The Good Dinosaur doesn’t feel particularly innovative, or even interested in exploring the dinosaur-based society it’s created.
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With its realistic setting and its deliberately cartoon-like characters, The Good Dinosaur can boast of grand vistas, good heroes and a decent if sometimes oddball storyline.
But as with any Disney-Pixar film, family is central to this particular tale.
With the help of his new found friend, a hilarious human dog-boy named Spot (Jack Bright), Arlo has to overcome his fears and brave a weird and wacky wilderness in order to find his family.
Much of the cleverness of the film involves Arlo’s relationship with a scrappy little humanoid kid who starts out as an adversary and ends up an ally. He does at least pick up a new friend in the tragedy, a little feral human named Spot (Jack Bright).
The story centers on Arlo (the voice of Raymond Ochoa), an Apatosaurus whose cartoonish body, big eyes and puppyish feet clash oddly against the lifelike scenery.
The original version was a “jokey thing” that was “a parody of a western”, says Peter. “Don’t worry though, Pixar’s general manager and president said, in an interview with, “…we changed the story to make it better, and we’re very proud of the film we have now”.
So just who tests how emotional a family film like this should get?
Arlo, Spot and their fellows, however, have a deliberately cartoony look to them, with exaggerated features and shapes.
“It would just be watching the movie and checking your own gut and your heart”. It excels on every technical level and numerous visuals are downright stunning, but it ultimately feels uninspired. The story may be a little familiar for the teens if they have seen most of the animated films in the past 6 years or so, but the youngsters should love the dinosaurs and young Spot. The Good Dinosaur certainly doesn’t shy away from the ever-present mortal dangers of prehistoric times with more than a few deaths (some played for laughs, others not) occurring along the way. I bet you’ll leave appreciating that you’re in each other’s circle.
“And we were not afraid to explore”. She gets to see the prototype models for Toy Story’s Woody – the first of which is slightly terrifying! With “The Good Dinosaur”, Pixar has once again tugged at the heartstrings, made you cringe in horror and want to sit up in your chair, nearly cheering out loud for the characters. Director Peter Sohn has a reverence for the natural world-and an ability to anchor these characters and themes to its primordial beauty-that wouldn’t feel out of place in a Terrence Malick joint.
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The simplistic script lacks the depth of most of its Pixar counterparts, and therefore rates as a lesser effort for the studio, although kids might embrace the underdog protagonist and the slapstick creature antics. For iOS go here.
