The Good Dinosaur, Blu-ray (2016)

by | Mar 4, 2016 | DVD & Blu-ray Video Reviews

Another fine family animated film from Pixar.

The Good Dinosaur, Blu-ray (2016)

Director: Pater Sohn
Voice-overs: Jeffrey Wright, Frances McDormand, Sam Elliott etc.
Studio: Pixar/ Walt Disney Studios 132197 (2/23/16) [Also avail. in 3D!]
Video: 2.30:1 for 16:9, 1080p HD color
Audio: English DTS-HD HA 5.1, French DD 5.1, Spanish DD 5.1
Dubbed: French and Spanish
Subtitles: English, French, Spanish
Extras: Short:”Sanjay’s Super Team,” ”The Filmmakers’ Journey,” Promotional animated clip, True Lies About Dinosaurs, “Recyclosaurus” – the crew creates the best dinosaur from discarded items, Every Part of the Dinosaur, Following the T-Rex Trail, Deleted scenes with intros, Previous versions of the movie, more…
Length: 94 min.
Rating: ****

Pixar has another winner in this delightful animated feature about a good dinosaur. The theme is concerned with confronting your fears and discovering who you were meant to be.  The little dino (an aptosaurus) is the runt of the bunch, who operate a farm, and when his father is killed he is at very loose ends. The feature considers that the asteriod that supposedly killed all the dinosaurs and changed the planet completely simply flew by and never landed on earth, so the dinosaurs never went extinct.

What makes the film especially unique is the mixing of lovely live-action cinematography of nature, often combined with the animated characters of the dinosaurs, the small wild human child, and the other animals. This really adds to the feeling of the film and makes the various characters more paletable. Considering there is very little dialog in the film (of course dinosaurs couldn’t talk, let alone run farms) quite a bit is communicated without speaking. For example Arlo the dinosaur puts some sticks in the ground to represent his family, and makes a line in the dirt around them. Then the child does the same to illustrate his family. While the studio failed to send me the 3D version, I’m sure The Good Dinosaur would be even better in that form. The extras, showing what fun the Pixar crew has in creating their various animations, is most exhilerating.

—John Sunier

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