History YMMV / TheValleyOfGwangi

* TearJerker: Gwangi's death. As everyone gathers around and watches the little Mexican boy Lope has tears in his eyes. [[AlternativeCharacterInterpretation Unless of course he was weeping over the destruction of that magnificent old cathedral instead.]] Strange, considering Gwangi is perhaps one of the least sympathetic Harryhausen creations and had tried to eat Lope without hesitation moments before.

** [[Main/ForScience Bromley]], the paleontologist is one of the more innocent of the bunch. But helps the fanatical group of gypsies steal T.J.'s horse in hope of following it to its home without a second thought of who the gypsies might hurt, or what the loss of the animal might do to T.J.'s show.

* TearJerker: Gwangi's death, strangely. As everyone gathers around and watches the little Mexican boy Lope has tears in his eyes. [[AlternativeCharacterInterpretation Unless of course he was weeping over the destruction of that magnificent old cathedral instead.]] Strange indeed considering Gwangi is perhaps one of the least sympathetic Harryhausen creations and had tried to eat Lope without hesitation moments before.

** The protagonists. Gwangi was just an animal minding his business in the [[NamesToRunAwayFromReallyFast Forbidden Valley]] until some greedy foreign capitalists show up to kidnap him and drag him off to be exhibited in a circus show. And then burn him alive.

* IdiotPlot: The characters hear that the Forbidden Value is cursed, and they shouldn't go there. [[GenreBlindness So what do you think they do?]] And then at the end, one of the superstitious gypsy releases Gwangi, which is dumb enough, but he does it ''in the middle of the performance!''

* SpecialEffectsFailure: While most of the effects in the movie are still pretty spectacular to this day, even if just for the novelty craftsmanship involved, there are a few hiccups here and there.

** [[NominalHero T.J.]] really didn't do anything morally objectionable, but is rather callous.

* IdiotPlot: The characters hear that the Forbidden Value is cursed and they shouldn't go there. [[GenreBlindness So what do you think they do?]] And then at the end, one of the superstitious gypsy releases Gwangi, which is dumb enough, but he does it ''in the middle of the performance!''

** The battle with the Pteranodon. The animatronic is a completely different colour from the stop-motion model and moves much more limply.

** The editing to fit the humans and animals into frame with each other is virtually flawless, which wasn't at all simple a task when one considers this meant syncing up horse-riding lasso-throwing riders with a dinosaur that wasn't even physically there, yet had to get snagged in the ropes.

* ValuesDissonance: Both the depiction of the villainous, superstitious "gypsies" and the entire plot about capturing wild animals from an undisturbed ecosystem just to have them perform in a circus are horrendously outdated by modern standards. As mentioned above, it makes most of the human characters, including the protagonists, very unlikeable.

* TheScrappy: Lope.
* SpecialEffectsFailure:
** The battle with the Pteranodon.

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** The styracosaurus that Gwangi battles and [[CurbStompBattle reduces to a bloody heap]]. Only moments before, it had trapped Lope, Bromley, and Carlos in a cave and was presumably trying to kill them.

* TearJerker: Gwangi's death, strangely. As everyone gathers around and watches the little Mexican boy Lope has tears in his eyes. [[AlternativeCharacterInterpretation Unless of course he was weeping over the destruction of that magnificent old cathedral instead.]] [[UnintentionallyUnsympathetic Strange indeed considering Gwangi is perhaps one of the least sympathetic Harryhausen creations and had tried to eat Lope without hesitation moments before.]]

** Gwangi is a pitiless carnivore who tries to eat any moving thing it sees, including an elephant and a little boy. Sympathy really only goes so far.

* SpecialEffectsFailure: The battle with the Pteranodon.

* TearJerker: Gwangi's death, strangely. As everyone gathers around and watches the little Mexican boy Lope has tears in his eyes. [[AlternativeCharacterInterpretation Unless of course he was weeping over the destruction of that magnificent old cathedral instead.]]
** [[UnintentionallyUnsympathetic Strange indeed considering Gwangi is perhaps one of the least sympathetic Harryhausen creations and had tried to eat Lope without hesitation moments before.]]

** The styracosaurus that Gwangi battles and [[CurbStompBattle reduces to a bloody heap]]. Only moments before, it had been trapped Lope, Bromley, and Carlos in a cave and was presumably trying to kill them.

** Gwangi is a pitiless carnivore who tries to eat any moving thing it sees, including an elephant and a little boy. Sympathy really only goes so far.

** [[UnintentionallySympathetic Strange indeed considering Gwangi is perhaps one of the least sympathetic]] Harryhausen creations and had tried to eat Lope without hesitation moments before.

* UnintentionallyUnsympathetic: The protagonists. Gwangi was just an animal minding his business in the [[NamesToRunAwayFromReallyFast Forbidden Valley]] until some greedy foreign capitalists show up to kidnap him and drag him off to be exhibited in a circus show. And then burn him alive.

* UnintentionallyUnsympathetic: The protagonists. Gwangi was just minding his business in the [[NamesToRunAwayFromReallyFast Forbidden Valley]] until some greedy foreign capitalists show up to kidnap him and drag him off to be exhibited in a circus show. And then burn him alive.

** Strange indeed, considering Gwangi is perhaps one of the least sympathetic Harryhausen creations and had tried to eat Lope without hesitation moments before.
* UnintentionallyUnsympathetic: Gwangi acts out of instinct, but he is usually considered to be one of Harryhausen's most outright violent monsters.
** Of course, the protagonists, too. After all, Gwangi was just minding his business in the [[NamesToRunAwayFromReallyFast Forbidden Valley]] until some greedy foreign capitalists show up to kidnap him and drag him off to be exhibited in a circus show. And then burn him alive.

** Of course, the protagonists, too. After all, Gwangi was just minding his business in the [NamesToRunAwayFromReallyFast Forbidden Valley] until some greedy foreign capitalists show up to kidnap him and drag him off to be exhibited in a circus show. And then burn him alive.

* UnintentionallyUnsympathetic: Gwangi acts out of instinct, but he is usually considered to be one of Harryhausen's most outright violent monsters.

* TearJerker: Gwangi's death, strangely. As everyone gathers around and watches the little Mexican boy Lope has tears in his eyes. [[AlternateCharacterInterpretation Unless of course they were weeping over the destruction of that magnificent old cathedral instead.]]

** [[NominalHero T.J.]] really didn't do anything morally objectionable, but is rather callus.

* TearJerker: Gwangi's death, strangely. As everyone gathers around and watches the little Mexican boy Lope has tears in his eyes. [[AlternateCharacterExplanation Unless of course they were weeping over the destruction of that magnificent old cathedral instead.]]

* TearJerker: Gwangi's death, strangely. As everyone gathers around and watches the little Mexican boy Lope has tears in his eyes. [[AlternativeCharacterExplanation Unless of course they were weeping over the destruction of that magnificent old cathedral instead.]]

* TearJerker: Gwangi's death, strangely. As everyone gathers around and watches the little Mexican boy Lope has tears in his eyes.

** Gwangi's color changes throughout the entire film. This was due in part to incorrect color timing.

** [[OnlyInItForTheMoney Tuck]], T.J.'s former fiancé is a rather cutthroat businessman who wants to buy her out.

** [[Main/ForScience Bromley]], the paleontologist is one of the more innocent of the bunch. But helps the fanatical group of gypsies steal T.J.'s horse in hope of follow it to its home without a second thought of who the gypsies might hurt, or what the loss of the animal might do to T.J.'s show.

** Strange indeed, considering Gwangi is perhaps one of the least sympathetic Harryhausen creations.

** Strange indeed, considering Gwangi is perhaps one of the least sympathetic Harryhausen creations.

* TearJerker: Gwangi's death, strangely. As everyone gathers around and watches the little Mexican boy Lope has tears in his eyes.

* TheScrappy: Lope.