Dinosaurs, Dinosaurs and More Dinosaurs

America has been bitten by the dinosaur bug, thanks to Steven Spielberg’s movie “Jurassic Park.” So video companies, of course, are capitalizing on the craze, marketing new videos about the prehistoric animals and repromoting old ones.

The target for some of the videos is the child audience. That’s because parents have been cautioned about allowing children under 10 to see “Jurassic Park.” With some of these new videos, the kiddies will be able to dabble in dinosaurmania too.

For the 2-to-5-year-old set, dinosaur quite simply means that lovable, musical, purple-and-green Tyrannosaurus rex, Barney. This was the perfect time for the Lyons Group, which already has eight incredibly successful Barney videos on the market, to add a ninth--”Barney Rhymes With Mother Goose.”

Barney was a hot item long before “Jurassic Park.” Kids have been in love with him since PBS started airing the “Barney & Friends” shows last year. His latest tuneful half-hour romp, priced at $15, is likely to be the biggest seller among all the new dinosaur-related videos.

Worldvision has released six videos from the ABC-TV Saturday morning series “Land of the Lost,” about the adventures of a family swept through a time warp back to dinosaur days. Timothy Bottoms stars as the head of the small clan. Special effects are the primary plus of these fairly exciting 45-minute videos, which sell for $15 each.

Last week, MPI Home Video put out two more installments of its excellent VideoSaurus series “The Return of Dinosaurs” and “The Wondrous World of Weird Animals.” In these half-hour tapes, costing $13 each, Gary Owens and Eric Boardman host educational, entertaining explorations of dinosaurs and assorted strange creatures. Others in the series--also 30 minutes and $13 apiece--include “Dinosaurs, Dinosaurs, Dinosaurs,” “More Dinosaurs” and “Prehistoric World.”

Also for the kiddie market, Price Stern Sloan’s half-hour “Lost in the Dinosaur World” is due out June 28 at $15. Originally telecast a few weeks ago on Fox, this program is about two kids lost in a dinosaur-oriented theme park.

If you’re looking for an education about dinosaurs, try these fascinating series: Pacific Arts’ “The Dinosaurs” and New Video Group’s “Dinosaur!” The Pacific Arts package, which came out May 5, is a four-tape set selling for $60, or $15 per tape. This is the same series shown last fall on PBS.

Just as outstanding is the “Dinosaur!” four-tape set ($60 for the package or $20 for each tape). This series, narrated by Walter Cronkite, was first broadcast on the Arts & Entertainment cable channel in 1991. To get maximum mileage out of the dinosaur craze, it’s been repackaged and promoted by New Video Group as if it were brand-new.

For the family entertainment market, “Prehysteria,” a direct-to-video feature movie, is due June 30 on Moonboom, a kidvid company distributed by Paramount. About a family that stumbles onto some pygmy dinosaurs, this cheapie co-stars Austin O’Brien of “Last Action Hero.” Like most direct-to-video titles, it suffers from poor production values and unconvincing acting.

What’s New

Here are some recent releases: “Body of Evidence” (MGM/UA, $95, R and unrated versions). The body in question has nothing to do with evidence. Madonna’s body is the big attraction. She plays a woman on trial for the murder of a rich elderly man, who apparently dies during a kinky sex act and leaves her a fortune. Then she lures her stuffy married attorney (Willem Dafoe) into an equally kinky affair. The silly erotic thriller plot just kills time between the three explicit sex scenes--which include two added minutes in the unrated version.

“The Lover” (MGM/UA, $95, R and unrated). Set in late 1920s Saigon, this is an arty, so-so drama about a rich thirtysomething Chinese sophisticate (Tony Leung) locked in an obsessive affair with a poor French teen-ager (Jane March), whose relatives are anti-Chinese. Their conflicts over age, race and culture get totally overwhelmed by director Jean-Jacques Annaud’s focus on long, steamy, soft-core porn sequences. Clearly, this is the soft-core porn movie of the year. Because of added footage, the unrated version is even steamier.

“Damage” (New Line, no set price, R and unrated). Director Louis Malle’s cold, uninvolving melodrama is about a fierce sexual obsession of a staid, middle-aged British politician (Jeremy Irons) for his son’s young girlfriend (Juliette Binoche). Seeming uncomfortable and out of place, Irons throws cold water on supposedly hot sex scenes--the movie’s big selling point. Only Miranda Richardson’s Oscar-nominated performance, as the politician’s wife, generates any tension. The unrated version features an extra minute of sex footage.

“The Cemetery Club” (Touchstone, $95). In this tale of middle-aged romance, a Jewish widow (Ellen Burstyn) is wooed by a persistent, likable nerd (Danny Aiello). Despite the superior cast, including Olympia Dukakis and Diane Ladd, it comes across like a very bad sitcom.

Upcoming

Just announced: “Falling Down,” starring Michael Douglas, is due Aug. 11. The Bill Murray comedy “Groundhog Day” is coming Aug. 25, a week after his other romantic comedy, “Mad Dog and Glory,” an Aug. 18 release.

Also: “Bram Stoker’s Dracula” and “Jennifer 8” (Wednesday); “A Few Good Men,” “Leap of Faith” and “Matinee” (June 30); “Unforgiven” and “The Crying Game” (July 7); “The Bodyguard,” “Lorenzo’s Oil” and “Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles III” (July 14); “Malcolm X,” “1492: Conquest of Paradise,” “Passion Fish,” “Amos & Andrew” and “Love Field” (July 21); “Home Alone 2” (July 27); “Scent of a Woman” and “Nowhere to Run” (July 28); “Sommersby,” “Sniper” and “Swing Kids” (Aug. 4); “The Vanishing” (Aug. 11); and “Aladdin” (Oct. 1).