Official Synopsis
The Good Dinosaur asks the question: What if the asteroid that forever changed life on Earth missed the planet completely, and giant dinosaurs never became extinct? In this epic journey into the world of dinosaurs, an apatosaurus named Arlo makes an unlikely human friend. While traveling through a harsh and mysterious landscape, Arlo learns the power of confronting his fears and discovers what he is truly capable of.
Bring home this original story full of humor, heart, action and imagination, perfect for the whole family!
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Sometimes in the midst of a crisis something beautiful happens. Maybe it’s not the way you would expect or even want it to happen, but sometimes something good comes out of a mess. That is the case with The Good Dinosaur. A movie that had been in production ‘heck’ for years due to creative differences and slow movement, somehow finally makes its debut in November 2015 after passing up its original release date by nearly two years.
And you know what? It’s not showing a lot of scars from the struggle.
Act one of the movie finds our main dinosaur, Arlo (Raymond Ochoa), learning the ropes about life, the wilderness and how to keep up with his brothers, who are slowing leaving him in the dust in terms of growing up and making a name for themselves. Desperate not to be a disappointment to his Poppa (Jeffrey Wright) or his Momma (Frances McDormand), Arlo does what he can to prove he can leave his mark and be a huge help to his family. Sadly, his desire to lead and his father’s desire/frustration to not have him struggle (pushing him to hunt down an animal stealing the family’s crops) ends up being the end for his dad, but the beginning Arlo’s adventure.
The first act of this film is a bit more tragic than I expected from a Pixar film. Right from the get-go you have your main character struggling to survive, while trying to please his parents and ultimately ends up feeling responsible for the death of his father. All of these things combined make for a very dark beginning to what usually is a Pixar family film. While it isn’t as sad as the first 10 minutes of UP (Grave of the Fireflies is the only thing to rival that), it still leaves a dark mark that even the likes of Harry Potter would be struggling to understand. It’s a dark film, folks. The bright side to this dark side of the moon is that the acting and story are believable. You can see the real struggle this family of dinos is heading towards if they don’t grow and protect their crops. You can understand the growing process of a young person/dino fearful of an unknown world and trying to prove themselves, regardless of cost. All of this helps to balance out the wicked world that is established in the first act. Ultimately, it’s a strong start and really sets the world and tone for the rest of the film. Speaking of which…
The second act begins with Arlo tracking down the creature that he and his father were after before Arlo’s dad met his tragic end. Once found, Arlo follows the creature haphazardly into the wilderness, where Arlo becomes separated from his mother. The separation takes him deep into unknown territory and into an unusual friendship with a speechless loner named Spot. Together, the pair go on a wilderness adventure through act two that has them meet some dangerous birds, a trio of T-Rex herders and possibly a way back home for them both.
The second act, while adventurous for the most part, is the weakest of the bunch. You do get a series of different adventures for Arlo and Spot. Having them run into danger, uncertainty and humorous moments, especially with Butch (Sam Elliott) and his T-Rex kids, which is hilarious, but none of the events that should connect in the story do connect in the story. The chance encounters with everyone in act two is nothing more than short stints of separated stories that don’t necessarily belong together. Having no connection between events and wasting time with not developing a better relationship between Arlo and Spot makes act two just a jumbled mess. I wanted more than it gave, at least some solid organization and bridges between these small stories, but what I got was a decent western film, at least a b-movie western. I’m okay with it, but just disappointed a bit because it could have been so much more.
The third act of The Good Dinosaur is a good payoff. While the connection between Arlo and Spot isn’t the strongest, the long goodbye is nonetheless touching, endearing and a great reminder of what could have been had there been enough time. I won’t go into anymore details about what goes on in the third act, but I will say there is a great montage that ends act two and leads into act three that is simply breathtaking. Don’t miss it.
Overall, The Good Dinosaur has some issues, but director Peter Sohn does his best to pull his crew together and create the best possible story in the shortest amount of time. It certainly isn’t the best Pixar film, but it deserves some props for pulling itself together and creating a good story that shows some bandaids from its battle to exist.
As for the Blu-ray portion of the film, it’s gorgeous. The Good Dinosaur sets a new standard of animation for Pixar and those stunning visuals carry beautifully over to the HD transfer. It’s a perfect looking film that contains no imperfections whatsoever in the Blu-ray transfer. You will not be disappointed in this area of the Blu-ray release.
In terms of special features, here’s what you’re looking at for The Good Dinosaur:
– Theatrical Short (Sanjay’s Super Team)
– True Lies About Dinosaurs
– Recyclosaurus
– The Filmmakers’ Journey
– Every Part of the Dinosaur
– Following the T-Rex Trail
– Commentary
– Dino Bites
– Hide and Seek
– Deleted Scenes
For the most part, you get some solid features. The crown jewel of the bunch has to be a split between The Filmmakers’ Journey and Every Part of the Dinosaur. The Filmmakers’ Journey gives you a look behind the production of The Good Dinosaur, while giving just subtle hints about a team of animators that were quickly put together to get this film done. It does somewhat back up the rumors that there were some production issues, but the feature stays positive about everyone’s efforts to put together this gorgeous movie.
Every Part of the Dinosaur is a neat short about animating the dinosaurs and the adventure itself. It has a few interviews that show how expressions and movements of both Arlo and Spot were achieved. It’s always neat to see behind the scenes of a creative process, especially with animators at Pixar. Definitely something kids will enjoy.
Beyond those two, you get a taste of ranch life in Oregon with Following the T-Rex Trail, which probably helped shape Arlo’s adventure into the wild. You get some cute bits with Dino Bites and a very short short with Hide and Seek (featuring Arlo and Spot). To wrap it up, you get some deleted scenes and solid commentary.
The two top features on the list are short and sweet as well. True Lies About Dinosaurs talks about movies versus real life when it comes to dinos. It’s interesting, but incredibly short. Recyclosaurus is a feature dedicated to the competitive nature of Pixar folks and their desire to build the best dinosaurs out of recycled junk. The winner is pretty cool.
All in all, the special features are pretty darn solid in this release. I wish there were just a few more things, especially for the kids, but there is good stuff here.
Anyway, onto the summary!
