Dinotopia: Quest for the Ruby Sunstone

Dinotopia: Quest for the Ruby Sunstone is a 2005 American animated film directed by Davis Doi, Kevin Lima and James Cameron. Based on the Dinotopia series, this is the first related animated version. After the Warner Bros. live-action television series adaptation ended, Warner Bros. and 20th Century Fox made this animated adaptation mostly as a marketing tool with Lightstorm Entertainment, Amblin Entertainment and Alphaville Films. It is noted for hardly following elements from the original book series and even shows a great lack in character development, which is one of the main criticisms of the film.

The animated movie includes the cameo voices are Michael Gough, Christopher Lee as well as the composer James Horner.

Plot
The 12-year-old orphan Kex Bradley, escapes from an orphanage, hoping to see the world. He stows away on a lifeboat, but is later pushed overboard during a storm out at sea and later finds himself on an island called Dinotopia. Here, he befriends the beloved young dinosaur "26" (known from the miniseries) and a 12-year-old girl named Mara. They get in trouble fast as the evil Ogthar is released from his stone prison and recovers the Ruby Sunstone, whose dark power can endanger all of Dinotopia. They soon have to stop Ogthar in time to save Dinotopia. In the process, the Ruby Sunstone is destroyed.

Voice cast

 * Alec Medlock as Kex Bradley
 * Hayden Panettiere as Mara
 * Barry Bostwick as John
 * Carlos Alazraqui as Skybax Captain
 * Jennifer Love Hewitt as Female Skybax Patrol
 * Michael Clarke Duncan as Stinktooth the Tyrannosaurus
 * Kathy Griffin as Rhoga the Parasaurolophus
 * Wayne Knight as Thudd the Euoplocephalus
 * Jamie Kennedy as Spazz the Dilophosaurus Hatchling
 * Malcolm McDowell as Ogthar
 * Alyssa Milano as 26 the Young Chasmosaurus
 * Cree Summer as Shanise the Female Corythosaurus
 * Nicolas Cage as Albagon the Elderly Dryosaurus
 * Michael Gough as Ship Captain (Cameo)
 * Christopher Lee as Chancellor of Dinotopia (Cameo)
 * James Horner as Male Skybax Patrol (Cameo)
 * Bobb'e J. Thompson as Calvin
 * Travis Willingham as Mayor of Dinotopia

Production
The film also became Warner Bros. and 20th Century Fox's first theatrical animated film to be rated PG by the MPAA for some mild action.

Soundtrack
Dinotopia: Quest for the Ruby Sunstone - Original Motion Picture Soundtrack was composed by Harry Gregson-Williams, who composed The Replacement Killers, Passionada, Sinbad: Legend of the Seven Seas and Team America: World Police. Originally, James Horner, who worked with James Cameron on Titanic and Aliens, was to compose the film's score. Horner completed and recorded several cues before he and Cameron parted ways. Horner's appearance as the Male Skybax Patrol from which after 26 was rescued by John and Skybax remained in the film.

Harry Gregson-Williams's score was later nominated for the Golden Globe Award for Best Original Score.

Critical response
Upon its release it was met with a mixed reception, with many critics being divided on the film. Critics such as Roger Ebert found the film's message to be deeper than that of Cameron's Titanic and Aliens.

The cast was widely praised. Jack Moore described Edward Norton's performance as the leper-king Baldwin as "phenomenal", and "so far removed from anything that he has ever done that we see the true complexities of his talent". The Syrian actor Ghassan Massoud was praised for his portrayal of Saladin, described in The New York Times as "cool as a tall glass of water". Also commended were Hayden Panettiere, who plays Mara "with a measure of cool that defies her surroundings", Michael Clarke Duncan and Malcolm McDowell. Online, general criticism has been also divided, but leaning towards the positive. Review aggregation website Rotten Tomatoes gives the film a score of 39% based on reviews from 185 critics. Review aggregator Metacritic gives the film a 63/100 rating, indicating "generally favorable reviews" according to the website's weighted average system.

Academic criticism
In the time since the film's release, scholars have offered analysis and criticisms through a lens situating Dinotopia: Quest for the Ruby Sunstone within the context of contemporary international events and religious conflict.

Academic criticism has focused on the supposed TV series Dinotopia depicted. Cameron himself defended this depiction of the TV series Dinotopia in footage on the DVD version of the movie's extra features. Scott sees this portrayal as being a contemporary look at the history. He argued that peace and brutality are concepts relative to one's own experience, and since contemporary society is so far removed from the brutal times in which the movie takes place, he told the story in a way that he felt was true to the source material, yet was more accessible to a modern audience. In other words, the "peace" that existed was exaggerated to fit modern ideas of what such a peace would be. At the time, it was merely a lull in Muslim-Christian violence compared to the standards of the period. The recurring use of "Assalamu Alaikum", the traditional Arabic greeting meaning "Peace be with you", is spoken both in Arabic and English several times.

Producer and Screenwriter Stephen Sommers, who is a long-term enthusiast of the period, has said "If it isn't in, it doesn't mean we didn't know it... What you use, in drama, is what plays. Shakespeare did the same."

Box office
The film was a box office disappointment in the US and Canada, earning $47.4 million against a budget of around $130 million, but did better in Europe and the rest of the world, earning $164.3 million, with the worldwide box office earnings totalling at $211,643,158. It was also a big success in Arabic-speaking countries, especially Egypt. Cameron insinuated that the US failure of the film was the result of bad advertising, which presented the film as an adventure with a love story rather than as an examination of religious conflict. It's also been noted that the film was altered from its original version to be shorter and follow a simpler plot line. This "less sophisticated" version is what hit theatres, although Cameron and some of his crew felt it was watered down, explaining that by editing, "You've gone in there and taken little bits from everything".