The Good Dinosaur Review

While I was still blown away by the Pixar animation and at times emotional story, The Good Dinosaur offers nothing new for long time Pixar viewers. And while there are the heart warming moments seen in most Pixar movies, The Good Dinosaur had the unfortunate pleasure of being the next Pixar release after their mega hit Inside Out, a far superior film in my opinion.

The film takes place in an alternate time where the meteor that took out the dinosaurs missed Earth and instead dinosaurs were allowed to evolve for million of years more. After many years of evolving, we meet Arlo, a young timid dinosaur who wants nothing more to make his father proud of him after his fears get his father killed by a flood. His anger and sadness makes him blame a cave boy for the accident and when chasing him, gets him separated from his families home. So Arlo and the cave boy, named Spot, work together to find a way back to Arlo's home.

The main problem with the film is that it borrows way to much from other film. One moment it's a buddy road trip, the next it feels like Land Before Time, The Lion King and many better movies that did what this movie is trying to do. I am not the only one who sees this problem as that is one of the biggest criticisms the movie is getting. But I wonder how much stems from Inside Out doing a fresh take on an already done idea in a masterful way. This film takes a safe route in giving us a message we all know in a predictable film. And that's something the populace does not want from Pixar, they want clever ideas and re-telling a message with that clever idea. It's the same criticism Cars got.

Would I say this is the worst Pixar movie? No, it has emotional moments and I did find myself liking the characters and I wouldn't say this is worse than the Cars franchise or Monsters University. A bad Pixar movie is not the worse movie of all time, its just a let down of expectations. If you have a kid that wants to go see it, I have no problem with that, but if you're looking for another original Pixar movie you might feel a little let down.

Grade: B-