Smash! Crash! (review)

Newly elected Prime Minister David Sinclair is startled to learn that Britain has been developing a secret weapon, Tyrannosaurus: Improved Model (Tim), which has now outgrown its underground lab facility but has yet to show any true military promise. Sinclair pulls Tim's funding and transfers it to Professor Mallahide and his nanotechnology project. Bad move. Tim isn't about to go quietly into any dark night, Mallahide is a predictably deranged scientist focused on world domination, and the stage is set for a smackdown between mega- and micro-forces, with the fate of the world at stake. Artlessly woven into this B-movie plot are the requisite humans who save the day—fourteen-year-old Chris, who wears a magic bracelet, clamped on his wrist by a weird museum guard, that focuses human energy on Tim's behalf; and Mallahide's daughter Anna, who knows what dear old Dad has been up to. This may supply some light and cheesy entertainment for Godzilla vs. Whatever devotees, but the attacking swarm of 'bots won't offer much to hardcore sci-fi fans, and overall Enthoven's take on nanobots and cloning makes the first season of Star Trek look wildly sophisticated by comparison.