DAC 39: Dinosaur

Dinosaur - 7.0/10

I remember when the extended trailer (really just the opening scene) for this film played in theaters. It looked amazing, and everyone was excited to see it. The animation was stellar, and seamlessly superimposed onto real world locations and backgrounds. Funnily enough, I didn't even realize it was a Disney film at the time, and didn't find out until years later. When I went to see it, it was just like the trailer, and it looked like we were going to be seeing something truly amazing and unique. Then the monkey started talking, and I knew it was going to be the same as everything else.

It really is the same old thing, too. I've seen this same story with the same character archetypes a thousand times, and they don't really do anything different with it here. I was so disappointed, because at the beginning all the animals were behaving as animals would, and it seemed like we were going to see a truly natural story and experience. It would have been really special. But once the dialogue kicked in, they all started exhibiting more human-like behavior and any chance of this film standing out died. And even as I was bemoaning the use of a standard formula to tell the story, I started noticing that I had seen this particular take on it before, too. Only that time it was called The Land Before Time. So this one uses adults instead of kids. Still the same basic premise.

One thing I did like was the portrayal of the different characters' motivations. The primary antagonist to our "hero" is the herd leader Kron, who states plainly that anyone who cannot keep up will be left behind. This is to prevent them from slowing the others down and also to delay any predators following them. It is presented as a cold and horrible philosophy, but they funny thing is that's how real herds work. If you slow down to let the old folks keep up, everyone's going to die before you get across the desert. If you wait for someone who's injured, the predators following you will catch up and you'll all be in danger. So while the main character's new approach is presented in the better light and he does eventually get everyone safely to the Great Valley...er, the "Nesting Ground", the antagonist was just trying to look out for the herd as a whole like a real animal would. He is not a villain and I don't think he was portrayed as such. I admire the film for this, at least.

And you know, it really was gorgeous to look at.