The Good Dinosaur Review (2015)

Disclaimer:  I hated this movie but I tried to remain objective.  Also Spoilers, because, well, I hate this movie and I don’t care.

This is a review for the 16^th animated film produced by renowned animation studio, Pixar.  The Good Dinosaur is directed by Peter Sohn who up until now, at least as far as the internet tells, has only directed one thing in his entire career:  a short film for Pixar based on their film “Up.”  All other credits to his name are artistic credits, such as animator, story artist, and a few voice acting credits.  Whoever made the decision to give Mr. Sohn a chance at directing this movie must have hoped it would make its sale goals merely riding on Pixar’s name and credibility.  The Good Dinosaur is a poorly executed film in most regards, story, art direction, character development and thematic content.  This movie fails in the most basic rule of any animated works of art:  suspension of disbelief.  The events in the movie have no flow to them, we jump from an action sequence to a silly montage that’s suppose to make the audience laugh, to an emotional scene that is meant to have the audience in tears.  At least that’s my own opinion based on the audio and visual cues I witnessed; however, believe me when I say I was more confused than teary eyed.  The tone shifts and downright unlikeable main character make this one of the most forgettable experiences for adults this year.  Will this movie make you laugh? Yes, you will have many WTF moments which is a rare occurrence in any of Pixar’s films.  Anyone who can actually see why Pixar is Pixar will immediately notice the low quality and lack of attention to detail in this film.  I can only hope this is the exception rather than the rule when it comes to Pixar’s films in the near future.   The Good Dinosaur should have been a direct to DVD release so it could land in the $5 bin at Wal-Mart, lost and forgotten for the next 65 million years.

The story of TGD takes on the concept of what would have happened if the meteor that in our reality killed the dinosaurs, missed entirely.  We are now in the present time in a farm, run by dinosaurs.  Yes, you heard me right, obviously the dinosaurs talk for the sake of the story, but they also farm.  For some odd reason, instead of existing the way they did for the past 65 million years ago, they decide to settle down and start a farm?  It makes no sense.  Anyway.  The plot revolves around the new member of the family, Arlo, one of three baby dinos who are born at the beginning of the film.  Together with his family he must tend to the land and grow crops…for winter.  Arlo being the smallest of his siblings, struggles to find his place in the family.  He is not good at any of his chores and his impact on their survival is, well, nonexistent.  Arlo’s father, Henry believes in him, and assigns him to kill the “critter” who has been stealing the family’s food supply from a silo Henry built out of rocks.  Long story short, tragedy strikes, Henry dies while trying to find the “critter,” Arlo is left stranded and must bond with the critter to survive.  Arlo names the “critter,” who is a human child, “Spot,” and what follows is the most random series of events in any movie of recent memory.  Take into account “The Night Before,” a “Seth Rogen movie,” just came out which is very random and funny, and yet TGD takes the cake.  There is a scene with a cross-eyed triceratops, a drug induced hallucination montage when the characters eat rotten fruit from a tree, and some seriously psychotic pterodactyls.  At the end of the day we get a “Lion King”-esque vibe from an apparition by Arlo’s father, and a sort of story about forgiveness.  Arlo is eventually helped by a T-Rex trio who for some reason run like they’re on horses? Arlo helps them get their cattle back and they help him get home.  The end, thank god.

The art direction was all over the place in this film.  Yes it was beautiful, but this is like Pixar’s shiniest and most polished turd.  The characters don’t blend well with the photo-realistic backgrounds at all.  It’s actually kind of jarring, distracting the viewer and making any sort of impactful scenes less dramatic than they should be.  There are also certain things that did not translate well from script to the visuals, here’s an example:  When the pterodactyls are introduced they appear to be nice and helpful.  When they finally save a little creature who looks all cute and cuddly, and eerily realistic, one of the pterodactyls eats it.  Just like that, you see everything, no cutaway, no nothing.  The tail of the poor little creature is sticking out of the mouth of the pterodactyl.  At that point the other pterodactyls attack him, pulling on the tail trying to get a piece of the now very dead animal we were just looking at a second ago.  It’s like if there was a movie made about Bugs Bunny or Yosemite Sam, where they actually shoot each other with realistic looking guns and kill each other.  The concept of cartoon violence and death does not translate well into a realistic-looking animated film.

There are many things wrong with TGD, the most disappointing one of all being the story.  “Story is king,” is what Pixar has said in the past.  This concept has made all their movies a commercial success.  Not only that but seven of their films have won the Academy Award for Best Animated Feature Film (Finding Nemo, The Incredibles, Ratatouille, WALL-E, Up, Toy Story 3, and Brave).Two films were nominated for the Academy Award for Best Picture, Toy Story 3, and Up.  With this kind of track record, a film like The Good Dinosaur appears to be the beginning of what I can only assume to be the beginning of a downwards slope for Pixar.  Inside Out, a film released by Pixar just a few months prior to TGD was so emotionally charged and charming it left me with high hopes that the studio was at the top of its game. To the layman, a movie goer with no knowledge of the details that make a movie good, will think TGD is a good movie because it looks good and it’s funny.  Someone with a little perspective will see through the beauty The Good Dinosaur and truly take a look at what’s inside.  One can only hope this is the exception and does not become the standard for future Pixar films.

I give this a: 4/10

Thanks for reading!

Reviewed by:  Edwin R.R.

Pixar in Concert – San Francisco Symphony, Review (July, 2014)

Pixar in Concert is a live performance of some of the best pieces of music from every single Pixar movie to date, accompanied by a giant projection of the movies themselves.  This was my first time watching the San Francisco Symphony and I was blown away by how beautiful the live versions of my favorite Pixar songs sounded.  The concert took place at the Louise M. Davies Symphony Hall, which is the official home of the San Francisco Symphony.  The symphony has a year round schedule with a large number of events and concerts throughout the year.  Pixar in Concert focused on the most iconic and recognizable music from the films as each piece lasted probably less than 10 minutes.  The projection on the large screen, which was above the orchestra, played a cleverly edited version of the film focusing on the best scenes of each movie to match the music played by the orchestra.  Sometimes the film may have jumped around a bit in order to maintain the tempo and emotion through the piece.  The director of Toy Story 3, Lee Unkrich was there to present the show, and explained how the idea of Pixar in Concert came about.  The show was full of nostalgia for me as I am a big fan of Pixar and just about everything they come up with.  Their characters and stories have at one point of another left a mark in my life.  The stories they choose to bring to the big screen are wonderful tales of what makes us human.  Love, loss, growing up, learning to let go and move on, finding what our place in the world is, and who we are.

The only thing that did not seem to work towards the idea Mr. Unkrich said Pixar had in mind when they came up with Pixar in Concert was the screen above the orchestra.  Mr. Unkrich said the idea behind the whole show was to give the audience a taste of what it was like to hear these pieces played for the first time live.  The screen which completely blocked out the orchestra seemed to defeat the purpose or playing the music live.  As a first timer at the SF Symphony, I felt like I was missing out on the true magic of what music brings to our hearts.  A good piece of music does not need to have a picture to go along with it in order to bring us to our knees.  That would be my only criticism about the concert.  If possible I would have liked for them to take away the screen and let me truly enjoy the music for what it is.  I do understand Pixar put a lot of work into their visuals given they make animated films, but it is also nice to appreciate every part separately as well whether it be the writing, the animation, the music, the voice acting, or the technological aspects that help bring it all together.

Overall the concert was well put together, as there was a lot of thought put into every aspect of it.  The visuals went perfectly to the music that drove the story home to our hearts.  I found myself not only remembering the films themselves and thinking about how good they are; but I also found myself remembering where in my life I was when I watched the films.  They were always relatable to me from the very beginning, and they always taught me something about me or somebody else.  Pixar has found a wonderful balance of mixing good stories with astounding visuals and moving musical content, and I hope they continue to strive for greatness in years to come.

9/10

Reviewed by Edwin R.R.

Thanks for reading!