| Anonymous Rex | |
|---|---|
| Directed by | Julian Jarrold |
| Produced by | Eric Garcia Daniel J. Heffner Joe Menosky |
| Written by | Eric Garcia (novel) Joe Menosky |
| Starring | Sam Trammell Daniel Baldwin Stephanie Lemelin Tamara Gorski |
| Music by | David Bergeaud |
| Cinematography | Albert J. Dunk Kit Whitmore |
| Editing by | Mark Conte Kevin D. Ross |
| Release date(s) | 2004 |
| Running time | 120 minutes |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
Anonymous Rex is an original movie made for the Sci Fi TV channel, directed by Julian Jarrold and adapted to film by Joe Menosky from the novel Casual Rex by Eric Garcia. The premise of the film is that dinosaurs did not die off, but faked their extinction and now live among humans in disguise. In the past they wore latex suits, but they now use holographic disguises to mask their appearance and coexist with humans without persecution.
The film earned lukewarm reviews. Those who enjoyed it were impressed by the unique concept and film-noir style. At the same time the film was panned for its low-budget special effects and predictable, unexciting story. The failure of the film killed all plans for a spinoff series.
The movie preserves the basic concept of Casual Rex instead of the sequence of events. It is a very loose adaptation. Most if not all of the changes are direct results of the budget limitations for a made-for-TV movie. Because nearly every scene in the novel features dinosaurs, much of the story itself had to change to work inside this limit.
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Vincent Rubio is a Velociraptor private investigator along with his partner, Ernie Watson, a Triceratops.
When Ernie's ex-girlfriend's brother is found dead, the incident is dismissed as suicide. But she doesn't believe her brother would kill himself and asks Ernie to check it out ("for free," Vincent observes). They investigate and Vincent notices the scent of another dinosaur on the windowsill. It was not a suicide.
At the funeral Vincent talks to a man dressed in a strange suit who belongs to the cult that the deceased had joined a while ago, "The Voice of Progress." He pretends to be interested in their ideals and gets himself and Ernie invited to a gathering. That's when Vincent catches a familiar scent nearby--the scent that was present in the victim's bedroom.
Vincent and Ernie go to the cult meeting and hear what the Voice of Progress stands for: they want to give its members their saurian identities back. Dinosaurs are living a lie. They pretend to be something they're not all their lives by wearing their disguises and it's stolen their identity, forced them to see themselves as monsters and the humans as normal. This affects Vincent a great deal. Ernie is untouched.
As their investigation continues, Vincent and Ernie come to realize what one man in the cult is planning. He is plotting a revolution, turning cult members into feral dinosaurs and releasing them on the humans. This will force both sides to face each other, and allow dinosaurs to come out of hiding at last. He knows the dinosaurs will win their freedom to live as they are, and not in the lie. Vincent is not sure what side he's on.
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