I really wasn't expecting this thing to be an out-and-out comedy, but, there you go. It wasn't funny (these things never are), but it did provide, well, no, it didn't provide a chuckle or two. I was actually more interested in browsing through a musical instrument catalog than watching this - that's how engrossing it is.
We start with a scientist who works at a museum. They've recently acquired a complete woolly mammoth, and he's conducting an examination of it. He releases some sort of alien homing beacon which sends a message to a nearby flying saucer, and a little chrome plated ball comes to earth and starts flying around. The mammoth comes to life and of course starts killing people. The main story seems to be about how funny the scientist is because he's really absent minded. His daughter (Summer Glau from Firefly and Serenity) is having a birthday and sure enough, dad's completely forgotten about it. Isn't that hilarious? Nobody could ever accuse these characters of being clichéd. The daughter runs off with her boyfriend to a party, and we get what has to be the goofiest scene in this whole schlock-fest. In any descent movie, the kids would light up a joint or at least drink some beer, but here the kids put on their Ipod headphones and...for some reason I can't quite understand, start acting as if listening to this music is getting them stoned. Yeah. Kind of got me scratchin' my head too. Anyhow, the mammoth shows up and starts stomping on people and generally making a real nuisance of himself, dad arrives with a couple of CIA agents in tow, starts making bad movie puns and...I really don't need to tell you the rest of the plot, do I? If you've ever seen a low budget creature movie before, you know what happens in each scene for the rest of the movie.
Like I say, it was vaguely humorous. Vincent Ventresca does a fairly good job with his "funny" character in this thing, and he comes off as fairly likable. Tom Skerritt is in here, looking like the psycho-dad that Nick Nolte played in The Hulk. He seems to be here for no reason but to make anti-Bush jokes. Um, guys? You're in a Sci-Fi Channel original movie. That's sort of like being criticized by the village idiot. None of the characters really amount to anything. These folks could learn a thing or two about how to create deep, sympathetic characters from watching some Friday the 13th films. Seriously. The mammoth looked pretty typical for a Sci-Fi Channel original, which is to say, cheap CGI. If you've got absolutely nothing better to do, and it's either this or professional wrestling, I guess I'd choose this.
We start with a scientist who works at a museum. They've recently acquired a complete woolly mammoth, and he's conducting an examination of it. He releases some sort of alien homing beacon which sends a message to a nearby flying saucer, and a little chrome plated ball comes to earth and starts flying around. The mammoth comes to life and of course starts killing people. The main story seems to be about how funny the scientist is because he's really absent minded. His daughter (Summer Glau from Firefly and Serenity) is having a birthday and sure enough, dad's completely forgotten about it. Isn't that hilarious? Nobody could ever accuse these characters of being clichéd. The daughter runs off with her boyfriend to a party, and we get what has to be the goofiest scene in this whole schlock-fest. In any descent movie, the kids would light up a joint or at least drink some beer, but here the kids put on their Ipod headphones and...for some reason I can't quite understand, start acting as if listening to this music is getting them stoned. Yeah. Kind of got me scratchin' my head too. Anyhow, the mammoth shows up and starts stomping on people and generally making a real nuisance of himself, dad arrives with a couple of CIA agents in tow, starts making bad movie puns and...I really don't need to tell you the rest of the plot, do I? If you've ever seen a low budget creature movie before, you know what happens in each scene for the rest of the movie.
Like I say, it was vaguely humorous. Vincent Ventresca does a fairly good job with his "funny" character in this thing, and he comes off as fairly likable. Tom Skerritt is in here, looking like the psycho-dad that Nick Nolte played in The Hulk. He seems to be here for no reason but to make anti-Bush jokes. Um, guys? You're in a Sci-Fi Channel original movie. That's sort of like being criticized by the village idiot. None of the characters really amount to anything. These folks could learn a thing or two about how to create deep, sympathetic characters from watching some Friday the 13th films. Seriously. The mammoth looked pretty typical for a Sci-Fi Channel original, which is to say, cheap CGI. If you've got absolutely nothing better to do, and it's either this or professional wrestling, I guess I'd choose this.