JOIN USThe Good Dinosaur
English (U) ***
Director: Peter Sohn
Voices of: Raymond Ochoa, Jack Bright, others
What if the asteroid that ought to cause extinction of dinosaurs didn’t? Instead the dinosaurs survived and shared space with humans. Pixar’s 16th film is a weak effort as a story, but dazzles the audience with stunning animation.
It tells the tale of Henry and Ida, an Apatosaurus couple that are farmers with three offspring, Libby, Buck and Arlo (Ochoa). Arlo is timid and cannot make his (mud) print at farming. On finding that a feral human kid (Bright) steals their corn, Henry wants Arlo to kill the human. When Arlo fails to do so, Henry forces Arlo to join him in tracking the kid.
Circumstances force Arlo to befriend the human whom he names Spot. What follows are Arlo and Spot’s adventures as they acquaint with Tryannosauruses and fight Pterodactyls. In the process, Arlo lets go of his timidity and comes of age.
What exactly was Pixar’s plan? Make a flick similar to How To Train Your Dragon by substituting a dino for a dragon. The Good Dinosaur is predictable and for a change, shows T-rex in good light. It is strange that as long as Pixar’s films were set in the present (Toy Story, Cars, Up) or the future (Wall-E, The Incredibles), they were ground-breakers. No luck with the past though (Brave and The Good Dinosaur). Let’s just hope this jinx fades away.