I Am T-Rex - Blu-ray Review

[Michael Scott]

I Am T-Rex



Movie:
Video:
Audio:
Extras:
Final Score:



AV NIRVANA is member and reader-supported. When you purchase an item using our links, we might earn an affiliate commission.
​

Movie
Chinese animated films usually are more focused towards an Asian audience, utilizing Chinese folklore and/or Wuxia as their base for narratives. However, this time it appears that this Chinese produced film has aimed at copying something much more American at heart. Blending bits of Jurassic Park, The Lion King and The Land Before Time together in a cheap CGI film meant for single digit kids, this little light hearted lark seems to miss the mark more often than not.

The story revolves around young Jarrett, an adolescent T-rex who is living it up in The Green Valley as his father Logan acts as protectorate and king of their little slice of paradise. Jarrett soon is thrust into adulthood when the jealous Fang challenges Logan to mortal combat for the right to become ruler of Green Valley. With his father falling prey to the cruel Fang, Jarrett is forced out of the Green valley, having to learn and adapt on the fly in hopes of one day coming back to take back his father’s legacy by force.

If you can’t already seen the Lion King and The Land Before Time elements already, it gets steadily more obvious as the 80 minute film goes on. Personally I have a hard time recommending the flick to anybody besides the very very young, as the story borrows heavily from films that do everything much better, and doesn’t add anything to the tried and true tropes. It’s not horrible, but then again, this isn’t going to give Disney a run for their money by any stretch of the imagination.







Rating:

Rated R for violence, language throughout and brief drug content




Video:

The 2.39:1 AVC encode looks solid enough, with plenty of bright, well saturated, colors that really pop off the screen. Details are a bit wonky due to the low budget CGI (it kind of looks like one of those low budget 90s films, with jerky motion and a very old school video game like vibe to it). Fine details tend to be pretty decent, but when the film opens up it sort of loses detail levels as the budget obviously wasn’t top tier. China has never been known for great CGI, and it’s pretty much par for the course (hand drawn and CGI based anime lite animation has always been their strong point). Black levels are strong, though I detected some mild banding here and there. Otherwise an overall capable transfer.









Audio:

We’re facing the typical 4 pack of audio mixes from Well Go USA, with the main two being the Mandarin original language track in 5.1 DTS-HD MA and the English dub. Both have their pros and cons in terms of dialog, with the Chinese track sounding a bit more nuanced, while the English dub is right out of the old 90s Land Before Time level of voice acting. Sonics wise, the tracks are nearly identical, with a mostly front heavy mix that opens up a bit more with the action scenes (which also add in some nice heavy bass to the T-Rex roars). Again, well done track, but definitely shows it’s low budget roots.












Extras:

• Trailers

Final Score: ​

I’m going to be honest here. I Am T-Rex is not for my demographic. This is akin to the late 90s and early 2000’s DTV animated flicks that were meant solely as digital baby sitters for very young kids. The flick is aimed squarely at that demographic, and I definitely not one of them. It’s passable entertainment fare for kids in the single digit age range, but everybody else may find it a bit pedestrian and combining the low budget graphics it’s not going to win over many of the older people. Simply put, basic digital babysitter stuff that is meant to be processed and entertain said kids. The Blu-ray looks and sounds nice enough, but personally, unless you’re going to use it as a way to get the little ones off your back for 80 minutes, I’d just skip it.


Technical Specifications:

Starring: Lang Shin, Yi Nuo, Long Bai, CHiyu Wen
Directed by: Ming Shang, Lin Si
Written by: Lang Lin, Yi Nuo, Long Bai
Aspect Ratio: 2.39:1 AVC
Audio: English: DTS-HD MA 5.1, Mandarin DTS-HD MA 5.1, English, Mandarin DD 2.0
Subtitles: English SDH, English, Mandarin (Simplified), Mandarin (Tradiitonal)
Studio: Well Go USA
Rated: NR
Runtime: 81 minutes
Blu-Ray Release Date: June 20th, 2023

Recommendation: Skip It