Monday, November 23, 2015

Review: Disney/Pixar’s "The Good Dinosaur" Is Really Not That "Good" At All...


What do you get when you combine photo-real beautiful environments with an out-of-place silly-looking bright green cartoony bulgy-eyed Dinosaur (maybe done to differentiate from Jurassic Park dinosaurs to sell toys?); use familiar story themes from the "The Lion King", "Lilo & Stitch", DreamWork's "How To Train Your Dragon”, and then fill it with basically filler scenes?

The Good Dinosaur! 

The movie isn't bad, it's just barely O.K. It's hard to believe this came out of Pixar especially after their last movie "Inside Out." Sadly, this one ranks somewhere above Pixar's Cars 2 and Brave. The films primary characters, Arlo and Spot, are so generic that they could have come from any animated film from any other studio. I really did expect more from the people that made great movies like, "The Incredibles", "Toy Story", "Finding Nemo", "Ratatouille", and "Up"? Maybe they were all working on the next film "Finding Dory"?  Or maybe Pixar is losing its touch? I sure hope not. 

Overall, a mediocre story with good visual scenes that show off how computers can really make water look like water and leaves blowing in the wind look completely believable. Too bad they made the goofy looking dinosaurs that looks completely out of place. Seriously? What Director or Art Director thought that was a good idea?
My recommendation: wait for the rental or go see the charming "Peanuts" instead. This move isn’t worth spending money on at a theater. Unless you really want to get away from family this weekend or have nowhere else to go, or both. 

Hoping next year’s "Finding Dory" makes up for "The Good Dinosaur."