Few people remember this adventure-oriented Disney disaster from 1985. Released in March of that year, BABY SECRET OF THE LOST LEGEND is essentially (as a DVD cover blurb states) “A cross between RAIDERS OF THE LOST ARK and E.T.,” while also, in its dinosaur based story, harkening forward to JURASSIC PARK (as well as Disney’s summer ‘85 bomb MY SCIENCE PROJECT, which also featured dinos). It sought, like the previous year’s SPLASH, to bolster Disney’s newly minted Touchstone Pictures division by attracting an older audience than that of Disney’s traditional fare. Needless to say, it failed in every conceivable aspect.
George and Susan are an attractive married couple. She’s a (very unlikely) zoologist who, while on an expedition with George in an African jungle, decides to investigate a report of food poisoning from some unknown form of meat. This leads them to the realm of the Kaleri tribesmen, whose “comedic” interactions with the vanilla heroes aren’t too far removed from the overtly racist depictions of Africans contained in anthropologically-minded cinema of old (like INGAGI); the best scene in this portion, and perhaps the entire film, is an unforced bit of whimsy in which a native, given a granola bar to eat by George, surreptitiously spits it out.
Before long G&S happen upon a flock of Brontosauri, several of which are killed by the evil British scientist Eric (we know he’s evil because he’s played by Patrick McGoohan, who specialized in bad guy roles in the years following THE PRISONER). Another is kept alive and taken away by Eric. George and Susan, both of whom are remarkably blasé about the slaughter, take the captured Brontosaurus’s offspring—whom they christen Baby—under their wing, but promptly lose sight of her while having sex.
G&S get captured by George and co. but escape and, conveniently enough, run into Baby. They usher the critter through an underground cave only to lose sight of her (again) and allow Eric to get his hands on her. This entails a chase involving all the human characters, in addition to Baby and her mother, which turns out exactly as you’d expect: happily.
With BABY: SECRET OF THE LOST LEGEND Disney found itself caught between the old and the new. It harkens back to old school Disney in its attempts at BAMBI-like pathos (in an early scene in which Baby cries over its dead mother) and lazy scripting that (as in 70s Disney fare THE LOVE BUG, FREAKY FRIDAY, THE MILLION DOLLAR DUCK, etc.) packs the third act with lackluster chase sequences. Where it harkens forward is in action and violence that would almost certainly net the film a PG-13 rating nowadays, and also a scene of chaste (and by mid-eighties Disney standards unprecedented) sexuality. What resulted from this mishmash was a movie that was too grown up for kids but too childish for adults.
That might not have mattered as much if only director B.W.L. Norton (of CISCO PIKE, MORE AMERICAN GRAFFITTI and the infamous 1972 TVM GARGOYLES) had something–anything!–worthwhile to offer. All he provides, alas, is a formulaic and predictable story, ridiculous looking mechanical dinosaurs (in place of the more widely used stop motion effects, which were judged to be too time consuming), and studio backlot exteriors integrated quite poorly with on-location footage. The acting is as you’d expect; even old pro Patrick McGoohan, in the words of THE OFFICIAL PRISONER COMPANION authors Matthew White and Jaffer Ali, “doesn’t appear to be very involved in his role.” Who can blame him?
Vital Statistics
BABY: SECRET OF THE LOST LEGEND
Touchstone Pictures
Director: B.W.L. Norton
Producer: Jonathan T. Taplin
Screenplay: Clifford Green, Ellen Green
Cinematography: John Alcott
Editing: David Bretherton, Howard Smith
Cast: William Katt, Sean Young, Patrick McGoohan, Julian Fellowes, Kyalo Mativo, Hugh Quarshie, Olu Jacobs, Eddie Tagoe, Edward Hardwicke, Julian Curry, Alexis Meless, Susie Nottingham, Stephane Krora