Life, Death, and The Good Dinosaur

There is very little newness to its narrative, yet it still manages to touch your heart just right.

What if a giant meteor that fell millions of years ago missed earth and the dinosaurs survived? But that title’s something of a head-scratcher in more ways than one. They occupy a planet alongside their newer mammalian neighbors and have families, jobs, and oral language. The hatchlings are the awkward, timid Arlo (Raymond Ochoa) and his tough brother and congenial sister Libby.

Poppa is patient and knows Arlo will mature and gain the confidence he needs in due time. Humans, it turns out, still have some way to go.

Along the way, he meets a human in the form of Spot (Jack Bright), who loves to hunt and possesses a certain crazed nature about him. It’s about a young small dinosaur who loses his parent in the first act, and this leads him on a big quest where he learns stuff and befriends a bunch of colorful characters. Together, they forge onward to find their way back to Clawtooth Mountain. Along the way, they fight off ravenous pterodactyls and encounter a host of other unusual creatures, like a family of Tyrannosaurus rex buffalo herders. After a short hiatus last year and a string of less-than-memorable films, the animation powerhouse compensates by releasing two films this year: the first, Inside Out, gained much fanfare this summer, and the long-awaited The Good Dinosaur, perfectly timed for the Thanksgiving holiday, is definitely something to be thankful for. The photo-realistic CGI settings and vistas in this film pop off of the screen with serene beauty and uncanny detail. (I’d see it again just for the scene with the Pet Collector and a bird named Debbie.) It’s also filled with some truly wonderful animated scenery that you would swear are actual rolling plains of grain, acres of trees, and storm-filled skies. We’ve seen the impetus that comes from a tragic father’s death in “The Lion King”. And we’ve come to expect greatness from Pixar. In each case, the other films “wore it better” than “The Good Dinosaur”.

The PG-rated film does not open in Australia until Boxing Day, but has already received good reviews from global critics. Having struggled to solve fundamental story problems, original director Bob Peterson was removed and extensive rewriting, restructuring and rerecording ensued, with most of the original cast (including John Lithgow and Bill Hader) being replaced. Adorned with the Pixar label, that counts as a step back for them. Second, the movie would have you believe that if dinosaurs were still alive, they would live like they were in a Western.

The general themes of the film are overcoming fear and the importance of family.

Sohn made his directorial debut in Partly Cloudy in 2009, which he also wrote.

Lesson #1: Fireflies are awesome- Come on.

The Good Dinosaur doesn’t deserve to be compared to Inside Out. It may even be a little overdone. He’s the runt of the litter, born to a family of brontosauruses, vegetarians that have taken up agricultural pursuits.

In many ways it’s classic Emeryville, with an off-kilter coming-of-age story built around a oh-of-course genius idea, but that’s all juxtaposed with a sense of repetition and stifled creativity. Later, during a journey, Arlo experiences a disaster and finds himself far from home.