The Good Dinosaur

From the beginning, I wasn't expecting another "Inside Out" with "The Good Dinosaur". Due to the production issues and trailers, I was expecting cute instead of sophistication. I got just that but that is not to say that the movie isn't good. On the contrary, the mediocre plot of "The Good Dinosaur" benefits from the film's design and the creative filmmakers behind the movie to the point that the whole film is actually special. Every once in a while, Pixar will come out with a movie that isn't typical of what they have done in the past such as "The Incredibles" or "Brave". They may have done buddy pictures before but the setting and design of "The Good Dinosaur" make it unique and worth seeing.

I always hope for a Pixar film that contains a great story with great characters that pushes technology forward. The film's design is its central feature because of how beautiful it is. Sometimes the visual elements of a movie can outshine the more important aspect of the film, which is the story. I grew up with Don Bluth's "The Land Before Time" and so there was a real danger of "The Good Dinosaur" not being original enough of a story for me. Also, this particular plot might have failed in the hands of others but Pixar is great at taking what would normally be considered cliché and twisting it enough to make it original. As mentioned, the design of the show did help the story instead of overshadow it. The filmmakers visited Jacksonville, Wyoming, a cattle ranch in Oregon and the state of Montana for research and it shows. When I travelled through Jacksonville back in 2002, I didn't imagine that around 15 years later I would see an animated film based on that location. I was under the impression that Pixar had already perfected the creation of clouds in the computer with "Up" but in "The Good Dinosaur", we have 3D clouds for the first time in one of their movies. The animation of the characters is also something that stands out. I love how the T-rexes move like cowboys riding across the plain. The other Pixar films that take place far from the present day are "WALL-E" and "Brave". "The Good Dinosaur" gives us a setting that is even more novel for Pixar than medieval Scotland, which is a world where dinosaurs and humans co-exist. After millions of years since the near miss with the asteroid, it is plausible that dinosaurs would evolve. The herbivores become farmers and some carnivores become cowboys. This makes a lot of sense to me and I can relate to both groups because I grew up on a ranch with crops and cattle. Rather than forage or hunt for food, some dinosaurs have learned easier ways to obtain their necessities insomuch that they are no longer wild. The T-rexes for example don't have to eat Arlo or Spot (even though they still could) because they have a renewable food source in the form of their herd. The dinosaurs are also not anatomically accurate but they aren’t meant to be. This is evident because the dinosaurs in the prologue look more scientifically precise. This film does take place millions of years after the near-extinction of the dinosaurs so if they could evolve into farmers, thieves and cowboys then it is equally plausible that they evolved physically as well. This creates originality. Over the course of 700 years, the humans in "WALL-E" underwent physical changes too. Even though the plot of "The Good Dinosaur" is not the best that Pixar has created, it does follow the Hero's Journey story pattern as first defined by Joseph Campbell. This story pattern is ancient and has been used to tell the stories in many popular film sagas. Arlo is the hero in this case and we sympathize with him early on. He is challenged a lot during his adventure and we like how hard he tries. Arlo may miss his family but what drives him most is the fact that they need him. The members of his family are also relatable. This is why the opening of a film is so important. If the audience can connect to the characters and more especially to the protagonist then the film has a much better chance of success. The filmmakers did something bold during the opening of the film, which I will not spoil, but this daring plot point however is part of The Hero's Journey. Then comes another important plot point where Arlo and Spot become lost. This happens a little too sudden for my taste in that there wasn't very much time for us as the audience to process the aforementioned tragic plot point. From the perspective of Arlo and the other characters, some time had passed since the tragedy happened but the audience also needs some time to accept the new set of circumstances. I am grateful for all the heartfelt moments such as Arlo and Spot communicating with sticks about their families. Spot, we come to learn by this scene, has experienced loss and he thus has something in common with Arlo. We then feel empathy for both characters. The rotten berry scene reminds me of the Pink Elephant sequence in "Dumbo" and the standard Pixar "wow moment" comes during the climatic mudslide/flood. The ending of the film contains a moment that may not be what audiences were expecting concerning Spot's fate but the plot was constructed very well for this kind of resolution. What the ending of the film really needed however was an epilogue. Can you imagine if "Toy Story" ended in Andy's van after Woody and Buzz are found? What about if "Finding Nemo" ended with Marlin joking about Sandy Plankton?

As with a few other Pixar films, "The Good Dinosaur" was having problems during its production. Some other companies might push onward despite the lack of quality but Pixar has a reputation and will stop production in order to fix the issues. The original director of "The Good Dinosaur", Bob Peterson, came to prominence at Pixar by way of his work on "Monsters, Inc.". Peterson just could not come up with an ending for this new movie and in order to save the film, Peter Sohn was tasked with finding this elusive ending. After Peterson departed the project, other Pixar directors beside Sohn helped with the film such as John Lasseter, Lee Unkrich and Mark Andrews until a year had passed when Sohn was announced as the new director. He started out at Pixar as a story artist but I first took note of him as the voice of Emile in "Ratatouille". He was also the inspiration for Russell in "Up", the director of the short film "Party Cloudy" and was the voice of Squishy in "Monsters University" among many other contributions. Sohn lends his voice in this film as Forrest Woodbush and gives a performance that is very different from past vocal performances he has done. One change that was made to the film under Sohn's direction was the type of story conflict. There are four major conflicts in literature: man vs. man, man vs. himself, man vs. society and man vs. nature. In the case of "The Good Dinosaur", the conflict went from dinosaur vs. dinosaur to dinosaur vs. nature and I like the final result. Pixar has changed the directors of their movies during production before but there were also major changes to the cast this time. Jeffrey Wright from "The Hunger Games" franchise did really well as Henry but the best performance in the movie goes to Sam Elliott as Butch. It was very genuine. John Ratzenberger has his usual Pixar cameo as one of the velociraptors but I didn't know that until after the movie. I also didn't recognize the voices of Steve Zahn or Oscar-winning actress Anna Paquin. Meg LeFauve, the screenwriter, was previously a co-writer on "Inside Out" so we may see more of her work in future films. We have two brothers acting as musical composers for this movie and one of them, Mychael Danna, won an Oscar for his score on "Life of Pi". You might think that the usual cameo of the Pizza Planet delivery truck might not happen this time around but you would be wrong. It can be seen floating in the asteroid field in the first shot of the show.

This is the first time two Pixar films have been released in the same year. It makes up somewhat for the "drought" of 2014 when no Pixar film came out. "Inside Out" is quite a bit better due to its themes and creativity but "The Good Dinosaur" is nothing to sniff at. The filmmakers at Pixar love their buddy pics but I am glad they created some originality for this one. This was accomplished by way of the design and setting for the story. The one word that describes this movie is "cute" but that doesn't appeal to me as much as sophisticate. Maybe the filmmakers themselves might secretly have a few tiny regrets but this will most likely motivate them to do even better the next time. Despite all this, "The Good Dinosaur" will appeal to many other moviegoers.

4 Stars out of 5