Film Review #35: Dinosaur

Until 2000, kids only knew about dinosaurs through either The Land Before Time movies or if our parents let us watch Jurassic Park.  And while the Land Before Time movies taught us good morals and lessons, they most certainly never taught much about dinosaurs.  So when I saw the trailer for this on my old Tarzan VHS, I was eager and excited to see and learn about all the different kinds of dinosaurs.  Even better, when I went to Disney World during February break that year, I went on that amazing Dinosaur ride, based on them movie.  And although I wasn't able to see it in theaters, my mom rented the movie for me from Blockbuster and I was ready for the film of a lifetime.  The result...was kinda iffy.

Plot: Without a word of dialogue, the opening of the movie sets the scene of a world of Dinosaurs.  An egg is nearly eaten by many various kinds of dinosaurs and birds, until landing on an island infested with lemurs. 

The lemurs raise the baby dinosaur, who they name Aladar (DB Sweeney).  One night, a meteor shower destroys the island and most of the lemurs, forcing Aladar and his family to migrate to the main land.  But the main land is suffering through a drought.  They meet many new friends, including elderly dinosaurs and the typical mating age dinosaur for Aladar named Neera, her brutish brother Kron, and many of the other carnivorous dinosaurs, from raptors to the powerful carnotaur.  Aladar must rally the dinosaurs together to find the last green place on earth before they all go extinct.

What's Bad?: Haven't we seen this kind of movie before?  Ya know, the outcast who rallies the others of his kind to find salvation?  The Moses story?  Almost every movie from Gladiator to The Prince of Egypt tell this kind of story.  But, like Egypt, you should be able to put your own spin on it, and I don't mean just by changing the setting or species.  For example, while Egypt did have this kind of story, they realized the focus of the story had to be on the relationship between Moses and Ramses.  Unfortunately, this movie doesn't take a new or creative spin on things, and should be the poster movie of the post-Lion King and pre-Iger Disney. 

Aladar isn't interesting, and neither are any of the other characters. 

What's Good?: The animation, especially in the opening, is breathtaking.  The idea of putting animated designs on live action backgrounds isn't a very new idea, but is still done very well here.  The opening itself should have won an oscar, and should be held in esteem with the best openings in Disney history.

Overall: While I can't say that I was amazed by this movie, it isn't an absolute disaster.  It's just disappointing.  You can see it if it interests you, but keep your expectations on ground level.

Report Card:

Hero:                                 B-
Heroine:                            C
Villain:                              C-
Side Characters:              C
Songs:                               N/A
Musical Score:                 B
Animation:                       A
Special Effects:                A
Themes:                            B-
Story:                                B-

Final Grade:                     C+