THE GOOD DINOSAUR Review

Like all Disney and Pixar films, The Good Dinosaur pulls at the heartstrings by chronicling the change of innocence into experience, of a child into an adult, and of those premature ideals into broader perceptions. Like most Disney and Pixar collaborations The Good Dinosaur also features a duo on a journey to both save/rescue someone or something while discovering things about themselves and the world they exist in along the way. Sure, there is more to each of these stories that have given the studio partnership a reputation of not just crafting animated movies for children, but for their parents and adults alike. These core ideas and themes are what Pixar tends to stick with, though. With their latest, the studio twists things around by essentially re-writing history and then pulling a role reversal meant to engage the mature minds while utilizing the popularity of dinosaurs to get the attention of young kids. This works for the most part as the premise is just as engaging as Pixar's previous release this year, Inside Out. While such a statement might make some wince given the personified emotions of that film allow it to go to some pretty heavy places for a "children's movie" the idea of mingling in what the world might be like today if a massive extinction hadn't taken place millions of years ago is just as tantalizing as being able to create some kind of organizational system within our own minds. Unfortunately, The Good Dinosaur doesn't do as much with it's promising premise as Inside Out did (though that one didn't do as much as I would have liked, either) it is does mix some interesting genre aspects and narratively creative ideas into it's proceedings often enough that it manages to be nothing short of an entertaining family film. While the film does indeed share many similarities to Pixar's previous offerings in terms of what makes them so effective what is more striking is the kinship it seems to share with the earlier, hand-drawn animated films of the Walt Disney company. Through this affinity for those that have come before it, The Good Dinosaur, while not being innovative or weighty on it's own terms, is a nice reminder of the power of a simple story told through beautiful imagery.

Full Trailer for THE GOOD DINOSAUR

With Inside Out making a big impression this summer and filling the emptiness left by two years without a Pixar production it feels somewhat selfish to so willingly accept another feature so quickly. That said, The Good Dinosaur has been such a struggle to produce I'm sure both Disney and Pixar are as happy to have it completed as we are to see it. With pre-production possibly beginning as early as 2009 with an original 2013 release date on the books, The Good Dinosaur has seen its fair share of ups and downs including a complete voice cast overhaul as recently as last month. Bob Peterson (a co-director on Up), who came up with the idea for the story, was originally slated to direct the film until August 2013, when he was removed from the project and replaced by Peter Sohn (who had previously served as co-director) in October of 2014. All of this is to say that for all the moving parts and disjointed working conditions the creators behind the final product seem to have crafted something especially stunning, at least in terms of visuals. Little can be gleaned from this first full trailer as far as the story goes, but the aesthetic of the naturalistic environments juxtaposed by the more cartoony character designs is certainly interesting. The music, from what I assume is a sample of Thomas Newman's score, is also hauntingly beautiful before segueing into Of Monsters and Men's "Crystals." Needless to say, despite not knowing much about what is going on here my interest is piqued and I can't wait to see if, for the first time, Pixar can deliver two gems in a single year. The Good Dinosaur features the voices of Raymond Ochoa, Jeffrey Wright, Steve Zahn, A.J. Buckley, Anna Paquin, Sam Elliott, Frances McDormand, Marcus Scribner, Jack Bright and opens in 3D on November 25th.