Name: Evolution
Production: Montecito Picture Company
Director: Ivan Reitman
Theatrical Release Date: June 8, 2001
DVD Release Date: Aug 24, 2004
Genre: Comedy / Sci-Fi
Rated: PG-13
Running time: 101 min.
Budget Estimate: $80 Million

Dragon Contents:

This rating only indicates the dragon contents and importance they play in the movie/game/episodes reviewed.

R a t i n g :

This rating indicates how good or how bad was the movie/game/episodes reviewed. A rating of 5 stars on 10 is considered as the average which mean it is not good but not bad either.

This movie shares the some undeniable characteristics present in movies such as Men in Black (1997) and Ghost Buster (1984). As such the story may not make a lot of sense in a the way that the science behind the movie get stretched to the limits, it's not a documentary nor does the movie pretend to be realistic in any way but you can still enjoy seeing the alien ecosystem evolve from mere unicellular organism to something that get more and more complex. Speaking of the alien ecosystem, an amazing display of creativity can be found in the various creatures you can see through the movie.

I don't want to give any spoilers (so feel free to skip this paragraph) but in a way just the fact that this movie appear on this site you can expect to see a dragon somewhere. As such, it's worth mentioning that in the movie they consider dragons to be one possible result in the evolutive pathway of the alien life forms.

In general, Evolution (2001) makes a lighthearted and amusing movie.


Story line:
The movie begin in the Arizona desert with Wayne Green (Seann William Scott), who is practicing for a fireman test the next day by doing a mock rescue in a small shack h himself set on fire. Unexpectedly, a meteorite falls from the sky and crash into the ground nearby (actually, nearly into his car). Prof. Harry Phineas Block (Orlando Jones), an eccentric geologist teacher in nearby school, receives a call about the meteorite and with the help of his friend, Dr. Ira Kane (David Duchovny), they decides to investigate. At the site, they realize that the meteorite is covered with some moss-like substance and after analysing a sample of rock, they discover unicellular life that their DNA use ten different building blocks (instead of four for life forms on Earth). They realize that this could be an incredible discovery, but the alien life forms are also evolving at an extremely fast pace.

Before they could study the matter a little more deeply, the army get involved since they have been monitoring Kane's computer ever since he was kicked out of the USAMRIID for administrating to US soldiers (presumably without authorization) an experimental anthrax vaccine that had many many negative side effects. After some time, it become clear that the alien life forms have managed to get outside the army's sealed zone via the numerous underground tunnels that honeycomb the region. As the military slowly lose control of the situation, Dr. Kane, Prof. Bloc, Wayne Green and government scientist Allison Reed (Julianne Moore), team up to stop the alien creatures.


Images:
Like most recent movie, the image is clear and the creatures are very original. Most special effects rather well done, one part relies to a more traditional puppet animation while leaving action scenes to computer-generated effects.


Sound & Music:
Sometime the music in a movie is based on a theme that become rather repetitive and redundant but I the music in Evolution (2001) is actually something fun and enjoyable to listen to, especially for "The Fire Truck" music near the end of the movie. Great music, the themes are varied and will set the mood perfectly right.


Acting:
The movie has a good cast of characters. The good: David Duchovny and Orlando Jones make a fine and likable duo thought the movie and they have numerous opportunity throughout the movie to show their comic talent. Seann William Scott is faithful to his more usual goofy acting while still remaining serious enough to make his role credible in front a potential biological disaster. Dan Aykroyd while not having a lot of screen time play his role admirably and manage to place some memorable quotes such as:
Gen Woodman: I didn't know you were coming to see the show.
Governor Lewis: Well, you damn well better make it a good one, Sergeant.
Gen. Woodman: That's general.
Governor Lewis: Not if you screw this up.
The bad: having Julianne Moore fall constantly didn't really make the movie more amusing or at least they could have developed the concept a little more to play some role in the story.