the mood quite effectively and provides a sense of adventure and thrill in this film.The Bad: Not every film is perfect.The same can be said for Speckles. Firstly, the film's story is shown through narration, which goes through different voice-overs depending on Speckles's age. Needless to say, it was insipid (Especially the narrator for infant Speckles) and I felt it was distracting and a juvenile attempt to make the film more geared towards kids. While there is a good species number of dinosaurs in this film, its easy to point out that several of them are actually FROM North America (Tyrannosaurus, Torosaurus and Ankylosaurus for example). Some animals are even over-exaggerated (One species reaching lengths of a 100 feet, despite being way smaller!). One Eye also seems to resemble Scar from The Lion King (Notice that BOTH have scars) and are cunning, but I'd say both are good villains in their own right.In conclusion, Speckles the Tarbosaurus results in it's pros slightly overpowering its cons to make itself known as a film kids could enjoy. There are heart-warming scenes which while depressing, also makes the story a little bit more forced when it comes to empathising with Speckles, but they are sad nonetheless. For dino-nerds, its a mixed bag and its a tough call when it comes to watching something realistic about dinosaurs. However, Speckles the Tarbosaurus makes for a good substitute and I'd say its an enjoyable film. For anyone who was kids who love dinosaurs, I'd say give them a watch. You'll let me know :).For my evaluation in terms of story, characters, music, animation and my own personal enjoyment, I would give Speckles a 7.8 out of ten. My best recommendation is that you should rather watch the movie on YouTube rather than just buying it. Kids will love this film and adults will find it heart-warming and depressing Overall, its a good dinosaur film albeit with its own set of flaws and a nice departure from NOT using well known dinosaurs (E.g. Apatosaurus) as the protagonist, having shifted to a lesser known species (Tarbosaurus) for a boosting popularity.

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