Grade: B
While it is not Pixar’s most groundbreaking film, “The Good Dinosaur” is still very enjoyable and doing just fine at the box office, as it opened at number two Thanksgiving holiday weekend.
Having opened Nov. 27, “The Good Dinosaur” tells the story of Arlo, voiced by Raymond Ochoa, a young and timid apatosaurus who wants to earn his mark on his family’s farm just as his parents Henry and Ida, voiced by Jeffrey Wright and Frances McDormand, and his siblings Buck and Libby, voiced by Marcus Scribner — Ryan Teeple voices a younger Buck — and Maleah Padilla, have done.
He ends up getting separated from his family after being swept away by a flood while searching for a young caveboy he names Spot, voiced by Jack Bright, who keeps stealing his family’s supply of corn. Arlo must learn to rely on Spot in order to find his way back home and finally earn his mark.
While Arlo is angry with Spot at first for causing him to be so far away from his family, he finds they have a great deal in common and teams up with him in order to ensure his survival.
Along the way, they encounter danger from carnivorous pterodactyls voiced by Steve Zahn, Mandy Feud and Steven Clay Hunter. They also face danger from velociraptor rustlers voiced by Dave Boat, Carrie Paff, Calum Mackenzie Grant and Pixar voice staple John Ratzenberger.
They also forge a bond with a family of tyrannosaurus rex ranchers named Butch, Ramsey, and Nash, voiced by Sam Elliot, Anna Paquin and A.J. Buckley.
The film is directed by Peter Sohn and produced by Denise Ream, with a screenplay by Meg LeFauve and music by brothers Mychael and Jeff Danna. The story is by Peter Sohn, Erik Benson, Meg LeFauve, Kelsey Mann and Bob Peterson with editing done by Stephen Schaffer.
While “The Good Dinosaur” is one of the most pleasing films Pixar films when it comes to its visual and musical aesthetics and is certainly a lot of fun to watch, not much of the plot is anything new. There are several moments that hearken back to Disney’s 1994 animated classic “The Lion King” and Blue Sky Studio’s “Ice Age.” However, the short film that comes before the movie, “Sanjay’s Super Team,” is an absolute delight to watch.
Even with all the familiar Disney tropes that we have come to know that are prevalent throughout “The Good Dinosaur,” that does not mean it is any less fun to watch. Seeing Arlo trying to communicate with Spot and learn to work with him so that they can get back to the farm safely provides a great deal of entertainment, and Arlo’s journey provides an important lesson for the many young children who watch this film — it is not about getting rid of your fear but about being able to push through that fear and do what needs to be done.
