This is the kind of movie you’d never see from Disney; in fact, I’m surprised they got away with some of The Invisible Raptor. You must have seen the trailer recently; the movie does exactly what you want it to.
The Invisible Raptor stars Sean Astin, Mike Capes, Sandy Martin, David Shackelford, Caitlin McHugh, Bobby Gilchrist, Larry Hankin, and Richard Riehle. I say ‘stars’ people like Astin and Hankin, they have about as much screen time as the raptor, as in about 3 minutes each.
Mikey Hermosa directs, with Mike Capes and Johnny Wickham writing.
The Story
There isn’t a lot to say about the story of The Invisible Raptor, I mean, it’s not Shakespeare.
An amusement park palaeontologist and a hapless security guard team up to stop an invisible raptor from wreaking havoc on their small town.
We open with Astin and another scientist in a secret lab, think the opening of Jurassic World: Rebirth, but on a smaller budget. Inside is an invisible raptor, which manages to get out, because it’s as clever as Sherlock Holmes.
It manages to make its way to the suburbs, and in town near dinosaur park, I forget the name. Dr Grant Walker (Capes) is a palaeontologist, but spends his time rapping to kids about the gift shop, with Denny, who’s dressed up like Barney the Dinosaur. It’s not the life he expected.
Mysterious killings are taking place, and Grant is sure it’s a velociraptor; the only thing is, he can’t see it. What follows is a series of mishaps and killings, and a lot of laughs along the way.
The Cast
The Indivisible Raptor has its tongue firmly in its cheek, I mean, the title isn’t going to be a serious movie. The good thing is, all the cast know what’s going on, there are no overly dramatic performances, and everyone is having fun.
Capes, who’s the star and writer, knew exactly what he was doing. As I said, the story is pretty simple, and all of the characters don’t need a big arc.
I like seeing Sandy Martin; she is funny, in a weird way.
It was a little annoying that Astin and Hankin weren’t in it much, but this was a ‘big budget movie’. In fact, the budget was so small they couldn’t afford the CG for a raptor.
A Loving Tribute
Someone said that The Invisible Raptor is a loving tribute to Steven Spielberg’s Jurassic Park. This gave me mixed feelings.
From the opening credits, where the fonts are in the same style as the original JP, it had me smiling. There are a lot of little Easter Eggs, throwback to a few of Spielberg’s movies and other movies as well. Again, I found myself giggling at little jokes here and there.
Sure, The Invisible Raptor is a loving tribute, but at the same time, it’s not. Spielberg has always had a family-friendly quality about his movies. Even though there is blood and scary moments in Jurassic Park, it’s never over the top; it’s always PG-13.
In The Invisible Raptor, the gore is turned up to 11. It is funny in places, like floating eyeballs and half-managed faces. However, I thought the gore was over the top. Instead of this movie being ‘fun for all the family’, it’s more for people of my age; people who remember the original Jurassic Park and are now a little older.
This was kind of a shame, as the movie could have worked for the family; parents who remembered the original and their kids. The Invisible Raptor isn’t a family movie; it’s rated R for a reason, and I thought it was a shame.
The ending made me laugh, as a couple of the main protagonists head out to the wilderness, where there is a Devil’s Tower, with helicopters all around it. It was like they were expecting aliens who like music and bright lights.
Overall
I started smiling at The Invisible Raptor from the beginning; however, as it goes on, it starts to wear thin. OK, there aren’t a lot of places the story can go, but it seemed like they ran out of ideas pretty quickly.
It’s only a 90-minute movie, but I found it a long 90 minutes. As I said, the jokes start to wear thin, as does the story and by the end, I had kind of lost interest.
I imagine this is a good ‘drinking movie’; get some mates around, pizzas and beers, and the more you drink, the more you enjoy the movie. I was sober when I watched it, and it just didn’t hold my attention. Again, a shame, as I liked the idea.
I’m going to give it a fair 2.5 out of 5. It’s not terrible, it’s not brilliant, but it does exactly what it’s supposed to: entertain. For me, it only entered mildly though. I doubt I would watch it again.
The Invisible Raptor is now on digital.
