The Good Dinosaur

THE GOOD DINOSAUR

Director : Peter Sohn

Year : 2015

Genre : Animation

Rating : ***

The second Pixar movie to be released this year after the frankly perfect 'Inside Out', Peter Sohn's long awaited 'The Good Dinosaur' bears all of the stylistic trademarks that we have come to expect from the illustrious animation studio but noticeably lacks the emotion or depth of its vastly superior predecessor. Set in an alternative past where the asteroid that destroyed the dinosaurs actually missed the Earth, 'The Good Dinosaur' tells the story of Arlo - a cute yet cowardly young apatosaurus who, after being separated from his family, must trek the vast fields and mountain ranges to return home. Along the way he encounters an array of weird and wonderful creatures including a family of farmer T-Rexes, a group of dangerous pterosaurs, an eccentric yet hilarious styracosaurus and a small caveboy named Spot who instantly takes a shine to our titular sauropod. 

As is expected with any Pixar movie, the CGI throughout 'The Good Dinosaur' is consistently stunning, with some of the most beautiful and strikingly convincing photo-realistic backgrounds I have ever seen in an animated picture. However, the overly cartoonish design of the many characters severely clashes with the hyper-realistic settings and this jarring becomes increasingly evident as the environments through which Arlo and Spot traverse become more and more diverse and detailed. The plot isn't particularly involving or groundbreaking either - telling a very typical getting-back-home story that has been told many times before in such movies as 'Homeward Bound', 'Rio' and the similarly themed dino adventure 'The Land Before Time'.

However despite its narrative and aesthetic faults, 'The Good Dinosaur' still manages to be a very charming and entertaining film and while it may not match the quality of Pixars finest work, there is plenty to keep both kids and adults fully occupied. Arlo is a very cute and funny focus, the side characters are all likable and memorable and the puppy-like Spot proves to be the most instantly lovable character since 'Big Hero 6's plushy robot Baymax. Not to mention a couple of scenes that, in true Pixar tradition, tug relentlessly on the heartstrings - a wonderfully poignant moment between Arlo and Spot using twigs and drawings sand circles to illustrate parental loss being a particularly emotional highlight.