The Good Dinosaur
by Peter Sohn, Erik Benson, Meg LeFauve, Kelsey Mann, Bob Peterson
Disney Pixar
The Good Dinosaur has a lot of things going for it. It’s gorgeous – really, some of the animation took my breath away. It’s not a prequel, a spin-off, a sequel, or based on a pre-existing toy franchise. It tells a pretty archetypal story (two lost souls help each other survive while learning heart-warming lessons) in a new way. But it does have some really odd stuff happening in terms of tone and that makes watching it a somewhat jarring experience
The premise of this movie is that the asteroid that killed the dinosaurs missed Earth, allowing dinosaurs to continue to dominate the planet. I ran a few aspects of this movie by my husband, an evolutionary biologist, but he developed a nervous twitch around the eyes so I had to change the topic (“Oh hey, honey, enough about that movie! Tell me more about Linnaean versus Cladistic classifications systems!”).
With this in mind, I’m going to advise the viewer not to think too hard about the science of this film, because there isn’t any. You just have to accept that there are dinosaurs, and that some are farmers, some are herders, some are serial killers, etc. Sadly, there is minimal discussion of how this world works – it’s very lightly sketched out, just enough so that the main characters can move around in it.
Arlo is a dinosaur who becomes separated from his family in a remarkably traumatic scene. All his life, Arlo has been fearful. Despite the fact that his parents are very supportive and encouraging, he’s always felt like he doesn’t match up. Now he has to face his fears to find his way back home. Along the way, he meets a little human child who acts exactly like a dog. The little human, who also seems to be separated from his family, refuses to leave Arlo alone despite Arlo’s initial animosity. Arlo names the kid “Spot” and they embark on a prehistoric road trip.
I suspect that The Good Dinosaur will be one of those films that brings in respectable but not spectacular box office returns, but that doesn’t get serious appreciation until later (I can picture it in a “Top Ten Most Under-rated Animated Movies” list). The tone is off. It is marketed for very young kids (more so than Inside Out or Big Hero Six, which devoted significant marketing to tweens). It has a cute dinosaur! Also, a cute little boy! So much cute!
However, it’s actually pretty intense. A major character dies on-screen and the death is seen again in a nightmarish flashback. Horrible things happen to poor little Arlo. At one point, three dinosaurs eat an adorable small mammal with huge eyes and then play tug-of -war for its remains, which…I did not think they would go there. There’s no gore (except for a dead beetle moment which is more gross than gory). There’s no blood, but whenever Arlo falls down, which he does a lot, it clearly hurts. Some very sad and some very, very violent things happen. There are scenes that are pretty scary. I’m not too proud to say that one scene in particular freaked me right out.
All this means that the movie might be too intense for young children, but unlikely to attract older ones. The Good Dinosaur hits a weird middle spot where it’s both cute and dark. It is also, like all Pixar movies, deeply heartwarming. Pixar has never been afraid to tell kids about cruelty, fear, and loss, but it also shows kids characters supporting each other, loving each other, and being kind. Ultimately this movie is very sweet. It also features Sam Elliot voicing a T-Rex with my favorite line: “Who said I wasn’t scared? Kid, if you ain’t scared when a crocodile is biting you in the face, you ain’t alive!”
The most iconic Pixar movies have had very simple plots (usually it’s “find the thing”) but very complex world-building and very deep emotions, combined with memorable characters. The Good Dinosaur has emotions down. I cried so hard when Arlo tried to explain family to Spot that I seriously thought I was going to have to go bawl in the lobby. I also thought Arlo and Spot were fun, interesting characters to spend time with.
But the movie lacks complex world building. Instead, it has stunning scenery. While I can’t complain about the visuals, which are truly remarkable and lovely, I do think that the lack of complexity puts it a step below some of Pixar’s more ambitious projects. By the way, this movie only has a couple of female characters and they are in supporting roles.
Did I cry? Of course I cried. It’s Pixar. It’s part of the routine – I pay for the ticket, I turn off my phone, I sob into my sleeve and wonder why I continue to allow Pixar to play me like a violin. I also cried buckets at the opening short film, Sanjay’s Super Team, which is purportedly “Based (mostly) on a true story” and which has, over its credits, photos of the real Sanjay Patel, who wrote the short, and his dad. In the short, young Sanjay wants to watch his favorite superhero cartoon and his dad wants to do his daily ritual of prayer (the family is Hindu). In Sanjay’s daydream, the figures in his father’s shrine and his favorite superhero team up in a unique and wonderfully animated way. BUCKETS OF TEARS, y’all. My small heart grew three sizes, for sure.
The Good Dinosaur is lovely to look at and, for the most part, fun to watch. It has simple aims (Arlo has to get home and learn to be brave) and it meets them. My tween daughter liked it. I liked it. But even given the fact that Pixar movies always have a certain amount of dark content, I was pretty startled by this one. If your kid will freak out at the sight of a super cute animal being eaten and ripped apart (I certainly did), then wait to rent this and skip the first scene with the pterodactyls. Just a tip.
Overall it’s a sweet story that is beautifully told.
The Good Dinosaur is in theatres now and you can find tickets (US) at Fandango and Moviefone.
Sorry, I just can’t think about this film without thinking about that book about the billionaire dino boss who turned that guy gay.
I’m going to go into it with mild reservations. For me, this sounds a lot like The Land Before Time, which is arguably Don Bluth’s magnum opus and probably the best example (for me) of an American animated film that is seemingly cute and adorable on the surface but extremely dark due to the subject matter. Bluth’s film is more visually scary because of the color palate, but the art style itself is gorgeous for the time. They also just made it set during the regular time of the dinosaurs, so the world building felt more natural to the characterization.
I also noticed that Pixar’s Big Hero 6 had similar world issues. I loved the film but was surprised at how I felt like the world was more window-dressing than anything. When you have an outfit with pieces like Toy Story, Wall-E, or Finding Nemo you come to expect a more immersive world that can operate without visual supremacy. Still, it sounds like it’s worth going to see (which seems to be the case for every Pixar film save for the Cars sequels.)
Small, cute, adorable animal ripped to shreds? Before my eyes? Um…no. I don’t care that it’s animated. I’ve seen enough horrible LIVE things to last me a lifetime. I don’t need the PTSD trigger of recalling all of those by a scene like that. *sigh* And the movie looked so darn cute too…
I’m not sure the tone issue is going to cause as many box office problems as you might think. Finding Nemo is basically terrifying. My mother couldn’t watch it. My 3 year old niece thinks its great.
I saw this with my 4 and 6 year old nieces and the 4 year old spent almost the whole movie hiding in her mom’s lap. I thought the movie was really kind of boring actually. I loved seeing the farming dinosaurs and the T-rex family was kind of awesome. But not enough of either of those to make the movie worth seeing. And *SPOILER COMING* I thought that the dad dying was actually pointless to the movie. IMHO, it would have been better without that trauma and more rewarding when he makes it home. I’m tired of animated films having a parent (or two) die be the instigation of the hero/ine learn to be a better person (or in this case, dinosaur).
I guess I will be the outlier and say that this looks more interesting to me than 99% of the kid movies that I’ve been forced to watch in the past few years. A LOT of children’s literature and movies are actually dark and intense, when you strip away the cutesy window dressing and pop culture jokes and get down to the premise.
This review is in line with another I read about it. I might mostly enjoy it myself, but it will not work for my kids. Hopefully the 5yo dino-lover will forget the trailers she’s seen.
You are much more fair with your review than others I’ve read. I’ve been reading people swearing off Pixar due to the darkness of the movie. But, as another person said, “What children’s movie or literature isn’t dark at the base?” It’s shorthand for character building. And, many people are forgetting that it’s PG rated and not G. There are definite allowable differences. Know the ratings and your child. Don’t assume that it’s Disney and Pixar that it will be cute and fluffy for all to see.
My daughter went through a period as a very young toddler where she was crazy about Finding Nemo. Then she couldn’t watch it at all because suddenly it was too scary. Then she wanted to watch it all the time because she was old enough to get more of the jokes. If memory serves, she realized the Finding Nemo was scary at around 4 and then got over it at around 6? So it will very much have to be case-by-case with your own kids. This movie isn’t darker than other Pixar movies, but the marketing pitched younger, so that threw me off.Also, forgot to add – no romance, sorry. Not even a gay billionaire character in the sidelines.
It’s time for Pointless Trivia About Rachel’s Life. I love Sam Elliott. I always have. When I was little, my dad’s favorite movie was The Sacketts miniseries, so I grew up idolizing tall, quiet men with beards (which I now realize describes my husband). ANYWAY, Mr. Elliott lives near my city and I cherish a secret hope that I’ll spot him in the wild someday. Not that I’m planning to ambush him with fangirl squeeing or anything; I would hope I’d be more respectful than that.
So a couple weekends ago my husband and I went hiking up at Sahalie Falls and we stopped at a country store on the way because I really had to pee. And goddamn it if Sam Elliott didn’t walk into the store while I was in the bathroom. He was gone by the time I got out. I’m still a little bitter that there was a line for the toilet.
There is no point to this story other than to share my disappointment, and to say that I totally read the T-Rex quote in his voice. Which I love. I think I’ll watch The Big Lebowski again tonight.
How frustrating DPR!
I have read one reviewer who had hope to have his eight year old’s opinion on the fim, but they had to leave part way through as the eight year old found the fim too distressing, so yes consider your child’s likely response.
“Consider your child’s likely response” is the key piece of advice for any parent in terms of screening movies for their kids. Take me, for instance, who didn’t screen Justice League The Flashpoint a few years ago and watched in horror when Wonder Woman, yes WONDER WOMAN, beheads Aquaman’s wife Meara and then sends said head to him. Like, via underwater Fedex or something. My lads both had that WTF was that MOM look on their faces and we just quietly turned the movie off. All that to say that I didn’t know it was the DC alternate version of their universe, violent and deeply disturbing. My kids crack wise about it now that their teens but oh my goodness–we were all traumatized by that bit of cinematic gore.
Wait, Linnean vs. Cladistic classification systems DON’T make your husband twitch? That was a surefire topic for riling up the grad students back when I was studying evolutionary biology.
He’s a Linnean but sometimes he tries to explain Cladistic classification to me with many comments of “of course that’s just wrong” and I get all riled up because it makes no sense and then he hands me articles to read so I can understand the debate. At any rate, it’s a topic he’s very interested in so if I want to distract him I can always say, “So, explain those classification systems again?”
@Pamala – good thing you turned it off – you avoided watching Evil!Wonder Woman stab Billy Batson (an eight year old) and his adopted siblings to death.
As someone who was a very young kid when Land Before Time came out (and loved and hated it with equal passion, that movie made me cry SO HARD) – it really does depend on the kid. I was terrified of Lion King the first time I saw it. And The Great Mouse Detective. And Little Mermaid. And Beauty and the Beast! … People tend to forget, Disney (and other classical greats, including Don Bluth) made DARK FILMS. Dark SCARY films. Films that aren’t necessarily for kids. Especially back in the day. Think Oliver and Company, The Fox and the Hound, even The Rescuers. Even if there’s funny moments or catchy songs, the movies are heavy with dark themes and a strain of heartwarming (if you’re lucky).
I’m thinking I’ll still see this movie. But not in theaters. Thanks for the review!
@LovelloftheWolves WHAT THE ACTUAL FUCK! OMG, I’m SO glad that we stopped watching because I don’t think I could even take Bizarro world Wonder Woman stabbing Billy Batson and a bunch of other children to death. I mean, WHO THOUGHT THAT WAS A GOOD IDEA? Even Frank Miller might be like, ‘dude, you’ve gone too far.” In other words, thanks for letting me know.
I do want to see The Good Dinosaur and might have to catch it at a matinee if I can’t wait for it to come to cable.
I lovvvve this movie it’s the best movie ever for me. I never liked toy story this is sooo much better and there’s a lot to learn