Much like its young protagonist at the beginning, this movie is a cute little thing which suffers by comparison with more talented siblings. There is nothing terribly wrong with The Good Dinosaur, a solid coming-of-age story with beautiful visuals... only, it falls short next to Pixar's masterpieces like Toy Story, Up, Finding Nemo, Wall-E, Monsters, Inc.
The premise is inventive and compelling in a Pixar-ish way, an alternate history where 65 million years ago the fateful meteorite missed Earth and dinosaurs evolved as the dominant species. The Good Dinosaur follows young, fearful Apatosaurus Arlo (Raymond Ochoa), lost in the wilderness, as he makes a dangerous jorney home while bonding with a feral human kid he names "Spot".
What separates great Pixar movies from good ones is a main premise milked to its full potential, with a story deeply connected to the main theme. For example, in Toy Story the characters being toys isn't incidental, it's the crucial element of their adventures, dangers and fate (such as Andy growing up and abandoning them); Wall-E's narrative power hinges on the little robot being the last inhabitant of a devastated Earth; the main conflicts of Inside Out can only take place in a teenager's mind.
Like Brave, The Good Dinosaur's plot has a more generic connection to its thematic backbone (in the latter's case, growing up and overcoming fears). This could easily have been a western with Arlo as a young human teen and Spot as his dog - in fact, the movie heavily homages westerns in tone and feel, and also with characters such as Sam Elliott's Tyrannosaurus cowboy.
Compare this to Ratatouille, not even one of my favorite Pixar films but with true brilliance in the *specificity* of its premise: a story of talent and dreams versus conventions which could not have been, indifferently, about a cat who wants to play the piano or a monkey who wants to paint - it NEEDS to be about a RAT who wants to COOK. The main scenario is not interchangeable: if you swap it, Ratatouille just doesn't work.
Still, The Good Dinosaur is a lovely little adventure - not groundbreaking but pleasant, a safe entry among classics.
7/10
The premise is inventive and compelling in a Pixar-ish way, an alternate history where 65 million years ago the fateful meteorite missed Earth and dinosaurs evolved as the dominant species. The Good Dinosaur follows young, fearful Apatosaurus Arlo (Raymond Ochoa), lost in the wilderness, as he makes a dangerous jorney home while bonding with a feral human kid he names "Spot".
What separates great Pixar movies from good ones is a main premise milked to its full potential, with a story deeply connected to the main theme. For example, in Toy Story the characters being toys isn't incidental, it's the crucial element of their adventures, dangers and fate (such as Andy growing up and abandoning them); Wall-E's narrative power hinges on the little robot being the last inhabitant of a devastated Earth; the main conflicts of Inside Out can only take place in a teenager's mind.
Like Brave, The Good Dinosaur's plot has a more generic connection to its thematic backbone (in the latter's case, growing up and overcoming fears). This could easily have been a western with Arlo as a young human teen and Spot as his dog - in fact, the movie heavily homages westerns in tone and feel, and also with characters such as Sam Elliott's Tyrannosaurus cowboy.
Compare this to Ratatouille, not even one of my favorite Pixar films but with true brilliance in the *specificity* of its premise: a story of talent and dreams versus conventions which could not have been, indifferently, about a cat who wants to play the piano or a monkey who wants to paint - it NEEDS to be about a RAT who wants to COOK. The main scenario is not interchangeable: if you swap it, Ratatouille just doesn't work.
Still, The Good Dinosaur is a lovely little adventure - not groundbreaking but pleasant, a safe entry among classics.
7/10