Other Reviews in this Series.
Director: Peter Sohn
Writers: Bob Peterson, Meg LeFauve, Peter Sohn, Erik Benson, Kelsey Mann
Cast: Raymond Ochoa, Jack Bright, Jeffrey Wright, Frances McDormand, Sam Elliott, Steve Zahn, A. J. Buckley, Anna Paquin, John Ratzenberger
Runtime: 93 mins.
2015
A new original film from Pixar is always something to be received with great relish, for they are becoming less and less frequent as the studio's sequel-able properties increase in number. The Good Dinosaur has the added benefit of fashioning for itself a pretty good central concept: What if the meteor that wiped out dinosaurkind had instead missed the Earth, and the course of evolution had continued without interruption? Thus The Good Dinosaur presents a timeline in which dinosaurs have adopted language, and have begun to move past hunting and gathering into agriculture and animal husbandry. This is a richer idea than the typical "what if dinosaurs could talk" animated standby, as it can tackle more interesting questions about the development of a species' culture.
Unfortunately the concept is entirely wasted on this movie, which seems interested in little more than the "dinosaurs talking" business. The entire first act takes place on the farm of young Arlo the apatosaurus, and it is somewhat amusing to see the techniques these long-necked beasts use to tend their crops, but it is also by far the most boring stretch of the movie. It's repetitive and only slightly charming. The characters of Arlo's family are sketched in sand, and for the amount of narrative actually accomplished by this segment of the movie, it certainly could have been streamlined by upwards of 50%. I also reacted poorly to Jeffrey Wright's performance of the little dinosaur's father, the only other member of the family who is at all relevant to the film. It's a performance that perhaps feels warm and welcoming to a child, but I couldn't shake the feeling that Barney was trying to teach me something.
Anyway, the movie certainly cranks up once Arlo gets separated from his home. I mean that in a relative sense, as the whole film is Arlo bouncing around from arbitrary encounter to arbitrary encounter, occasionally gaining a bit of knowledge or a wisp of wisdom. There's nothing whatsoever to the plot of this movie. Characters come and go long enough for us to forget that the narrative is spinning its wheels, but not so long that we realize none of them have any substance. It functions like a tour of the alternate reality Pixar has dreamed up, though the movie also fumbles that opportunity. The world feels curiously sterile for one in which a species' burgeoning culture is bursting out of dormancy. Nothing about what is presented gives any special insight to the social structures in place, although there are winks and nods here and there, such as an underdeveloped pteranodon cult that worships a massive storm.
The other major wrinkle of the movie, and the second best trick up its sleeve, is the addition of a human child that Arlo names Spot. Yet another missed opportunity to inject interesting ideas about the development and co-development of species, the movie treats Spot exactly like a dog. Still, imagine if a really cute dog also reminded you of a baby. That's how adorable Spot is. The animation and character design tickle a primal protective instinct in our brain, while still allowing us the pleasure of watching an incredibly resourceful character that we don't have to constantly worry about. I didn't care too much for Arlo, but I love his interplay with Spot. The little boy's absence is, in retrospect, a big part of what made the first act such a drag.
If you add all of that up, it doesn't amount to much. If this movie were animated like, say for example, the butt ugly Ice Age, I would consider it a wasted experience. It is not, however, animated like the butt ugly Ice Age. It is animated like nothing you've ever seen before.
The visual world of The Good Dinosaur juxtaposes cartoonish character designs against an environment swiftly approaching photorealism. This creates a dissonance that is arguably an integral part of the movie's thematics, but I have no love for the character designs (with the exception of Spot). In fact, the best parts of the movie are far and away the times the camera cuts away from the characters to linger on the scenery, which happens frequently. It is gorgeous, a feast for the eyes. The way light dapples across the water, the swirling stormclouds, the lush greenery, the tangible dirt and rocks and mud--the movie is entirely successful in transporting its audience to a time and place before industrialization. Every single time I ever rewatch this movie, it will be to marvel at the visuals.
Luckily for The Good Dinosaur, it has carved out a minimal narrative for itself that revolves around the environment in a big way, so this fetishizing of visuals is entirely justified. The primary antagonist of the movie is the chaotic unpredictability of nature and weather. Almost every story beat involves some sort of environmental interaction. This is a movie that would have been maked or breaked by the success of its physical world, and thankfully it is one of the most breathtaking animated worlds I have ever seen. It certainly could have been populated with more interesting plot, narrative, characters, or themes, but as it stands the beautiful environment can sufficiently carry the minimalism of the rest of the film.
3 / 5 BLOBS
The Short: Sanjay's Super Team
I want to make one thing clear before I say anything else: Sanjay's Super Team is a good thing. Stories told by people of color about the experience of being raised in cultures that aren't white America are few and far between in our current cultural landscape. Those that do manage to get made rarely achieve cultural prominence. So to include a young Indian boy's story about his experience with Hinduism before a widely released Pixar film is a sign of progress that will probably be educational to a lot of little white kids and big white adults.
That being said... I don't love the way Sanjay's Super Team treats its subject matter. It's about a little boy who is into superheroes, while his father is into Hinduism. The boy manages to make Hinduism exciting by imagining Hindu gods as superheroes. I find the "religious figures are just like superheroes" angle to be reductive, and a wee bit pandering. I grew up with all sorts of lame attempts to try to make religion sexy to kids that painfully misunderstood why kids are interested in what they are interested in. I can't shake the feeling that Sanjay's Super Team is a far more sophisticated and mature version of Bibleman. That's a real thing, look it up.
So I come down in the "good, but reductive" camp for this narrative. The visuals are super cool, if a bit fluffy. Sanjay's imaginary world is a kind of cyber neon religious chamber, with statues come to life and such. The way the environment bends and morphs is super cool, though the combat is shallow with nothing much to latch onto.
2.5/5
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