The Good Dinosaur - directed by Peter Sohn
Starring: Jeffrey Wright, Steve Zahn, Frances McDormand, Marcus Scribner, Raymond Orchoa, Jack Bright, Peter Sohn, Anna Paquin, Sam Elliott
Running Time: 101 minutes
Rated: TBC - expect G rating
The early word on "The Good Dinosaur" is that it could be the fist Pixar movie to fail at the box office.
Fail as in not make a profit.
I don't particularly care for several reasons, the first of which is that box office doesn't equate to quality be the movie great or rubbish.
Some of the movies that I have liked this year were notable failures ("We Are Your Friends","Hitman: Agent 47") both critically and commercially.
Mainly though I don't care too much about the commercial success or otherwise of this film because I am one of those weird (and apparently rare) people who don't gush gleefully at the very mention of the animation studio.
At this point there are more Pixar movies that I don't like than there are those that I do.
However this years other Pixar release "Inside Out" is very definitely on the right side of that.
To get the obvious thing out of the way first - "The Good Dinosaur" is a great looking movie.
Yes, I know - Captain obvious - it is a Pixar movie after all.
This is effectively a technical demo for state of the art computer animation.
The water looks utterly amazing, the mountains, dirt, trees and foliage likewise.
And sadly in the midst of all of this are some pretty ordinary looking characters.
It is clearly an artistic decision.
When you have photo-realistic scenery it seems reasonable to suggest that characters are possible to the same quality.
Pixar have elected to populate their world with what amounts to cartoon characters in comparison.
They are reasonably nicely designed and expressive enough but there is no getting around the fact that it is jarring seeing a 'real' world filled with 'fake' characters.
Similarly it is disconcerting seeing a Pixar movie centred around a decidedly mediocre story that almost totally fails at generating the sort of emotional resonance (call it dusty room syndrome if you like) that they are renowned for.
It was only a few short months ago that the very same studio delivered what is for many their best film yet - "Inside Out".
"The Good Dinosaur" is so slight it makes "Cars" and its sequel look deep.
This is simply the story of a frightened dinosaur who finds himself buddied up with a human child as they try to find their way home.
That sounds like "Finding Nemo" and even though I have always felt that it is overrated credit where it is due- it is about something.
There is an idea and themes and a story that serves them.
With these things missing you may be hoping for an abundance of laughs - some thrills and spills perhaps?
Well, no - not really.
There are a couple of amusing moments and scant few scenes that qualify as exciting in the action stakes.
Really all that we are left with is a very, very pretty canvas devoid of interesting brushstrokes.
If the real world with fake characters contrast takes some getting used it's nothing compared to the world itself.
Firstly the fact that dinosaurs share the same timeframe as humans.
Presumably this is down the meteor that ended the reign of the dinosaur is shown missing the planet in the opening scene.
The human character is portrayed as a dog.
He walks and runs on all fours and is show fetching stuff, sniffing out food and prey and even panting with his tongue out.
Then we have a family of herbivorous dinosaurs who farm corn that is stored in a stone silo and who sleep in a built structure.
Later we will meet a trio of Tyrannosaurus Rex's who have no interest in eating the herbivorous dinosaurs because they are too busy tracking down their buffalo herd.
Yes- the T Rex characters are ranchers!
Not a lot makes sense in this world.
None of this would be particularly damning if not for the lack of a compelling story.
The problems are not solely related to a lack of depth - some are down to character choices.
A major character is killed off before we have had too much time to get attached and the central character Arlo is so annoyingly cowardly as to be hard to side with for much of the movie.
And then there is the awkward realisation that he is to blame for the aforementioned characters demise- something that is not addressed in any meaningful way.
Voice work at least is good with Sam Elliot and Jeffrey Wright the standouts.
Elliott's fellow T Rexers Anna Paquin and A.J Buckley are also very good as is Steve Zahn as a villainous Pterodactyl.
With only the startlingly good scenery and some decent voice work to recommend it it is not difficult to see what some industry observers have suggested that this could be the first Pixar movie to lose money.
The troubled production underwent changes with producer and director and actors John Lithgow, Bill Hader, Judy Greer and Neil Patrick Harris amongst others departed.
It allegedly cost more than $200,000,000 to make.
With marketing on top it needs to pull in about $500,000,000 and with an international total of $136,000,000 so far it is going to be a real struggle.
The audience I watched this movie with was very young and although they laughed a couple of times I was not aware of the usual reactions I see at Pixar screenings - tears, gasps, concerned questions to parents.
Making an animated movie about dinosaurs would appear to be a licence to print money- specially if it has a lamp logo in the opening credits.
This is Pixar suffering from the bar that they themselves set so high.
"The Good Dinosaur" is decent, unchallenging fun but it is destined to be forgotten minutes after the end credits roll.
RATING: 70/ 100
CONCLUSION: A disappointment in any terms but for Pixar crushingly so. A forgettable albeit great looking movie.
Running Time: 101 minutes
Rated: TBC - expect G rating
The early word on "The Good Dinosaur" is that it could be the fist Pixar movie to fail at the box office.
Fail as in not make a profit.
I don't particularly care for several reasons, the first of which is that box office doesn't equate to quality be the movie great or rubbish.
Some of the movies that I have liked this year were notable failures ("We Are Your Friends","Hitman: Agent 47") both critically and commercially.
Mainly though I don't care too much about the commercial success or otherwise of this film because I am one of those weird (and apparently rare) people who don't gush gleefully at the very mention of the animation studio.
At this point there are more Pixar movies that I don't like than there are those that I do.
However this years other Pixar release "Inside Out" is very definitely on the right side of that.
To get the obvious thing out of the way first - "The Good Dinosaur" is a great looking movie.
Yes, I know - Captain obvious - it is a Pixar movie after all.
This is effectively a technical demo for state of the art computer animation.
The water looks utterly amazing, the mountains, dirt, trees and foliage likewise.
And sadly in the midst of all of this are some pretty ordinary looking characters.
It is clearly an artistic decision.
When you have photo-realistic scenery it seems reasonable to suggest that characters are possible to the same quality.
Pixar have elected to populate their world with what amounts to cartoon characters in comparison.
They are reasonably nicely designed and expressive enough but there is no getting around the fact that it is jarring seeing a 'real' world filled with 'fake' characters.
Similarly it is disconcerting seeing a Pixar movie centred around a decidedly mediocre story that almost totally fails at generating the sort of emotional resonance (call it dusty room syndrome if you like) that they are renowned for.
It was only a few short months ago that the very same studio delivered what is for many their best film yet - "Inside Out".
"The Good Dinosaur" is so slight it makes "Cars" and its sequel look deep.
This is simply the story of a frightened dinosaur who finds himself buddied up with a human child as they try to find their way home.
That sounds like "Finding Nemo" and even though I have always felt that it is overrated credit where it is due- it is about something.
There is an idea and themes and a story that serves them.
With these things missing you may be hoping for an abundance of laughs - some thrills and spills perhaps?
Well, no - not really.
There are a couple of amusing moments and scant few scenes that qualify as exciting in the action stakes.
Really all that we are left with is a very, very pretty canvas devoid of interesting brushstrokes.
 |
| Arlo the cartoon dinosaur in the photo-realistic world |
Firstly the fact that dinosaurs share the same timeframe as humans.
Presumably this is down the meteor that ended the reign of the dinosaur is shown missing the planet in the opening scene.
The human character is portrayed as a dog.
He walks and runs on all fours and is show fetching stuff, sniffing out food and prey and even panting with his tongue out.
Then we have a family of herbivorous dinosaurs who farm corn that is stored in a stone silo and who sleep in a built structure.
Later we will meet a trio of Tyrannosaurus Rex's who have no interest in eating the herbivorous dinosaurs because they are too busy tracking down their buffalo herd.
Yes- the T Rex characters are ranchers!
Not a lot makes sense in this world.
None of this would be particularly damning if not for the lack of a compelling story.
The problems are not solely related to a lack of depth - some are down to character choices.
A major character is killed off before we have had too much time to get attached and the central character Arlo is so annoyingly cowardly as to be hard to side with for much of the movie.
And then there is the awkward realisation that he is to blame for the aforementioned characters demise- something that is not addressed in any meaningful way.
Voice work at least is good with Sam Elliot and Jeffrey Wright the standouts.
Elliott's fellow T Rexers Anna Paquin and A.J Buckley are also very good as is Steve Zahn as a villainous Pterodactyl.
 |
| Spot (yes, seriously) the human |
The troubled production underwent changes with producer and director and actors John Lithgow, Bill Hader, Judy Greer and Neil Patrick Harris amongst others departed.
It allegedly cost more than $200,000,000 to make.
With marketing on top it needs to pull in about $500,000,000 and with an international total of $136,000,000 so far it is going to be a real struggle.
The audience I watched this movie with was very young and although they laughed a couple of times I was not aware of the usual reactions I see at Pixar screenings - tears, gasps, concerned questions to parents.
Making an animated movie about dinosaurs would appear to be a licence to print money- specially if it has a lamp logo in the opening credits.
This is Pixar suffering from the bar that they themselves set so high.
"The Good Dinosaur" is decent, unchallenging fun but it is destined to be forgotten minutes after the end credits roll.
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