The Dino King

Plot

80 million years ago, during the Cretaceous period, a young Tarbosaurus named Speckles, for his unique birthmark, lives with his older brother, Quicks, twin sisters, and mother. Speckles is left alone when a rogue Tyrannosaurus named One-Eye causes a massive stampede to kill Speckles' siblings, and personally kills his mother, in order to usurp their territory.

Four years later, Speckles has scraped by on his own, scavenging and raiding nests. One day while attempting to steal food from One-Eye, Speckles encounters a female Tarbosaurus named "Blue-Eyes" and the pair team up to hunt and survive together. Over the years, Speckles and Blue-Eyes attempt to maintain a hunting territory away from One-Eye. Eventually, however, One-Eye discovers their hunting grounds and again attempts to usurp their territory. After Blue-Eyes is hurt by One-Eye, Speckles fights him, and eventually defeats and drives away his old nemesis.

After defeating One-Eye, Speckles and Blue-Eyes reclaim Speckles' old family nest and hunting grounds. Now a mature adult pair with three young offspring, the family is happy until forced to flee from their territory due to a volcanic eruption. During the disaster, one of the children is killed and Blue-Eyes is wounded. After this, Speckles becomes the de facto alpha of a large migratory herd of dinosaurs fleeing the natural disaster. Two weeks into the journey, Blue-Eyes collapses from exhaustion. Seeing this, a pack of Velociraptors attacks the family, and though Speckles tries to hold them off, Blue-Eyes dies from her injury, forcing Speckles to leave her body behind in order to save their children.

After a long journey, the herd arrives at a new, fertile area in which to settle. However, Speckles once again encounters One-Eye, who has been driven out by the same natural disaster. Just as he did before, One-Eye causes the herbivores to stampede in order to ambush Speckles and his two babies. Another child is killed and the remaining child, Speckles Jr., is knocked off a cliff into the ocean during the ensuing fight. Speckles dives into the sea to save him, but pursued by One-Eye. After a long fight in the ocean, One Eye is attacked and eaten by a pair of Tylosaurus. Speckles eventually reaches Speckles Jr. and returns him safely to shore.

In the closing monologue, Speckles wishes a peaceful, happy life for his son.

Korean

English dub

Prehistoric life on screen

Production

In 2008 the Korean TV channel Educational Broadcasting System (EBS) released a three-part CGI prehistoric life documentary dealing with cretaceous dinosaurs in Korea: Koreanosaurus (한반도의 공룡, Hanbandoui gongryong: Dinosaurs in the Korean Peninsula, not to be confused with the dinosaur genus Koreanosaurus). The documentary achieved much success among Korean audiences and the production team of Koreanosaurus launched the production of Speckles the Tarbosaurus. Meanwhile, in 2009, the American 3D science-fiction film Avatar was released and its popularity inspired the creators of Speckles the Tarbosaurus to apply the technology to the film project. Location footage was filmed in New Zealand.

Reception

The film attracted over 1 million admissions in 2012, becoming the second most successful local animation of all time. It was released to 37 territories and generated additional revenue through IPTV and DVD sales.

Titles by country

Sequel

On June 5, 2015, South Korea's Dream Search C&C announced that a sequel was in the works, which it will co-produce with China's Hengsheng Group. The sequel will also be in 3D and was expected to simultaneously open across Korean and Chinese theaters in summer of 2016, but it was rescheduled to summer of 2017. Dino King: Journey to Fire Mountain will be directed by Han Sang-Ho, returning to the role from the first film, and have a running time of 100 minutes.

The official English title to the sequel was revealed to be Dino King: Journey to Fire Mountain on a teaser poster. The film's story will revolve around Speckles raising his son until he is kidnapped, forcing Speckles to go on a journey across prehistoric Korea in search of his son.