User Reviews

I *adored* this movie. Haven't seen it since I was a little kid, but I remember thinking, "Oh my god, that was SUCH a good movie!" ...and it really stuck with me. I only remember the plot vaguely; but I know that I cried so hard when the mother dinosaur found the baby again I thought my lungs would explode (I was about six or seven years old at the time).

I also remember the dinosaur effects being really cool, and I was sure if I watched it now I'd be like, what the heck is with the clay dinosaurs? You know how these things never compare with our memories. But some people on here have said it still isn't that bad. Now I'm definitely going to have to rent it and watch it again.

PS: what is it with Sean Young? She's in like every 80's movie ever MADE!

This is an almost totally entertaining flick which never flags; not in its tongue in cheek dialogue; not in its plot sequences; not in its amazing technical achievements (for its time) in getting the dinosaurs up and running. Sure the acting is pretty much black and white with Patrick McGoohan dispensing villany on the order of Gengis Khan on a bad day and William Katt and Sean Young surmounting all obstacles with a brio and dispatch that would have Arnold panting. There is also Baby herself, consistently endearing though up to, never over, the line. But one doesn't expect a movie about dinosaurs to take time out for character development. What there is of it is in the overly graphic scene of the female dinosaur mourning her slaughtered mate, a transcendent sequence that almost rips the fabric of the piece apart. That it manages to gets back to fantasy after this is a tribute to director B.WE.L. Norton and the frenetic pace he generates throughout. If you never had a dinosaur as a pet, you may be on the lookout for one after seeing Baby.

For those who are too young to know this or for those who have forgotten, the Disney company went almost down the tubes by the end of the 1980s. People were NOT seeing their movies anymore and the company was not producing the usual wholesome material....at least no what people expected. A major problem: profanity.

Yes, the idiots running the Disney movies during that decade would produce films with swear words - including the Lord's name in vain, if you can believe that - interspersed in these "family films." In fact that happens twice here in the first 20 minutes!

This movie, in addition to the language problems, has a nasty tone to it, too, which made it unlikeable almost right from the beginning. Thankfully, Disney woke up and has produced a lot of great material since these decadent '80s movies. ("Touchstone" is Disney, just under another name.)

Let me confess at the start that: 1) I'm definitely fond of dinosaurs and paleontology in general. This interest LONG predates "Jurassic Park". If a paleontology major had been available in my college, in the early 60's, that would have been my choice. 2) I've also ALWAYS been a big fan of animation and related effects, such as the dinosaurs. This movie had by far the best dinosaur effects of any prior to "Jurassic Park", even better than in "The Valley of Gwangi". The baby brontosaurus (actually apatosaurus) was perhaps a little too cutsey with its blinking eyes but otherwise the film captured details of movement, including musculature and skin, very well. This was at its best when the mother dinosaur was chasing the bad guys in their vehicle. Needless to say I was very sympathetic with the efforts of the paleontologists to rescue the dinosaurs. I also enjoyed some of the people "antics" such as the natives spitting out the granola bars (hippy food) from the sides of their mouths while pretending to like it. An enjoyable movie if a little saccharine.

The paleontologist Susan Matthews-Loomis (Sean Young) moves with her husband, the unemployed journalist George Loomis (William Katt), to the Ivory Coast to work with her former professor, Doctor Eric Kiviat (Patrick McGoohan), and his assistant Nigel Jenkins (Julian Fellowes) in an archaeological site. When George is invited to work in a newspaper in the United States, Susan discovers a bone that she believes is from a dinosaur; but Eric tells that she is wrong. However he knows that Susan has made an important discovery and wants the credits. George packs their stuff to travel but Susan wants to check her discovery and leaves a note to him telling that she will investigate further in the forest. George hires an airplane to follow her and he succeeds to find his wife. Soon they find befriend the native Cephu (Kyalo Mativo) and his tribe. When they find a family of brontosaurus in the middle of the forest, they feed the animals and become close to their baby. Meanwhile, Eric hires mercenaries to help him to capture the brontosaurus and the militia kills the male and catch the female. Susan and George help the Baby to survive, but soon Eric finds that there is a baby and wants to catch the little animal for him. Will Baby survive?

"Baby: Secret of the Lost Legend" is a film with a highly entertaining adventure. The story of a paleontologist that discovers a family of brontosaurus but sacrifices her discovery to save the animal is pleasant and with moral values. The special effects are excellent for a 1985 film. However the film is too violent for kids and maybe silly for grown-ups. My vote is seven.

Title (Brazil): "Baby, O Segredo da Lenda Perdida" ("Baby, The Secret of the Lost Legend")

... and I actually gave it a ZERO on my personal 1-10 scale. I have been attending movies since 1952 and have seen well over 1000 in the theater (I don't rate movies that I see only on TV). This is the ONLY movie I have ever rated ZERO.

My wife and I took our four children (then aged 15, 11, 8 and 6) and even the kids thought it was terrible. In fact, it was my daughter (now 26) who alerted me to this site (amazed that the movie was getting an overall rating of 4+).

The animation of the dinosaurs looked amateurish at the time (and is even worse in retrospect), the acting (particularly by Sean Young) is atrocious and the story line is simply silly.

Some people are so obsessed with breasts. GET OVER IT! African women don't wear shirts, so why should movies that represent that culture shield anyone from it? Why is this country to sensitive to ethnic nudity? If you think it's too much for your children to see, then don't let them watch it, and most certainly keep them away from the Discovery™ channel, or any other channel that may deal with cultures in which nudity is seen as a sign of beauty and is perfectly natural. People need to stop being so sensitive. Get over it. As far as the movie goes, it's a wonderful story, and it will teach children about good and bad. Kids need to learn that the hero doesn't always rescue the damsel in distress and live happily ever after. It's easier to show them that through movies, that way when something in real life happens that they're not used to, they will be better equipped to handle it.

As a kid, dinosaurs were one of my favorite things and they still are. Back then, I used to watch this 1985 film all the time with the folks called "Baby: Secret of the Lost Legend". In retrospect, I'm surprised I was even able to watch it given that, despite being PG, there is a lot of mature content. Then again, the public's view of PG was different compared to today and the rating PG-13 was just invented a year before. Still, I have a soft spot for this film and decided to revisit it.

Plot: Married couple Susan and George Loomis (Sean Young and William Katt) are in the African jungle on the trail of an old legend locals call Mokele-Mbembe, "he whose body stops the flow of rivers" (which is an actual cryptid). It is here that they discover a mated pair of Brontosaurus and their infant. The Baby befriends the humans, who must now protect her and save her family from the greedy Dr. Eric Kiviat (Patrick McGoohan), backed by his hired army, who is out to catch them all.

Los Angeles Daily News referred to the movie as "A cross between RAIDERS OF THE LOST ARK and E.T." and that is an apt description. The tone and presentation are very much in line with those films with a mix of light-hearted moments and the action and edge of a classic adventure. Susan and George work fine as a couple with decent acting behind it, though the latter's sports career and initial conflict involving it are quickly forgotten about once the pair begin their journey. Dr. Kiviat is a good if standard villain; he'll do anything to catch the animals alive and will resort to every dirty tactic needed to do so. While many greed-driven baddies tend to be over-the-top, he's at least played straight. Baby is an endearing little troublemaker. Her cute interactions with the couple make me smile, and one scene involving her almost makes me cry. The dinosaurs are brought to life using a mix of men-in-suits and animatronics and, while not always convincing, they're look and move pretty good for the time with the adult Brontosaurs feeling like huge lumbering beasts and the African setting adds to their mystery and allure. There are decent action set pieces ranging from chases, fights, guns and explosions, and one of the dinosaurs smashing its way through a village. Jerry Goldsmith (Alien, Star Trek: The Motion Picture) did the music, which sets the right mood for an adventure and setting like this.

I should note that the film does feature nudity. Many the African tribal woman are topless, which definitely conflicts with the PG rating. Again, the meaning of PG was quite different back then and to the film's credit these woman aren't sexualized in any way. From what I know, there are tribes in the real world that are like that. I've also heard a few people here complain about the blood, but while several people do die there's barely any bloodshed shown.

Honestly, "Baby: Secret of the Lost Legend" is an underrated flick. Sure, its content is a bit at odds with its rating and it's not on the same level as "Jurassic Park" or some of the older films like "One Million Years B.C.", but it has its merits. Watching it today, it still holds up fairly in both narrative and presentation. Plus, I find Mokele-Mbembe to be one of the most interesting cryptids out there and would like to see more movies with it.

I saw the movie as a child when it was released in the theater and it was so bad that it became the makings of a family joke. If the ranking had a zero, this movie would get it. The dinosaurs were awful. The storyline was ridiculous. The acting really doesn't qualify to be called acting. The only reason I even remember the name of the movie so well is because my family still talks about how BAD it really was.

The folks at Disney must have realized somewhere down the road that the title "Baby: Secret of the Lost Legend" was dumb, because when the movie aired on TV, the title was changed to "Dinosaur: Secret of the Lost Legend". However, a change in the title is not enough to save the movie. It's a pretty slow-moving movie, with significant padding here and there. While the movie was shot in Africa, a lot of the movie still looks like it was filmed on a Hollywood back lot. And while the dinosaurs look passable when seen at a distance, they look very phony when photographed close to the camera. (In fairness to director Bill L. Norton, he didn't think the special effects were ready, but Disney threatened to pull the plug on the project if filming didn't star promptly.) It's possible kids (YOUNG kids) might find this okay, but anyone older should be wary.

I don't think this movie was rated correctly. I took my copy and blacked out the PG rating and wrote down R. I would NOT recommend this for anyone under 17 or 18, whatever the R limit is.

Why? It contains a scene in the jungle with several topless Indian women. I don't know about you, but that's not something for little children to be watching. True, it might be the traditional "clothing style" of the African (?) Indians, but... I think partial nudity should give a movie an R rating.

I haven't seen the movie recently, but I guess otherwise, it was alright.

Many scenes here are bloody and gore, the sex scene is stupid and the whole scrip about guerrilla and scientist is senseless.

I have always loved this movie but since I became a Christian I have relied on this parent reviews for knowing what is in a movie. Very disappointed this time though, it seem that parents might not want their kids watching nudity but have know problem with listening to hollywood use the Lord's name in vain.

Before Steven Spielberg thought about directing the summer blockbuster "Jurassic Park" in 1993, there was this film. In the film here, scientist's just happen to stumble upon the dinosaurs in a lost world of sorts.

William Katt (of Perry Mason fame) and Sean Young (of Blade Runner) star as the married couple who discover the dinosaurs. Patrick McGoohan stars as the villain who tries to capture the dinosaurs for his own personal gain, but eventually sees the error of his ways.

Released through Touchstone Pictures (a subsidiary of Disney) in 1985, the film is rated PG, but does have some nudity. Probably not a movie to let young kids see.

Set on the Ivory Coast of Africa, paleontologist Dr. Susan Loomis (Sean Young) and her husband George (William Katt) are working under fellow paleontologist Dr. Eric Kiviat (Patrick McGoohan) at an archeological dig site where Susan has found what appears to be a brontosaurus skull, but according to Eric is only about 80 years old and says it may be a giraffe skull. Unbeknownst to Susan, Eric believes the skull found is evidence of the legendary Mokele-mbembe, a giant creature that supposedly lives in the jungles of Africa that he is driven to find. Prior to departing back to the United States, Susan is contacted by the Red Cross to ask for her assistance in identifying a creature whose meat poisoned a local village and when the skull they bring her matches the supposed "giraffe skull" Eric identified she sets out to follow the lead. The villagers tell Susan and George of a creature that looks like a Brontosaurus and when they set off to the jungle they come across a family of these supposedly extinct beasts with one adult male, one adult female, and one baby female. However Eric and his armed escort eventually find the creatures and kill the male and capture the adult female leaving George and Susan to fend for the baby and try to rescue the mother.

Baby: Secret of the Lost Legend is a 1985 fantasy adventure from Walt Disney Pictures' then recently created Touchstone label. Shot on location on the Ivory Coast and using local tribespeople and villagers as extras in the film, the $14 million undertaking was a tumultuous exercise with many cast and crew suffering malaria, coopering with local tribespeople by acquiescing to a sacrificial ceremony of animals performed by a Witch Doctor, or in one case a local driver hired by the production company inadvertently running over two children leading to film emissaries to cool threats of machete violence by paying for the funerals. With such a number of production setbacks, the film missed its planned Christmas 1984 release date by three months and opened in March of 1985 in fifth place with low budget critically panned films Friday the 13th Part V and Porky's Revenge claiming the first and second place respectively. Critical reception tended to be pretty underwhelming with some praise going to the animatronics work, but mostly criticizing the very thin screenplay. Baby: Secret of the Lost Legend has been mostly forgotten, and really that isn't surprising as it's the kind of movie that struggles to make any sort of impression even while you're watching it.

From it's decent sized budget to its wide eyed eponymous baby dinosaur, the film seems like a mashup of Spielberg's two decade and culturally defining films E. T. and Indiana Jones trying to mash the sentimentality and wonder of the former with the exoticism and adventure of the latter and on paper that doesn't seem like a bad idea and the discovery of Dinosaurs who've been dead for millions of years walking the Earth has been a reliable staple of movie going as far back as the silent film era and would eventually be done with that sense of wonder when Spielberg's adaptation of Jurassic Park graced audiences in 1993. While the animatronics are certainly dated in some respect there is a nice sense of scale and weight to create these creatures to the point when they were first brought to the Ivory Coast some natives apparently mistook them for being real. The dinosaurs are well designed and Baby herself is very adorable as she plays or inadvertently gets her head stuck in or on something, but the story surrounding them isn't interesting as we see very flatly defined good guys versus very flatly defined bad guys. Patrick McGoohan is a good actor, but no one can get blood from a stone as McGoohan's characterization is virtually non-existent on the page with the only semblance of anything of substance coming from McGoohan's performance which is trying to fight a losing battle but sticking with it way longer than anyone else would. Sean Young and William Katt are playing complete blanks as characters who are not only bland but pretty stupid too as they lose Baby during the halfway point in the movie to have sex in the middle of the jungle and don't notice her wandering off or they go to places where they don't speak the local language but didn't think to bring a translator or guide with them. Outside of that there's really not much else to comment on because this movie is anorexically thin with no real character or thematic meat and for all intents and purposes you may as well be watching stick figures act out this very basic and bare bones story.

Baby: Secret of the Lost Legend clearly wanted to be E. T. with a hint of Indiana Jones but instead it gave us a bland inert mash that didn't resonate with emotion or thrills. While the animatronics are decent for the time and some of the scenes with Baby are kind of cute, it's just such a nothing movie that doesn't have any reason for existing and leaves you with no real impact upon the end of viewing it.

Underrated Kids' Classic Everyone here on IMDb seems to be beating this film to death just because it has poor acting, special effects, and a cheesy story! SO WHAT? It's a kids' movie!!! I saw this film when it first came out and loved it. You have to be a total SOB to let below average film making get in the way of enjoying this flick about lovable young scientists trying to save a cute baby dinosaur from poachers.

Don't take this film too seriously. Just relax and enjoy this movie with your kids! The plot: Newly wed scientists find dinosaurs alive and well in Africa. But of course there's an evil scientist Patrick McGoohan (Number 6) whom want to kill the dinosaurs and everyone who knows about them.

The scientific couple must save a baby dinosaur and join with a primitive African tribe to rescue the mother dino from captivity.

Like I said, don't take this film too seriously and keep in mind it's geared towards kids.

William Katt ('The Greatest American Hero') and Sean Young ("Blade Runner") play George and Susan, a journalist and palaeontologist working in Africa who discover an apatosaur family living deep in the jungle. They work overtime to protect the cute dinosaur baby and its mother from the machinations of Eric Kiviat (Patrick McGoohan, 'The Prisoner'), Susan's ruthless rival who's out to make a name for himself.

It is true that the movie doesn't quite make ideal family entertainment. Little kids may not notice its elements of racism and sexism, or much care about female tribe members being topless, but it's undeniable that the movie is a little violent, and not completely light hearted. Not that it dwells too, too long on unpleasantness, this being a Touchstone (i.e. Disney) production.

Some people may scoff now at the dinosaur effects, but hey, this *was* 1985, and animatronics weren't as advanced as they became when "Jurassic Park" came along almost a decade later. Personally, I thought the prehistoric lizards were pretty charming, and children are certain to love the baby dino.

Some actual location shooting in the Ivory Coast definitely helps, along with the expected studio work. The story is not that well-written, but the pacing is fine, the action scenes decent, and Jerry Goldsmiths' music is appealing.

The acting may not be of the Oscar-baiting variety, but it serves its purpose. Katt is okay, although his character is unlikable at the beginning. Young is gorgeous, as usual, but never has been much of an actress. Still, it's easy to be on their side when you have an unsubtle villain played to the hilt by McGoohan. Kyalo Mativo ("Roar") (as tribesman Cephu) and Hugh Quarshie ("Highlander") (as the pilot Kenge Obe) offer engaging support. One bright moment of humour has Cephu spitting out a bite of granola bar after it has been offered to him.

This movie is manipulative, to be sure, but it has its moments for fans of dinosaur cinema.

Six out of 10.

"Baby: Secret of the Lost Legend" is a bizarre cinematic misfire. A film meant for kids, it features nudity, sex, and murderous violence- all to a bouncy Jerry Goldsmith musical score. George (William Katt) is a sports writer accompanying his anthropologist wife Susan (Sean Young) to deepest Africa. She is investigating a local legend that dinosaurs are still living in the jungle, and goes about her studies under the watchful eye of mentor Eric (Patrick McGoohan, sporting an evil hat and equally evil beard as if he was auditioning for a 007 bad guy role). We have already seen Eric stab a colleague to death to get his hands on some dino-papers, so it appears the couple is on the right track. Susan checks on a poisoned tribe, and she and her ready-to-leave husband stumble on a family of brontosauruses. Eric and his sniveling assistant Nigel (Julian Fellowes) and their band of brutish soldiers murder the father dino and drug the mother dino up, ready to take her back for study. They don't notice the Baby bronto, but Susan and George do, adopting it like it's a giant puppy while deciding their next move.

Marketed as a fun adventure for the whole family, the film was rated PG by the MPAA. Once the kiddies were planted in their seats, popcorn in hand, they are treated to the adventures of a temporarily orphaned dinosaur. They are also treated to a stabbing in the opening scenes, bare-breasted native women, William Katt in wet clingy underwear, a guy getting shot in the neck by an arrow, George and Susan having a little jungle lovin', birds pecking at the bloody carcass of an animal, Sean Young's unclasped bra, battle scenes that look lifted from "The Dogs of War," an electrocution, dying tribal chiefs, angry dino moms chewing on a villain, and one guy getting kicked out of a helicopter to his death. Sure, "Raiders of the Lost Ark" was also PG, but that was a throwback to a bygone cinematic era complemented with modern film making techniques. Here, the animatronic dinosaurs are interesting only if you stumbled on them during a less popular ride at a theme park. As film special effects, they are not very good. I spotted black string lifting the heads of the creatures on many occasions, and I watched this on a very non-high-definition VHS videotape player and tube TV. The miniature effects work better but not by much. "Baby: Secret of the Lost Legend" certainly lost me.