The Good Dinosaur Review

Two Pixar movies in one year?!?! Yes, indeed. Along with Inside Out (which I loved by the way) comes Pixar's second 2015 film, The Good Dinosaur. Because we didn't see a Pixar movie last year, we expected there to be two awesome movies in return. Inside Out made a home run, but did The Good Dinosaur strike out?



The story goes like this: In an evolutionary theory, dinosaurs were wiped out of existence by a meteorite. In this story, the meteorite never hit earth. Because of this, dinosaurs are now in the same time zone as humans. One dinosaur, named Arlo lives on a lovely farm with his parents and two siblings. Although Arlo is the weakest of the bunch, he tries very hard to earn his "mark." When his father gives him the job of catching and killing a creature that continues to steal their corn, Arlo fail. When Arlo sees the creature again, he chases it down the river and falls in, loosing sight of his farm. He wakes up on the other side of the mountains and must find his way back before winter comes. But will he make an unlikely friend along the way?

I know, reading that description, it sounds very...cliched. You have the weak character that tries to prove himself, the unwanted pest, the main character being separated from his family, and the long journey home type deal. But, in some way, they make in very interesting, and change it up a bit along the way. Also, this is made a bit more for a child audience. Pixar movies such as Inside Out, Toy Story, the Incredibles, and etc, deal with more adult problems and explain them in ways that children can understand. In the Good Dinosaur, is is sorta the opposite. So, am I saying this is only for the kids to watch? Not at all. There are many aspects of this film that older people can enjoy. For example, the animation. It has some of the best background animation...ever! It's so realistic. There were times were you could have easily fooled me into thinking it was real. That plus the cartoony character design echoed the theme of a small dinosaur in a big scary world. Was it as good as the previously mentioned Pixar films? Hmmm, no. But it definitely was a welcomed addition to the Pixar library.

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Story- 7/10

A bit cliched in some areas, and it could have tailored to more of an adult audience. But it had enough unique aspects to it to make it enjoyable.

Main Characters- 8/10

The characters of Arlo and Spot worked very well together and are both likable in their own ways.

Side Characters- 8/10

Arlo's family, while not a huge part of the story, can be very interesting. On the other hand, there is a T-Rex family I enjoyed quite a lot.

Villain- 6/10 

The villains were a bit absent. Not that there weren't any; there were mean dinosaurs. There just were not that interesting.

Effects/Animation- 9/10

Very nice animation, especially the backgrounds. The only things is some people might not think the character animation blends well with the backgrounds.

Songs/Score- 9/10

I really loved the score. It had a great western feel with some tribal flute that made for a great comparison to the animation.

Entertainment Factor- 9/10

I was entertained mostly throughout the entire thing. There were just a couple of slow spots though.

Total Score-  80%
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