The Good Dinosaur is Disney/Pixar’s latest animated effort and the second this year only behind Inside Out. The movie could best be described as one part Jurassic Park, one part Lion King, and one part Finding Nemo. It just doesn’t have enough ingredients in it to make it as memorable as those films.
The movie follows an alternate timeline where the asteroid that hit Earth 65 million years ago bypasses our planet and spares those creatures their doomed fate. Millions of years later, dinosaurs still roam the earth, but not much changes as far as interaction with human beings. Sorry, life does not amount to the Flintstones.
A young dinosaur named Arlo is living with his family and contributing to help them along with his parents and his brother and sister. Arlo is kind of the weakling in the family and one day his father sends him out on a quest to help him find his courage. Along the way, he encounters a mute caveboy during the middle of a storm and, thanks to the caveboy, Arlo loses his way home. Having no one but the caveboy as his companion, Arlo has to work with him to make it back home.
The rest of the movie does recycle some plot elements from other Disney movies such as The Lion King, particularly in a couple of sequences involving some deadly pterodactyls which are reminiscent of the hyenas. Plus, it somewhat mirrors the structure of Finding Nemo in the sense that it’s all about a boy trying to reunite with his family.
As with previous Pixar films, The Good Dinosaur contains beautiful animation including some sequences that will no doubt help it score a nomination for Best Animated Feature. As far as the rest of the movie is concerned, this is not a strong effort like others such as Toy Story or WALL-E. It doesn’t have the humor, charm, or even emotional resonance of those films.
Having said that, I liked it, but I didn’t love it. This is a sweet, predictable film and kids will enjoy it, but I think Pixar could’ve done more and better. This is good but not great Pixar.
Grade: B+
(Rated PG for peril, action and thematic elements.)
