Brontosaurus (1980)

Director:

Vera Plívová-Simková

Writer:

Vera Plívová-Simková (writer)

Release Date:

1 August 1980 (Czechoslovakia)

Genre:

Family

Cast

Dana Vávrová	...	Dana
Tomás Simek	...	Tomás
Michal Hofbauer	...	Franta
Lukás Bech	...	Jíra
Petra Fiserová
Sárka Fiserová
Jaroslav Kolísek	...	Konda
Jakub Nemec	...	Plasmuska
Pavla Marsálková
Daniela Kolárová
Vlastimil Ptácek
Jirí Zahajský
Zdenek Sverák	...	Bobr
Karel Dellapina
Lubomír Kostelka

Runtime:

71 min

Country:

Czechoslovakia

Language:

Czech

Color:

Color

Sound Mix:

Mono

I wish 21st century children would watch this movie

This is my first movie review for IMDb, and I must confess this is being written out of pity and sadness. This is march 2006 and Brontosaurus has only received a vote from 8 people, none of whom bothered to write a comment. Granted, it is not a ground-breaking masterpiece we're dealing with here (I myself gave it a 6/10), but I would like to think there's other people out there who LOVE this film like I do, i.e. not so much LOVE as in "it's a great film, go and see it", rather LOVE like you love an old friend, or that forest where you built a tree-house as a kid. All the main characters in this film are children and teenagers, and it is definitely meant to be enjoyed by children only (the script is pretty poor, even silly if watched from an adult perspective). It is set in a very small Czech town and the main character (Tomás) is a nature lover and a birdwatcher. The movie shows his struggle to keep the forests he loves clean. And there's a love/hate sub-plot there too: this girl in his class is secretly in love with him while her brother is his archenemy. I first saw the film when I was eight and it had a huge impact on me. It made me realize that nature was what i felt most passionately about. I became a birdwatcher and fifteen years later I got a degree in zoology at Aberdeen university. Therefore, needless to say, I am incapable of being objective about Brontosaurus, but I think it is a heart-warming and heartfelt little film and I wish it was available for children to see all over the world. In a way, its candor and innocence are its greatest merits. With today's film industry churning out flicks that not even the directors care about (and this is specially true of kids films), an old little movie that distills genuine love for its subject matter (nature-childhood) is to be treasured. Let your children watch it if they get the chance. It may stay with them forever. It certainly is still part of me. Five years ago I got the chance to see it again on the big screen (thanks to the Filmoteca of Catalonia) and hearing the Brontosaurus song again at the end of the film (as sang by all the children in the movie) brought tears to my eyes. It was time travel, a unique and wonderful experience.