Release Date:
Friday, May 19, 2000
The first 10 minutes of Dinosaur contain some of the most breathtaking, visually arresting, and utterly realistic animation ever seen on screen. Its an absolutely absorbing and frighteningly Discovery Channellike depiction of creatures we can only imagine roaming the earth. And then, like so many beautiful creatures, they open their mouths and the magic is gone.
This movie is a watershed for finally combining live on-location shooting and CGI animation in an effective way (no Jar-Jars here), but at the core its mediocre Disney fare. One question: If you are going to spend millions of dollars making sure your characters are completley realistic and convincing, why not have a story and characters to match? (We know Lion King, Mr. Disney, and this is no Lion King.) Dinosaur might as well have been The Land Before Time for all the good it makes of its technical achievements. Wed have preferred a nature video to a terribly earnest and sappy tale of banding together, helping the elderly, and making the world a better place. Do we need a Triceratops who dispenses earthy, down-home advice in the voice of Della Reese? (Actually, in terms of casting, thats pretty damn funny. The scaly, horned behemoth kinda resembled ol Della.) Or a wiry monkey whose only goal throughout the whole thing is to get laid? It all makes for an unsettling and disappointing effort. On the plus side, its mercifully short, so hard-core animation fans are encouraged to check this out on the big screen (the meteor shower sequence is especially impressive), and you can be thankful there are no goddamn Phil Collins songs. But once the monkeys start doling out dating tips, dont say we didnt warn you.
This movie is a watershed for finally combining live on-location shooting and CGI animation in an effective way (no Jar-Jars here), but at the core its mediocre Disney fare. One question: If you are going to spend millions of dollars making sure your characters are completley realistic and convincing, why not have a story and characters to match? (We know Lion King, Mr. Disney, and this is no Lion King.) Dinosaur might as well have been The Land Before Time for all the good it makes of its technical achievements. Wed have preferred a nature video to a terribly earnest and sappy tale of banding together, helping the elderly, and making the world a better place. Do we need a Triceratops who dispenses earthy, down-home advice in the voice of Della Reese? (Actually, in terms of casting, thats pretty damn funny. The scaly, horned behemoth kinda resembled ol Della.) Or a wiry monkey whose only goal throughout the whole thing is to get laid? It all makes for an unsettling and disappointing effort. On the plus side, its mercifully short, so hard-core animation fans are encouraged to check this out on the big screen (the meteor shower sequence is especially impressive), and you can be thankful there are no goddamn Phil Collins songs. But once the monkeys start doling out dating tips, dont say we didnt warn you.