"No one knows what changes, big or small, lie ahead. One thing is certain; our journey's not over. We can only hope that in some small way our time here will be remembered." — Plio
Initial thoughts before viewing: I don't think I had ever seen this one. I was only sort of familiar with the premise of the movie because I had been on the Dinosaur dark ride at Disney's Animal Kingdom.
If you have never seen Dinosaur or need a refresher, here is a link to the movie's Disney Wiki page where you can read the plot summary.
Highlights:
-The asteroid sequence. This is the dramatic highlight of the movie. Here, the protagonist Aladar (an iguanodon dinosaur) saves his adopted lemur family from destruction. Full of captivating visuals and action, this sequence occurs about 20 minutes into the film. The movie never again matches this emotional highpoint.
Disliked:
-Aladar the iguanodon is the most boring, basic looking dinosaur. I've always hated the character design of Aladar. He's not at all appealing or interesting to look at. Of all the crazy cool dinosaur species Disney could have chosen to make their hero, they select an iguanodon? What the hell is an iguanodon?
-None of these dinosaur species (or lemurs!) actually lived together during the same time period. A Disney press kit revealed that the film "intentionally veers from scientific fact in certain aspects". In reality, the film cheated in multiple ways in regard to: how the "dinosaurs are depicted" and how they "are presented in an evolutionary context". This feels like a cop out.
The movie also ends on a very optimistic, hopeful note about the dinosaurs thriving ("our journey's not over"). Um...yes it is? Are we really telling kids that the dinosaurs were totally fine after the asteroid? Spoiler alert: Extinction.
-Why doesn't the Carnotaurus speak like all the other dinos? The Carnotaurus is the big baddie, but he's silent which makes me feel like he's not meant to be as intelligent as the other characters. He'd be far more menacing if he spoke and taunted the other dinos like a true villain. Making him silent actually grants him more sympathy from the audience - he's just a big dumb guy trying to eat!
-Visually, everything is just a brown/greyish mess. The characters all start to blend in with the backgrounds. Aside from a few nice technical background visuals at the beginning and the end, the overall color pallet of this movie is a muddy brown/grey which also reflects how insanely 'meh' this movie is.
Closing Thoughts:
Dinosaur is formulaic and dull (even the generic title, Dinosaur, lacks originality). If you want to see a far superior version of this same plot, please watch a childhood favorite of mine, the incomparable The Land Before Time (not a Disney film, btw).
Overall, Dinosaur is generally forgotten about amongst the Disney canon because there is nothing memorable about it. This movie lacks a good story, good characters, and good humor (there are 2 scenes where a baby dinosaur pees on a lemur, for goodness sakes).
Watch Dinosaur once to say that you have, then like the dinos trekking to the nesting grounds (AKA the Great Valley), never look back.
My Rating: 3.5/10
