Over the
course of their first fifteen features, Pixar has made some great films (such
as the “Toy Story” series, “Ratatouille” and “Inside
Out”) and some not-so-great ones (such as anything with the word
“Cars” in the title). However, the best of them are the ones that intrigue an initial idea and elaborate upon it with the kind
of well-developed characters, ingenious plots and emotional resonance that is
rarely seen in films aimed at
family audiences. The problem with their latest effort, “The Good
Dinosaur,” is that it has the intriguing initial idea but then seems
curiously unsure of how to pursue it. The end result is a film that has some
promising elements and which often seems as if it is on the verge of evolving
into something wonderful but never quite manages to turn that particular
corner.
The basic
conceit of the film is undeniably promising—what might have happened if the
asteroid that hit Earth 65 million years ago actually missed its target, and the
dinosaurs that were rendered extinct by its impact were able to continue to
thrive and evolve as a species? After a brief prologue showing that near-miss,
the film jumps ahead a few million years to focus on a family of apatosaurus
tending to their farm. Alas, the youngest of the bunch, the runty Arlo (voiced
by Raymond Ochoa) is unable to do much and is the butt of teasing from older siblings
Buck (Marcus Scribner) and Libby (Maleah Padilla), while his father (Jeffrey
Wright) and mother (Frances McDormand) try to assure him that he is destined
for greatness. One day, while chasing a feral child (Jack Bright) who has been
stealing their crops, the fearful Arlo and his father are caught in a raging
rainstorm and parents of more sensitive children better have the Kleenex
ready.
While
struggling to help his mother bring their crops in before winter arrives, Arlo
runs across that same child, who he blames for the death of his father, and
while pursuing him, the two fall into the river and are swept many miles down
before washing ashore. At first, Arlo hates the kid but the boy, who not only
acts like a dog but soon responds to the name Spot, eventually grows on him and
the two become friends as they discover they have more in common than one might
think. As Arlo and Spot begin the long and perilous journey upstream to Arlo’s
home, they encounter such dangers as a giant cobra and a trio of pterodactyls
(whose leader is voiced by Steve Zahn) whose seemingly laid-back attitude
stands in marked contrast to their desire to savage anything they can get their
talons on. Somewhat friendlier are a trio of T-Rexes (with the voices of Sam
Elliott, Anna Paquin and A.J. Buckley) who are, oddly enough, buffalo ranchers
trying to rescue their herd from some rustling raptors.
There are
some good ideas in Meg LeFauve’s screenplay, such as the idea of inverting the
classic boy-and-his-pet narrative so that the boy is the pet, and the way that
it threatens to become a full-blown Western with the introduction of the
T-Rexes (including a campfire scene complete with someone playing a mournful
tune on a “harmonica”). But once it introduces them, the film tends
to abandon them in order to tell yet another variation of the tale of a seeming
misfit who learns to pulls himself together, and use his gifts to save the day
and make his mark on the world. Much of it feels cobbled together from elements that
will seem very familiar to anyone who saw the likes of “The Jungle
Book,” “The Lion King” and “How to Train a Dragon.” The lack of a unique story might have been overcome if the characters had
been compelling but alas, neither Arlo nor Spot are especially interesting.
Visually, “The Good Dinosaur” is a stunner throughout, with one breathtaking composition after another that combines gorgeously rendered
photorealistic backgrounds with the more overtly cartoony characters in an
unexpectedly lovely manner. There are also a number of inspired moments where
the film threatens to break its shackles and go off into strange areas, like an encounter with a styracosaurus (whose deadpan voice is supplied by the
film’s director, Peter Sohn) who is festooned with a number of comfort animals.
In another scene, Arlo and Spot eat some fruit with hallucinogenic properties
that are depicted in amusing visual detail. The aforementioned campfire scene
gets especially weird when it turns into, of all things, one of the most famous
scenes from “Jaws.” There is even one beautifully low-key moment in
which Arlo and Spot, despite the lack of a shared language, manage to
communicate and commiserate with each other over the loss of their respective
families in a genuinely heart-tugging manner. (This moment is so strong that I
wouldn’t be surprised to learn that it was the initial inspiration for the
entire project.)
As those
who pay attention to such things already know, “The Good Dinosaur”
had a famously troubled production that saw its original director and most of
the original voice cast replaced, and a number of major script rewrites added in
an effort to save it. With that much behind-the-scenes chaos, it is probably
not a surprise that the end result is as uneven as it turns out to be. The film
will satisfy younger viewers, I suppose, but unless your kids are especially
gaga over dinosaurs, my guess is that even they will recognize that it is
lacking a certain something that separates the great films from the ordinary
ones.
Source:: http://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/the-good-dinosaur-2015
