Dinosaur

My Take: Terrific special effects make this film worth a million bucks.

Through their discovery of the magic of CGI, Disney has brought their own expensive big-budget CG spectacle called DINOSAUR in 2000. Although CGI has already brought to life dinosaurs before in JURASSIC PARK and its sequel THE LOST WORLD: JURASSIC PARK, sometimes DINOSAUR has certainly improved from which it started from. The special effects in DINOSAUR are truly spectacular. What's fantasy and what's reality is now indistinguishable.

In terms of plot and story, however, DINOSAUR is still not well developed. The story is nothing new and for Disney, that's quite a disappointment. Disney, a master in both animation and storytelling, is now lacking in a new story to show. Still, nonetheless, DINOSAUR is still a wonderfully good-looking fantasy that appeals to kids and adults.

The story is nothing original, as Disney simply owes from other animated movies, some of which is their own. The plot that dinosaurs, after a meteorite strike, creates a large famine leading to a search for a valley of fertility is recycled from both a segment in Disney's FANTASIA called "The Rite of Spring", as well as Don Bluth's animated THE LAND BEFORE TIME. The lead character, an Iguanadon named Aladar, is separated from his mother, who is supposedly dead, is like the character of BAMBI in Disney's own animated film of the same title. The rest of the characters aren't new with any zing.

Still, the film is an enjoyable showcase of fine special effects and excitement. It's still good as visual entertainment. A lot more fun to look at rather than to think about. I liked just looking at the very colorful effects, showing us numerous sights of dinosaurs of all shapes and sizes. The opening scenes were the most colorful, where we are taken to flight in the wings of a flying Pteranodon, switching from various scenery that is a breathtaking sight. There's a lot of imagination that went to the effects, and the heart is not forgotten.

Rating: **** out of 5.

When i heard that the original screenplay o this film planned no dialogue at all for the characters, i became even more disappointed at the end result. While a very good film Dinosaur certainly is, it could have been incredible. The visual effects alone are a sight to behold, never more so than in the opening sequence. This is probably the best stretch in the whole film for me; it's unsanitised by talking animals and genuinely feels like a prehistoric world (ignoring the multitude of historical inaccuracies like grass in the Mesozoic era, particular dinosaurs living side by side). Once the animals start to talk the film is bogged down by the shortcomings of the script, which is idealistic and morally exposition heavy, for the sake of the target audience. It also detracts from the illusion the film so effortlessly produces on the screen at the start; it all just becomes so standard an routine when it seemed to be so much more. With a weak script, the visuals no longer arrest like they did before and would have done had nobody talked. Without the amazing cgi, this could have almost been straight to video.

I say almost because despite the shortcomings Dinosaur is a good movie; it's at times thrilling, exhilarating, touching and surprisingly intense, for a movie with a such a routine story. Had it had a better script it could have been great. Had it had no dialogue at all it could have been a classic and perhaps one of Disney's finest. The era of risk taking and inventiveness for the company seems to be at an end, or at least under suppression. Damn you Eisner! They were onto something this time.

I mean, I don't understand why lots of people hated this movie. Sure, it isn't a masterpiece due to it's flaws that I will point out in a moment, but before I can get to those flaws, I would like to point out the redeeming qualities. I like the premise: An iguanadon named Aladar and his adopted family of monkeys walk to find a new home after their's was destroyed by a meteorite to find themselves in a conflict by joining the other dinosaurs led by Kron and Neera while being chased by Carnotaurs and velociraptors. It was very interesting, but Disney, being a master of storytelling, didn't bring anything new to the story and it's character development was lacking.

The characters, while undeveloped, are at least likable and the voice acting suited them really well. The script has some nice moments including the romance between Aladar and Neera which makes them a very cute couple to watch. The music from James Newton Howard is amazing and has been stuck to my head since I was a little child when I watched this a few more times. The strongest aspect goes to the computer animation. The prehistoric environments are amazing and are some of the best visuals I've ever seen in an animated film from my childhood.

Overall, Dinosaur may not be a masterpiece, but I still love it today and I think this would always be recommended to those who like computer animation and traditional animation.

I honestly don't see why people are so upset whit this movie. Yes, there is talking dinosaurs, but how are you supposed to understand them otherwise. Mute dinosaurs walking around wouldn't be interesting at all and remember, this is a kid's movie. And yes, the animation might not be as good as in Jurassic Park, but this is a fully animated movie, JP used a mix of animatronics and CGI inside an otherwise live action movie, and in a interview I saw, Spielberg (or if it was a special effects guy, I don't remember) said that they would use the animatronics when ever possible and only cover up rigs and refine movement with the computer 'cause the CGI models looked like crap in comparison the robots. And yes, the story has been used before, but so has the story in most films we're watching today, only in varying degree and in different mixes and it's not like Disney is known for their originality story wise. As good as everyone of their Classics are based or inspired by other works.

Personally I love this movie. The CGI is still good, and at times more realistic than many rushed animations we see today, the characters are fun to follow, unlike Land before Time were they were unbearable and made me hate the movie (even as a kid the first one was never my favorite) despite a similar story to Dinosaurs', which I by the way like, and the moral of it is a really good one.

This movie was shear pleasure to watch. The movie looks visually absolutely stunning and the animation is done nicely. It's true eye-candy and entertaining as well.

The movie has a typical adventurous story and feeling and is at times spectacular as well. Especially the beginning is impressively spectacular. There are some nicely done action sequences that are at times tense as well. My only true complaint of the movie are the characters. There isn't really any character development in the movie and we never really get to know the character or care much about them, this is probably mainly due to the short running time of the movie. Also of course the story itself is somewhat predictable but that doesn't take away any of the fun or entertainment value of the movie.

Dinosaur fans will enjoy this movie as well, unless you're one of those persons who complains about the accuracy of the movie. This movie is entertainment, not a documentary.

The musical score by James Newton Howard fits the movie like a glove and in my opinion he delivers one of his best and moving scores, in his career.

There is much hate for this movie but quite frankly I can't see why. If you simply take the movie for what it is, you'll have a good time watching it. It's beautiful, adventurous and at times truly spectacular.

8/10

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