The film begins in a spaceship where some small weird 50's style aliens decide to send one Gazoo to Earth to observe human mating rituals. The little guy's ship crashes right in front of Fred and Barney, and, conveniently, only they can see him. He then continues to pop up at various times during the film to annoy us. Meanwhile, Wilma, played by Kristen Johnston is an unhappy girl, because her mother (Joan Collins) is trying to marry her off to one Chip Rockefeller, a guy who looks like he belongs in "The Bold and The Beautiful". When Wilma runs away from home, she meets Betty (Jane Krakowski) who, thinking she is 'caveless' takes her home. The girls in turn meet Fred and Barney and everyone is instantly in love. The trouble begins when Wilma invites everyone home to her father's birthday party. She is from a rich family, and Fred is just a brontosaurus operator, so he obviously isn't a fit boyfriend for her. The rest of the film is about Chip trying to undermine Wilma's love for Fred by both making and breaking him at his casino. At the same time, Betty meets Mick Jagged of the Stones (ha ha) and, thinking that Barney is two-timing her with a bimbo, goes off with him. Will Barney get her back? Of course, you've seen the cartoon. What's the point of all this?
One good thing about this film is the special effects which are completely seamless and convincing. I was unable to tell if some of the dinosaur puppets were real or computer-generated. There is a nice scene at the beginning of the film showing Fred's car driving over a moving dinosaur bridge. After that you can leave if you want, because the rest of the film is far less interesting. I just kept thinking 'yeah yeah get on with it'. Two things made me laugh; Mick Jagged's dialogue and the chimp playing the piano. As the end credits rolled, I sat staring at the screen. Not in awe, but in disbelief. I could have watched several episodes of the cartoon in that time, and it would have been much more fun.