I’ll grant you a dinosaur with a human buddy, but I’m confused by a group of T-Rex ranchers yelling “giddyup” when herding buffalo because, um, they aren’t riding anything?
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After the helium-buoyed heights of Inside Out, Pixar’s The Good Dinosaur feels somewhat deflating, especially since it arrives so hot-on-the-heels of that deliriously imaginative and emotionally savvy animation; the disparity in quality is all the more surprising as the films share a screenwriter in Meg LeFauve.
I will immediately put all that speculation to bed.
“The Good Dinosaur is one of the most emotional movies we’ve ever made”, executive producer John Lasseter says in the production notes.
It’s true; the film went through some notable changes. Disney/Pixar replaced original director Bob Peterson early on and most of the voice cast just past year, hiring new actors for the existing roles.
There has always been one thing we could count on whenever Pixar trotted out a high-concept premise: The movie itself wasn’t going to be about that high-concept premise.
But even with the stellar visuals, the film fails to be anything more than bland in most places.
The first act drags and the film feels conceptually odd as we’re introduced to an apatosaurus clan who tend their crops to the strains of bluegrass. There, he meets a little boy acting like a dog named Spot.
Carrying the voice load, the little-known Ochoa (“Mr. Peabody and Sherman”) makes Arlo easy to root for, and Bright’s growling and howling as Spot is a treat.
While the story has been mostly about Arlo and Spot, the main essence of the story has been about Arlo and his father, Poppa, who has been very supportive and trustful of his young son even though he is the runt in the family.
5 stars to 4 1/2 stars: Must see on the big screen. The actual world these dinosaurs and critters inhabit is seriously stunning, with an attention to detail on background imagery that was simply shaved over in the past. Some of the characters are definitely cute, nearly too cute, with their big eyes. “It’s really amusing and clever, and as the story unfolds, this deep emotion emerges”.
The second attempt ends up so flat it would have been smart to scrap it and try a third time. Remember that meteor that was supposed to hit earth and wipe out all the dinosaurs? I’m not overly critical of it and I actually admire how bold it is as a movie. It’s a fun family film that features good values about growing up, facing your fears and friendship.
It’s not quite at the level of Inside Out, but, that said, it does address the importance of family and dealing with our fears, two issues that I think are central to parents older kids. It’s called The Lion King.
“The Good Dinosaur” is a perfectly fine animated kids’ movie.
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Is “The Good Dinosaur” any good? But it’s interesting to see that old-fashioned children’s adventure stories aren’t, for lack of a better term, extinct.
