"We must stand together..."

DINOSAUR (PG)

Reviewed May 23, 2000 - Check out the Dinosaur Website.

Studio Synopsis: The journey of a three-ton Iguanodon named Aladar, who is raised from the egg by a clan of lemurs and eventually reunited with his own kind. With flaming meteors devastating the landscape and water in diminishing supply, the dinosaurs find themselves in a race against time to reach the safety of their nesting grounds. When Aladar comes to the aid of a group of misfits unable to keep up with the breakneck pace of the herd, he makes an enemy of Kron, the stone-hearted leader of the group. Faced with such perils as treacherous rock slides and attacking Carnotaurs, Aladar and his new friends must overcome tremendous obstacles before they can settle into a new life in a beautiful valley.

Fuzzydog Review: There's one thing about Dinosaur that you absolutely can't fault it for, and that is the amazingly realistic photoanimation work from Disney's studios.  From the color and texture of the landscape, to the realistic movement of each and every character, Dinosaur offers an animation experience that is more than astounding.  In fact, the film's first five minutes, which silently tells the story of an Iguanadon egg that gets separated from its home, is a real sight to behold.

And then, just when you feel primed for a truly unique animation experience, something terrible happens...all the characters start talking.  Uggh.  Okay, so talking in itself isn't so bad, but with the universally uninspired voiceover work contributed by all involved (including D.B. Sweeney, Julianna Margulies, Alfre Woodard, Ossie Davis, Della Reese, and Joan Plowright) and the generally weak dialog presented throughout, one does wonder: "Why didn't Disney just let the animation speak for itself?"  It would, I think, have been an improvement.  Unfortunately, as it stands what we have in this film is a work of great animation hindered by weak characters trapped in an extremely gloomy story.  Parents take note: as Disney animated films go, this movie is dark (i.e., maybe not that great for some of the kids), and there's very little in the way of comic relief to break the often bleak mood.  Despite the wonderful animation work then, I'm afraid to say that Dinosaur is not a "must see" within the Disney library...can't win 'em all, I guess... :)

Responses from cyberspace--thanks for writing!

4escott@episcopalhighschool.org gives this movie  stars: "I realy loved this movie. While it was a bit unrealistic in some things like the lumurs it was still a very entertaining movie. My younger sister was very afraid of the carnotaurs but by brother wasn't. The music added to the wonder of the movie. It is amazing. The effects were also incredible. It blew my mind how real looking everthing was. " (11/14/00)

Randy says: "I haven't seen it but my sister took my 3 year old niece to see it. She didn't last the whole thing and got scared at the T-Rex part, but she enjoyed it so maybe it's not all that dark." (6/17/00)

webmaster@thepaf.org gives this movie  stars: "My wife liked it but I thought it was just OK." (6/14/00)