I’ve never read an issue of Turok in any of its incarnations, but I’ve always known about the character. When I heard about Turok: Son of Stone I was intrigued; any movie that has dinosaurs at least gets my perusal. Based on the fact that it was written by Tony Bedard, who had worked on the comics series in the past, and two of the three directors were involved in some of the better Superman: The Animated Series and Justice League episodes, not to mention Batman: Return of The Joker, this film had a good shot of at least being entertaining.

The first thing that caught my eye was the DVD case, which carries a label that says "Warning: Contains graphic violence suitable for mature audiences only." They were right. I have an eight-year-old daughter who loves to watch cartoons with me. I don’t think this would really interest her, but the blood, violence and gore, while integral to the story, are not appropriate for little ones.

Turok returns home after twenty years in exile. During his exile he has become a feared and powerful warrior. Upon his return he finds the merciless tyrant Chichak has slaughtered his family and destroyed his village. Turok then embarks on a mission of vengeance. His journey takes him to the Lost Land, where dinosaurs hunt all who enter. Turok must face man-eating dinosaurs, cave dwellers, and the darkness within, all while trying to take revenge on his enemy.

The movie takes all the best elements of Turok's past, and re-imagines him for today. The movie is brutal, hardcore, and graphic, but not violent just for its own sake; it has a valid place in the film. The movie works as a stand-alone story, but the door is left open for follow-ups, and I hope they do return to Turok, as he is an interesting character.

The extras on this DVD aren’t plentiful, however they are informative. The first featurette is audio commentary by producer Evan Bailey, supervising director Tad Stones, and directors Curt Geda, Dan Riba, and Frank Squillace. One interesting fact is the film had to be broken up into three segments with different directors for each segment; this was because the team only had nine months total to get the film made. This commentary was the first time the majority of the commentators had actually seen the film, so you really get an honest commentary (whereas some commentaries on other DVDs seem rehearsed or just stock answers).

The second featurette entitled "Total Turok" only runs a little over 20 minutes but is a great primer. It recounts Turok’s history from his start in the 1950s, his update in the 1980s when Valiant relaunched the series, to the final relaunch after Acclaim bought the character; and how the filmmakers were able to update the character while still staying faithful to his past incarnations.

Turok: Son of Stone is a great update on the character that should appeal to both new and old fans.

Grade B+