Movie Review: “The Good Dinosaur” Finds Pixar Stomping Its Way To The Top Echelon Of Contemporary Animation…Again

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An epic journey into the world of dinosaurs where an Apatosaurus named Arlo makes an unlikely human friend.

Pixar rightfully takes pride in its consistently stellar output of computer-generated wizardry. While I’ll always be a proponent of good ol’ hand-drawn animation (no pixel can ever convey the warmth of a paintbrush), I have to admit that the studio’s attention to detail, undeniably gorgeous visuals and inventive plots make it tower above the current competition. Even Pixar’s lesser efforts, like “Cars 2” and “Monsters University” (both of which caught a case of “sequelitis”), wipe the floor with the likes of DreamWorks’ lackluster “Home” or Sony Pictures Animation’s assault on the senses, “Hotel Transylvania” (partial blame for the latter falls on “auteur extraordinaire”, Adam Sandler).

This year’s “Inside Out” blew me away – arguably the deepest, most complex and heartfelt of Pixar’s offerings. “The Good Dinosaur” marks the studio’s second release in one year – a first! – and while it doesn’t quite scale “Inside Out”’s dizzying heights, it’s a sublime, suspenseful and unusual take on the Mesozoic era, filled with existential messages, told in sensational, photorealistic detail. In other words, it’s a typical Pixar film.

“The Good Dinosaur” starts with a bang – not the Big One, mind you, just a few million years later – by putting a different spin on evolution: dinosaurs look up at the asteroid – the one that was supposed to hit Earth and destroy most life – as it misses by an inch and soars by harmlessly. Cut to a few million years later (modesty of scale has never been Pixar’s forte): dinosaurs now talk and study agriculture. Poppa (Jeffrey Wright) and Momma (Frances McDormand) give birth to three children. As the siblings grow, it becomes clear that flimsy Arlo (Raymond Ochoa) is way to sensitive and cowardly to survive in this harsh Cretaceous world.

Poppa grows especially concerned when Arlo fails to kill a human “critter,” later nicknamed Spot (Jack Bright), who keeps stealing their food. So Poppa takes his son on an epic journey, to get Arlo ready for life’s Big Obstacles. And boy, does Arlo learn his lesson the hard way, as things take a drastic turn for the worse, in a scene that evokes “Bambi”’s brutal lack of sugarcoating in its portrayal of death. When Arlo later attempts to avenge his father’s demise, he literally gets swept up, hopelessly lost, and consequently has to find his way back home, encountering a variety of extraordinary creatures on the way, and forming a bond with Spot. In essence, “The Good Dinosaur” becomes a survival tale, with nods to “127 Hours” aplenty (I’m only half-kidding).

As “Wall-E” demonstrated in its first half, Pixar is best at creating silent sequences, where actions speak significantly louder than any carefully-scribbled word: behold the numerous, wondrous scenes of Arlo fighting nature – and himself – or the laugh-out-loud comedic set pieces. “The Good Dinosaur”’s parallel universe – where the Apatosauruses speak and grow crops, while human children resemble wolf cubs – works marvelously. Magical moments, that left the theater in awed silence, include a night walk with prehistoric fireflies; a different spin on “Wack-A-Mole” (Blow-A-Mole? no, that sounds wrong); a hallucinatory trip-out sequence; and – by far the film’s highlight – the dry and bonkers Styracosaurus, Forrest Woodbush (the voice of Peter Sohn, also the film’s director) and his entourage of critters, whose appearance I won’t spoil any further, in fear of ruining… well, the entire, brilliant – albeit way too short – sequence. Forrest deserves his own spin-off. “The Loopy Dinosaur,” anyone?

Other quirky characters include a gang of playful T-Rexes, led by the gruff-voiced Butch (Sam Elliott); the vicious pterodactyls, whose leader, Thunderclap (Steve Zahn), has “seen the eye of the storm,” which rendered him “wild and fearless”; a herd of buffaloes, and a group of hillbilly dinos.

“The Good Dinosaur” does flirt with the sentimentality “Inside Out” so successfully avoided. While the emotion-driven drama managed to convey a wide spectrum of said emotions without resorting to preaching, Pixar’s latest can’t help but venture into “Obvious Land” here and there. “Someday you’ll all make your mark,” Poppa promises, as he forms a footprint against the wall of a shack, “and I can’t wait to see it.” He also repeatedly assures Arlo, “You’re me, and more.” The film’s final message, while laudable, is piled on a bit too thick, as are its themes of achieving goals, overcoming adversities, and abundant lessons about facing your fear (“Sometimes you gotta get through your fear to see the beauty on the other side,” Poppa says).

It’s a familiar story, but a familiar story told well, and the juxtaposition of such genre tropes and state-of-the-art animation weirdly works in the film’s favor. The fact that it doesn’t resort to cheap pop-cultural references, product placement gags and hit songs gives it a timeless quality. Most importantly, we believe the central friendship, care for the unlikely heroes, and understand the importance of letting go at the end.

Overall, while not quite a gargantuan achievement, “The Good Dinosaur” has the feel of classic fairy tales and delivers where it’s most important. The comic timing is spot-on throughout, the colors are gorgeous, and the film’s swirls of rain, dust, clouds, tornadoes and floods represent the turmoil of adolescence perfectly. Pixar nails it again – let’s hope we don’t have to live through several more “Ice Ages” before the studio’s next release.

In theaters November 25th