The Good Dinosaur (2015)
Animation, Adventure, Comedy
Directed By: Peter Sohn
In a world where animated movies are becoming more and more mature in substance it is refreshing to see the studio whose known best for doing just that take a step back and deliver some purely fun family entertainment. That is exactly what their newest film The Good Dinosaur is, a good time at the movies that can be shared with anyone. After delivering one of their emotionally heaviest movies earlier this year with Inside Out they come back this time around with something a little more light hearted for the holidays. What this film lacks in story and depth is more than made up for in the visual masterpiece that Pixar has created. While maybe not the most memorable of the studio's films The Good Dinosaur takes us into the next stage of digital animation.
The movie suggests a world where the dinosaurs were not wiped out by a giant meteor and are in fact left in peace to keep on living for another few million years. We focus on a young apatosaurus named Arlo (Raymond Ochoa) who is trying to survive in this world despite being afraid of just about everything. When he is swept downriver after a tragedy strikes his family he teams up with an unlikely ally; a young human boy who has coincidentally been ravaging their crops. Now together the two of them must navigate their way back upriver to find Arlo's family before winter comes.
We as an audience have come to expect a certain level of intelligence and originality from Pixar films and although this is a fairly light movie for them it does what it needs to incredibly well. The world they have created makes sense, the differing species of dinosaur have different personalities that match them perfectly and the "social structure" put in place allows them to have fun with species all up and down the food chain. The main character Arlo and his human companion "Spot" are a delight to watch interact and will put a smile on just about anyones face.
When this studio first came on to the scene back in the mid 90's with Toy Story they took the world by storm because of their digital animation. What they were able to do with this new tool and what it did for the industry as a whole was massive and ever since they have been leading the charge in furthering this technology. The Good Dinosaur marks the beginning of the next era of what they started two decades ago. The digital animation done for this film is beyond compare and is at often times mistakable for reality and that is not an exaggeration. I found myself in awe throughout the film by how real they were able to make the landscapes look and feel. If it weren't for the animated animals and their exaggerated design it would have felt like more of a nature documentary than a children's movie.
While it may not live on as one of the great and memorable Pixar films I do believe it will be remembered fondly for the strides it made technologically. I almost decided to miss this one on the big screen and I could not be more happy I changed my mind. The Good Dinosaur is a visual masterpiece that deserves to be seen on as big of a screen as possible. It may not pull at the heart strings like many of their other films, but is that such a bad thing around the holidays? I don't think so, take the family to see something that will make them smile this weekend.
As always, thanks for reading and I am Zach Who Watches Movies. You can find me anytime on twitter @ZachWWMovies, smell ya later!
No comments:
Post a Comment