Turok: Son of Stone (cold killers!)

Wow, this animated feature wastes no time getting to the action. I had heard some positive reviews of this film with the only complaint, which I back up, was the 'Saturday morning' style of the animation quality. Most feature films get a bit of a boost but they made up for it in this film by covering up most of the animation cells with human blood, and plenty of it! Within the first few minutes of this film, blood is splattering on the camera and your brain races for something to compare the experience to...but it can't. This film looks like you always wished your Saturday morning cartoons always did; where the enemies didn't slap eachother to slap another day, they literally gut eachother and make new enemies afterward.

The plot is quickly set up as a "sins of the father" story with a twist, easily re-worded as "sins of the son". As a teenager, Turok accidentally wounds his brother to near death (in a fit of blind rage) while in a battle with a neighbouring tribe. He is banished from his own tribe and we flash forward sixteen years (it then cuts to the title and I was expecting a long opening credit sequence to eat up some of the 72 minute run-time, to my surprise, it was a two second title shot and right back into the story. Sweet!). Turok's nephew, Andar (who has been born and grown since the banishment), who is also son of the chief (yep, Turok's bro) tracks Turok down to let him know the tribe is being attacked the next day and they expect a slaughter. Turok basically says "Tough shit" and sends the kid on his way. Now just what Turok has been up to during these lost years? We must find out how he has grown while...oh, shit, wait, no time for that crap! It's another tribal battle! Holy crap! Another blood-spattering battle wipes out Turok's family tribe with some gut-wrenching deaths that make you squirm. The lone survivor (coincidentally, Turok's nephew again) finds Turok after making his escape from the fight. He reports the tribe and his father's death to Turok, who gets pretty upset. Time for some internal personal reflection as emotions run high...oh, wait, that doesn't happen, Turok's just ran into the enemy and started chopping everyone's spleens out! Oh god!

Okay, phew. That's over. However, the bad guy got away and kidnapped Andar's mother. Time to catch our breath and form a plan...oh shit, nevermind, Turok's off on horseback to get her back! Ok, good, he's got him cornered in a cave now. Time for a stand-off to set up a boiling hatred between these two men...if it weren't for that twenty-foot giant bird that just tore Turok's a horse in half! Holy crap! Kill it Kill it! Oh, nuts, during that distraction, the bad guy snuck away. Turock and Andar follow to discover a forgotten land filled with ancient animals and plants. This looks like a good time to research this amazing place and marvel at it's wonders...oh shit a tyrannosaurus is trying to eat everyone, run!

Ok, I have to shut the movie off or I'll never catch my breath to review it! This movie is action-packed from start to finish, and I mean that, it never lets up. It's not all blood splattering (though even a simple egg hunt turns bloody) but there is always something going on, it's just crazy. The hatred between Turok and his enemy "Chichak" is felt all the way through. It's funny that they don't even know one another aside from "You killed my dad" and "Yeah, well, you killed my brother" and that core for their hatred is still enough to fuel this movie. It's basically tribe vs. tribe but they're the last two left. If the animation was kicked up just 25% more, I would give this film a 10/10 but with this much action, I couldn't help but picture how much cooler each death or adventure would have looked with top-knotch animation on it. Even so, this gets a 9/10. Once I saw "Curt Geda" and "Dan Riba" were directors (from the Batman Animated Series and Batman Beyond), I suspected this film would end up pretty damn good. I heard next to nothing about this film prior to it's release but once it came out, the 'holy crap' reviews just flowed in. I forgot about this film for a couple months and just happened upon it at the video store, now I have to go and buy my own copy to watch again and again!

This is definitely not for the younglings though, I'm not kidding when I say there's blood-o-plenty and violence galore. So don't say I didn't tell you so.