This film had us in fits from start to finish. I don't think it's deliberately funny more just a touch tongue in cheek but it's definitely worth watching for its comedic value. Not that it's without a serious moral message. I'll tell you this at the end.A group of bigshots in a lab to observe an experiment are accidentally moved through time and space by a couple of Irish scientists to the eponymous Ferocious Planet.The planet bears an uncanny resemblance to a wood anywhere on Earth (with a few cheap sfx such as violet smoke and flashing lights) although this doesn't stop one of the inadvertently intrepid travellers from taking cell phone photos of trees, mushrooms and other flora which look exactly the same as their Earthly equivalent, to document the experience, while continually failing to even attempt to take any photos of huge dinosaur-like creatures that give chase to our merry band and we assume give the planet its moniker as the place itself is no more ferocious than Central Park. As with the latter, it's the natives that are ferocious rather than the habitat.There is quicksand though and two of the men get stuck in it. The woman says: 'Don't worry. I go to Pilates six days a week.' Who knew that this would give her enough strength to pull two heavy blokes out of quicksand? I'm having words with my yoga teacher as I still struggle to carry my suitcase.A straight-talking type with a deep southern drawl (a least to begin with), identified as the Colonel, takes control, (the likable Joe Flanigan doing a passable impression of Christian Kane), and points out the obvious: 'We're not safe here.' Someone asks: 'Where do you suggest we go?' Colonel: 'Somewhere where our asses aren't sticking up in the middle of the air.'Every now and then, it falls to a character to deliver some of the Colonel's backstory, which is entirely unnecessary but is there to prove that, although he's someone who's been wrongly discredited, he is really an all-round good guy. The dialogue is horribly 'on the nose', so: 'It wasn't your fault that hospital was destroyed.'Here's an absolutely priceless comment from the female Irish scientist or voice of doom: 'According to my calculations, we only have six hours before the aligned conjunction of this dimension with ours suffers quantum collapse. … Once the dimensions fall out of alignment, we're stuck here forever.'However, whenever the Colonel asks how long they have, which he does periodically, neither of the scientists is able to give him any idea, saying things like 'Two hours? Three hours?' or 'Not long now'. They're rather vague. I wouldn't trust scientists that can't even read a wristwatch myself.Anyway, time is supposedly of the essence but the characters still take what can only be described as a desultory stroll through the woods as if they really were wandering in Central Park on an extra long lunch break. My sister comments 'I've seen people move faster than this in Morrisons'. If you've ever been in Morrisons, you'll know that its shoppers move at a snail's pace.Possibly the most hilarious sequence is when the two scientists communicate by scribbling hieroglyphics on a pad, after each scribble, saying stuff like: 'Could it be?' (more frantic writing such as 223-4(x) + å17³²) then 'But' (a few quick pencil scratches) or 'What if' (more frenetic scrawling) then 'It's theoretically impossible!' and so on. This episode stands in for the need for any real scientific explanation of how they got in their current predicament and how they're going to get out of it. Neat.Hapless expendable no. 1 pokes the alien they've captured, which seems to be dead. This results in his death. Scientist: What the hell happened? Hapless expendable no. 2: He poked it with a pen and some black stuff shot out and hit him in the face. Scientist (reprovingly): Don't poke the alien. (This has to be one of the best lines in a sci-fi movie ever and surely a creed we need to adopt for life but it's still not the moral of the tale.)Meanwhile, the Irish accent has proved contagious and has spread from the scientists to the rest of the cast. Even the Colonel is speaking with a slight Irish brogue.So, the moral of this tale would be 'Do not allow Irish people who can't tell the time to fiddle with the space-time continuum' especially one who boasts 'I'm one of the most intelligent people in the world.'

Acting : Joe Flanigan does his thing and is likable, John Rhys Davies adopts an hilarious accent. Naughtiness : nothing.Effects : bargain basement CGI with one practical creature that spurts ammonia as blood, the effect where the ammonia sprays on a guys face killing him is competently done. The scenes of the larger CGI creatures running about the forest are laughable.Music : Cheap as can be expected .Cinematography: Poor, too many static camera shots of bad acting.Overall : Intrigued that this was filmed in Dublin. Not the worst Syfy effort, Flanigan is always likable but it gets tiresome watching a bunch of people running back and forth through the woods. Fave scene had to be the quicksand bit.

On paper this looks like a good time waster, dependable lead, monsters, some kind of 'Science' twist. Believe me all the elements are there. Joe Flanigan reprising his man of action role (something he does very well), John Rhys-Davies reprising his stock nasty-man character that he has been trotting out in B movies for years (Anaconda III and IV anyone), even some choice one-liners along for the ride, enjoyed the Jaws reference but really it needed a bigger scene to be effective. And that is precisely the problem with this, it doesn't quite deliver in all the essential areas. The cast do their best, but the script is very sadly lacking in tension or even a real sense of urgency, and you just know stupid people are going to do stupid things for all sorts of completely ridiculous and illogical reasons. The other problem with the script is that far too many ideas come from other, much better, movies. Seriously, if you are going to borrow from other films, particularly famous ones, try to give the ideas some kind of original twist. If you can stay the distance you find yourself noting down all the stuff you've seen before and where you have seen it. I bought this because I like creature features and I like Joe Flanigan, he has an insouciant style which comes off as effortless and invests the characters he plays with a certain devil-may-care charm. Unfortunately here, he really has nothing to work with so it's all very much painting by numbers. Really, if you have absolutely nothing better to do, you can have a little fun spotting all the bits they pinched from other films (and let me emphasise a LITTLE FUN), but otherwise adds nothing to the canon of creature features, sci-fi movies, or action and adventure.

This is a probably one of the worst films I've ever watched. For a long time I thought it was meant to be a parody (and I still believe in the option), but if so, also limping. Is this a low, low, low budget film...? Pace, plot, dramaturgy, allegedly special effects (the animated monsters are hilariously bad), acting, music, not to speak of content or idea — all of it is terrible. It is not even entertaining, despite its abundance of indeliberate humor. It only reminds me how much time there is generally spent in vain in the movie business, producing nothingness. The acting resembles an unsuccessful early cartoon, where anything like timing is nearly absent. As usual in American films, there are the compulsory ingredients of yelling-women-for-no-reason without having their coiffure disturbed, but here the illusion of resolve or courage or readiness to act or something along those protocols does not function — or become manifest. Conclusion: «Ferocious Planet» is a dreadful production. A disgrace for the screen — simply something for the dustbin. It is almost impossible to imagine that someone expects an audience to take something like this seriously in 2011. Or hold on: It might serve as an item for the film academies, splendidly exemplifying what to avoid. Hence, for the sake of pedagogy, not a complete waste after all.