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Rex: A Dinosaur's Story

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Rex: A Dinosaur's Story
Theatrical release poster
Japanese name
KanjiREX 恐竜物語
Transcriptions
Revised HepburnREX: Kyōryū monogatari
Directed byHaruki Kadokawa
Screenplay by
  • Shoichi Maruyama
  • Haruki Kadokawa
Story byMasanori Hata
Based on
StarringYumi Adachi
CinematographyMasahiko Iimura
Music byTomoyuki Asakawa
Distributed byShochiku
Release date
  • 3 July 1993 (1993-07-03)
Running time
106 minutes
CountryJapan
LanguageJapanese
Budget¥2 billion[1]
Box office¥2.2 billion[2]

Rex: A Dinosaur's Story (Japanese: REX 恐竜物語, Hepburn: REX: Kyōryū monogatari) is a 1993 Japanese film directed by Haruki Kadokawa, based on a manga written by Masanori Hata and illustrated by Clamp. The film stars Yumi Adachi as Chie, a young girl who befriends a young Tyrannosaurus rex after it hatches from an egg co-discovered by her paleontologist father (Tsunehiko Watase).[3]

Rex: A Dinosaur's Story was theatrically released on 3 July 1993. The film grossed ¥2.2 billion on an estimated ¥2 billion budget, making it the second-highest-grossing Japanese film of 1993 and Shochiku's highest-grossing release until it was surpassed by Peter Jackson's The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring (2001) in 2002.[4] Commentators have suggested that the film aimed to capitalize on the success of Jurassic Park, which debuted a month prior.[3][5][6] At the 17th Japan Academy Film Prize in 1994, Adachi won the Newcomer of the Year award for her performance in Rex: A Dinosaur's Story.[7]

Plot

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In Tokachi, Hokkaido, a young girl named Chie longs to see her mother, embryologist Naomi Ito, who moved to New York after divorcing Chie's paleontologist father, Akira. Akira and his assistant Daisuke are analyzing findings from a cave, including a figurine of a child riding a Tyrannosaurus rex that dates back to the Jōmon period—long after dinosaurs went extinct—pieces of fossilized and non-fossilized egg, and some writing. They determine that the language of the writing originated from the lost continent of Mu.

The next day, Chie, Akira, Daisuke, and TV cameraman Fukutomi set out to the cave in hopes of being able to find a living dinosaur. They meet Shinoda, an elderly Ainu man. He prays to the god of the cave before guiding them inside, where they find an idol of a golden dinosaur. Deeper inside the cave, they discover a dinosaur egg inside a translucent square pyramid, in front of a column topped with a crystal skull. When Akira and Daisuke pick up the egg, the cave begins to collapse. Shinoda gives Chie an ocarina, and stays behind to calm the god while the others flee.

Back at Akira's home laboratory, Fukutomi informs Akira that he has invited Akira's ex-wife, Naomi, to help hatch the egg. When Naomi arrives, she shows little enthusiasm at being reunited with Chie, and Akira chastises her for abandoning Chie in favor of her career. Naomi transfers the nucleus of the dinosaur egg into a sea turtle egg, but the egg's vitals become critical. However, Chie plays the ocarina for the egg, causing its vitals to stabilize and for the infant T. rex within to hatch.

The young T. rex, whom Chie names "Rex", becomes a national sensation when he appears on TV. Chie teaches Rex to eat, understand certain words, and use a toilet. Through Daisuke, Rex is signed to appear in numerous TV commercials. However, when he is overworked to the point of stress, so Chie, Naomi, and Akira break his contractual obligation. Time passes, and Rex grows larger. On Christmas Eve, Akira is told that he must hand the dinosaur over to the director of a soon-to-be-built dinosaur museum, where Rex will become a showcase. Chie and Rex run away from home, hoping to find Rex's biological mother.

That evening, amidst holiday festivities, Chie and Rex are pursued through town by the museum director and his associates. By day, with the help of a boy from Chie's school, Chie and Rex evade the museum director and his men on snowmobiles, before escaping in a hot air balloon. Chie and Rex find shelter in an igloo, and Shinoda arrives with Naomi and Akira, who have been searching for them. Chie and Naomi embrace, and the group return to the cave, where they find the remains of a Mu temple. In the distance, they see the Brocken spectre of Rex's mother. Chie and Rex bid each other goodbye, and Rex walks off to be reunited with his parent.

In a post-credits scene, Naomi has apparently returned to New York, once again leaving Chie with Akira and Chie's grandmother, Sanae. However, Naomi surprises Chie, Akira and Sanae by returning to stay with them for good. With Fukutomi alongside them, the family looks up and sees a Rex-shaped cloud in the sky.

Cast

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Production

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The film's dinosaur effects were provided by Italian effects artist Carlo Rambaldi.[8]

See also

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References

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  1. ^ Akihiko Ito (November 2021). 最後の角川春樹 [The Last Kadokawa Haruki] (in Japanese). Mainichi Shimbun. p. 229.
  2. ^ "過去興行収入上位作品 一般社団法人日本映画製作者連盟".
  3. ^ a b Schilling, Mark (1999). Contemporary Japanese Film. Weatherhill. p. 310. ISBN 978-0834804159.
  4. ^ 2002年度 日本映画・外国映画 業界総決算 経営/製作/配給/興行のすべて (in Japanese). Kinema Junpo. 2003. p. 139.
  5. ^ Sharp, Jasper (2011). Historical Dictionary of Japanese Cinema. Scarecrow Press. p. 116. ISBN 978-0810857957.
  6. ^ Kalat, David (2017). A Critical History and Filmography of Toho's Godzilla Series (Second ed.). McFarland & Company. ISBN 978-1476672946.
  7. ^ "俳優／安達祐実 酸いも甘いも噛み分けて…かつての天才子役の成熟とこれから". Mainichi Shimbun (in Japanese). 30 June 2023. Retrieved 25 December 2023.
  8. ^ Willis, Donald C. (1997). Horror and Science Fiction Films IV. Scarecrow Press. p. 420. ISBN 978-0810830554.
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