Synopsis:
After their plane makes an emergency landing near the Devil’s Sea—the enigmatic Bermuda Triangle of the Pacific—the stranded passengers are left to fight for their lives on a remote island filled with vicious, man-eating crocodiles.
What We Thought:
If you like SyFy-esque, heavy CGI monster movies then you will like Crocodile Island. The film had potential, but I wish it relied more on practical effects than all the CGI it uses. It opens with a giant crocodile eating a pilot parachuting from a plane and I instantly knew the special effects were going to be bad.
The worst part is, even the parts that shouldn’t look completely fake do. The movie jumps forward to present day and the plane that has all the passengers on it looks terrible. It’s one thing to use a CGI plane, it’s another for it to look that fake. The plane crashes and for a while the film is pretty solid.
At this point you have survivors, a father and daughter, her boyfriend and others. They soon piece together they aren’t alone on this island and that it’s going to take a while to get help. They try to track down old technology from the first plane it opens with all while trying to survive the giant crocodile.
The story works and there’s enough characters to root for and want to see die. The situation is your typical “stuck on a deserted island and survive” type, but it works well when there’s enough going on around the characters. You need water and medical attention while trying to figure out if you will be saved in a terrible part of the world. Add in a giant crocodile trying to eat you and I have no complaints over the story.
It’s the CGI that brings down Crocodile Island for me. No you can’t have real people fighting crocodiles, but the CG is just so fake looking. I know it’s sort of the norm today, especially in Asian films like this, but I wish it looked more authentic. The island was fine and served as a good setting and the creature serves its purpose, I just wish it looked more realistic.
The Nerds Templar 