Saw The Good Dinosaur, a forgotten Pixar film, apparently plagued with writing and casting problems and then finally released only to be completely overshadowed by the juggernaut that was Inside Out. This film was a decent, low-key, coming of age film set in a dinosaur-universe where the comet never hit and dinosaurs became a dominant form of life. The main dinosaur is this cowardly little brontosaurus (or something) who disappoints his family and seems to be good for nothing. He teams up with a dog-like human child to become something and to overcome his timidity.
The premise of the film is slightly troubling to me, a timid man whose alternative lifestyle definitely puts him in danger of disappointing some theoretical family (not mine however. My family is chill 🙂) The film lets him grow at his own pace however and is kinder than I was expecting. It's episodic, following the main dino-lad as he travels through (I guess) Colorado, meeting rancher T-Rexes and sinister hippy pterodactyls.
I was curious why this film was so ignored and the contemporary reviews I read singled out the setting as being particularly bewildering/unbelievable. They wondered how dinosaurs could talk or become farmers (as the main character's family are.) This strikes me as a really dumb thing to get hung up on. I feel like they took the opening fig-leaf about the comet missing in this universe as licence to go full Neil deGrasse Tyson on the concept. This isn't a documentary though, yeesh. Lighten up!
Anyway, the film is fairly sweet and touching. A bit too intense I think for kids, and maybe too slight for teenagers, but enjoyable as a pretty reassurance that you can take your own time. Maybe good for arrested development types?
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