The Good Dinosaur

Even a mediocre Pixar movie is better than half the crap coming out of Hollywood nowadays.

The 16^th feature film in Pixar’s ever-growing repertoire, The Good Dinosaur gives us a look into an Earth that was never hit by the asteroid that wiped out the dinosaurs. In fact, that big ol’ space rock flew right past us, doing nothing but distracting a few dinos from their evening meal. Flash forward millions of years later and dinosaurs are still kicking around doing farm work and learning what it means to be a family; you know, typical dinosaur stuff. The story centers around Arlo, a scaredy cat Apatosaurus who, after losing his father in a freak flood, has been separated from his family. With the help of a young feral boy named Spot, (who only speaks in grunts and howls btw) the two set off to find Arlo’s home and come to terms with their shared plight over losing family members.

Let it be known that this film is basically a retread of old Disney classics along with any other film that has the “I gotta get back to this one place because bad things are happening there” plot line. The Lion King, A Bug’s Life, James and the Giant Peach, Finding Nemo; these are just some of the films that The Good Dinosaur takes its cues from. That tidal wave that rips away Arlo’s father? Seems a bit like that damn stampede that ran over Mufasa. Hording all food reserves in order to survive the winter only to have someone eat/take away all your hard work, thus threatening the continuation of your very lives? A Bug’s Life all the way. I could delve deeper but I don’t want to risk stepping into spoiler territory with these comparisons; suffice to say, you get where I’m headed with this.

Borrowing elements of other films isn’t usually a bad thing, most movies do it, but when it happens in a Pixar film you can’t help but feel that it’s a bit of a lazy thing for them to do. I mean don’t get me wrong, this film is great and most definitely a Pixar-worthy story to tell, but as I watched, I couldn’t help but feel that Pixar took the easy way out with a lot of story beats and character moments. Being such a celebrated studio like Pixar, it’s kind of a double-edged sword when you come out with a new and original movie. We expect cleverness, not just in story ideas, but also in their execution. We expect to laugh and cry and feel all the different feels that we never knew existed, so when a Pixar film does one of these things and not the other, it kind of bums us out, and The Good Dinosaur is a perfect example of that.

There’s so much potential in a story like this one: the themes of fitting in, overcoming fear, finding friendship, discovering yourself, learning to deal with loss, are all present here, but none ever really take off or soar to the heights of previous Pixar films. The central idea behind The Good Dinosaur is that Arlo needs to grow as a character so that he can “earn” his mark within his family, and now with his father gone and winter fast approaching, he needs to step up his game tenfold to not only get back home, but be a worthy son to help his family when he does return. Spot, on the other hand, has no family or friends, has nothing but himself, his unlimited energy and his “street” smarts out in the dino infested wilderness, so when Arlo, his almost complete opposite in every regard, shows up in his life, it seems that he not only has a purpose, but his very own dinosaur friend.

Again, all of this sounds good on paper, but it’s the execution that is lacking. There are a couple standout scenes between Arlo and Spot that emotionally shows off what Pixar does best, but they’re few and far between and are surrounded by a lot of familiar filler that doesn’t amount to much other than to keep the story and our characters going in the direction of Arlo’s farm. The entire T-Rex segment, while pretty fun to watch, was a long and roundabout way of allowing Arlo to take one step further in his quest to become something better than he was. I get what these scenes were meant to do, but in the grand scheme of things it’s hard to say that all of them were necessary.

When the movie slows down to look into the relationship Arlo and Spot are building, however, it truly is a beautiful thing to watch unfold, so much so that when a pretty messed up decision on Arlo’s part towards the end of the film rears its head, things get really interesting. I wish said twist was focused on a bit more, maybe throw a wrench into Arlo and Spot’s dynamic, but it never really goes anywhere. Everything else pans out in a pretty predictable and familiar way, the lessons learned coming across as a little heavy handed and cliché, but still effectively getting their points across. Everything here is just fine as opposed to brilliant, and coming out on the heels of Inside Out (a personal Pixar favorite of mine), The Good Dinosaur left me wanting more.

From a technological standpoint, this film is unparalleled in the visual department. The sheer detail and photorealistic quality of the environments Arlo and Spot wander through are, simply put, breathtaking. These details are easy to not notice considering that each character is rendered with a more cartoony flair and are at the center of everyone’s attention, but if you do pay attention, you’ll see the painstaking detail Pixar went through to make these environments just as living and breathing as the characters themselves. On a side note, I saw this film in 3D and for once, I actually recommend this film be watched this way; the extra few dollars are definitely worth it.

The Good Dinosaur is a somewhat familiar tale that sprinkles just enough of its own ideas into the mix to make it a worthy addition to the Pixar lineup, but never does enough to set itself apart and make it a truly unforgettable and unique experience.