One of Our Dinosaurs Is Missing (1975)

Dinosaur skeleton meets panda nose!

Lord Southmere has a ring of Chinese spies chasing him because he has in his possession a secret microfilm, the contents of this microfilm reveals the formula for mysterious Lotus X. After being chased into the Natural History Museum, Southmere hides the film in the bones of a Brontosaurus skeleton. After Southmere's capture, it's up to his old nanny and her hardy band of friends to find the film and keep it from the clutches of the evil Hnup Wan.....

.....and so is the plot for Disney's charmingly silly live action venture. It's not masquerading as anything other than a fun family film, it's got bags of energy, and it boasts a quite delightful premise. Obviously taking its lead from Ealing's brilliant The Ladykillers, One Of Our Dinosaur's Is Missing's strength is that a couple of English old dears are taking on {and defying} a gang of Chinese nasties. Some mirthful gags {both visual and oral} light up the film, including a great sequence as the ladies steal the skeleton and whisk thru London with it on the back of a coal fuelled truck!

It's good old harmless fun that doesn't deserve the charge of stereotyping the Chinese, it's 1975 and the cast are having fun, and honestly, so should the family. 7/10

Lacklustre.

<em>'One of Our Dinosaurs Is Missing'</em> has a couple of mildly positive things about it, but it is largely a disappointment. I personally failed to get into the premise, I don't mind silly plots but I just don't feel like it connects at all.

Alongside that, you have some very lazy casting which certainly hasn't aged well whatsoever. You have a number of major characters who are Chinese, yet not a single Chinese actor can be seen - yellowface aplenty. Even taking away the obvious negatives, it's not like it even works in the film's favour either.

Peter Ustinov is completely wasted as Hnup Wan, by making him appear Chinese you lose all of Ustinov's expressions and body language. The guys who play his sidekicks add nothing, so why not just add suitable actors to the roles - Disney had done it before, in fact in the same year with characters in <em>'The Apple Dumpling Gang'</em>. It's lazy, at best.

As mentioned at the top, there are some pleasant things in there. The score is very good, while the chase scene looks nice - as does the Natural History Museum. Even then, the cat and mouse stuff drags out.

Many issues, even away from the cast. Not one I'd recommend.