The Good Dinosaur Movie Review

Hello, fellow moviegoers!
   A lot of people imagine Pixar as this well-oiled machine that can crank out feats of cinema one after the other. For the most part, these people would be right. For the longest time, Pixar was releasing films at an astonishing rate of one per year. This may sound like a small number but take into account that these films take four, five, and sometimes even six years to make, e.g., this year’s Inside Out, which started pre-production back in 2009, and 2008’s Wall-E, which was written in 2002.
   But with audiences getting used to this one film per year schedule, people were confused by the notable absence of a Pixar film in 2014. What a lot of people fail to realize, is that this film, The Good Dinosaur, was originally scheduled for a May 30th, 2014 release. While we still do not know what exactly happened that caused its year-and-a-half delay, we do know that many Pixar employees lost their jobs over it and they ended up re-recording all of the voice work for the film with completely new actors. So, with this huge mess of a production, how did the actual film turn out? Here’s what I thought…

   Pixar has done it again! They’ve managed to make this film another standout film of the year with real heart. I absolutely loved The Good Dinosaur! This is Pixar’s 16th motion picture, and it definitely meets and exceeds all expectations.
   The general plot is nothing new. Arlo, a young dinosaur, is the runt of the litter. He tries his hardest to impress his family and make his mark, but his cowardice always seems to get in the way. When he gets lost in a big storm he befriends an unlikely ally, a human child named Spot. Together these two work their way through the wilderness to reunite little Arlo with his family.
   While the plot may be very simple, it does manage to pull on your heartstrings. You laugh with these characters, you cry with them, and you’re scared for their safety. Surprisingly enough, this dinosaur is very easy to relate to. The physical and emotional journeys he goes on during this film are ones that we all go through in our own ways. That is what Pixar excels at with this movie. They make this movie about dinosaurs a very human story.
   Visually, I believe this is Pixar’s best movie yet. There were scenes throughout it when I honestly could not tell if they went out and filmed a landscape or if it was just really, really good animation. Since this is an animated feature, it’s safe to assume the latter.
  The environment throughout the entirety of the film was breathtaking. (Although, there is one sequence involving some strange berries, that is visually and mentally baffling.) The first really noticeable time is with the water. From my knowledge, water is one of the most difficult things to animate realistically due to its fluidity, but Pixar pulled it off amazingly! 
   The plot can get a bit predictable at times. The final shot of the film can be assumed after the fifth minute. Also, some of the best scenes involving other dinosaurs don’t hit the mark as much as they should, because we already saw them in all of the marketing.
   I would have liked to have seen more of some of the characters as well. Some of these extremely entertaining dinos are only in the film for five to ten minutes max. Which was very disappointing because they were such a joy to see on screen.
   The Good Dinosaur is a fantastic film. It’s visually stunning, it pulls on your heartstrings, and it pulls out that basic human emotion that we all have inside. The plot is predictable at times, and there are some scenes that really stick out in a bad way. It’s no Inside Out, but I can say that I adored The Good Dinosaur.
8.5/10

  So what do you think of The Good Dinosaur? Did you enjoy it more or less than Inside Out? Let me know by commenting on this post! Also, if you enjoyed this review, share it on Facebook and Twitter! It really helps. Don’t forget, my review for Creed will be posting tomorrow so check back then for that!
 
Thanks for stopping by!