As 2015 comes to a close we are treated with a warm story from Disney/Pixar offering an answer to the question, what if the asteroid hadn’t hit the planet 65 million years ago? The good folks at Disney/Pixar came up with an answer and begin this warm and fuzzy movie with the asteroid zooming by the planet as the dinosaurs watch it go by like a shooting star, then quickly get back to their tree munching.
The scenery in this movie is top notch and can really be appreciated on the big screen as the undisturbed landscape of the caveman days is portrayed beautifully. The story begins with a couple of Apatosaurus dinosaurs whose three eggs hatch to give them a family. The third egg is a runt named Arlo, voiced by Raymond Ochoa, and the main protagonist of the story, as we quickly figure out. He seems to struggle to keep up with the day to day jobs of harvesting the corn for winter and is left behind in feeling like a contributor. Each family member needs to make their mark and Arlo, being the weaker one, is the only one of the family that hasn’t done that yet. Eager to do this to be as good as his siblings, his father, voiced by Jeffery Wright, offers him a chance to prove himself. He gives him the job of catching a ‘creature’ which is a Neanderthal boy who acts like a wild dog, who has been sneaking up the silo to eat the corn. The trap works and Arlo has the boy in the net and his stick in his mouth, ready to whack him, as per Poppa’s instructions. But timid Arlo can’t do it and the boy gets away. His father sees this and the two of them chase him, heading to the river as the two hunters pursue their prey. A storm comes and this is where the movie takes on a new direction and starts Arlo off on his adventure to courage and to see what he is really made of. Like in the Lion King, the father sacrifices his life to save his son.
The impact of this loss is shown very well as the family struggles to get the work done at the farm, but fate had other plans for the young dinosaur as the boy comes back again and is found in the corn silo chowing down on the winter rations. Arlo, not knowing how to deal with the tragedy that has overcome the family, blames him for the death of his father and chases after him, blinded by revenge. As quite often in life one is taken away on their path by the most unlikely of characters and as Arlo calms down, after realizing that he is quite a long way from home and not sure how to get back there, he begins to see the good qualities of the creature and his anger fades. There is a kindness that is shown as the creature offers him food. The opportunity to repay that is presented by the strange multi-horned dinosaur with all his friends or rather advisors, who says that if I name the creature I keep him, so Arlo gives the boy a name, Spot, and wins that game. The names that the triceratops were giving the creature I felt were not appropriate and may raise questions from small children, but anyways it put the two on even ground and they continue their journey to try and get back to the farm as equals and friends.
Throughout their journey home they meet characters who seem friendly, looking out for survivors from a terrible storm, but who turn out to be predator birds that wish to eat Spot. This establishes the antagonists of the film. Again I was reminded of the Lion King with those hyenas, but these guys weren’t as comical. As they escape the pterodactyls they meet huge meat eating tyrannosauruses, who are, in most every other movie, the bad guys, but Disney/Pixar does it different and has these characters as the comic relief and the father of the two younger meat-eaters acts as a teacher and father figure in a way to Arlo, helping him to find strength and courage within himself.
These lessons are put to the test later in the film as he must again face the pterodactyls to save Spot. His love for the boy through their journey together outweighs his fear as, and this is also a-la-Lion King, the ghost of his father comes to him in a vision as he is caught up in some vines after the pterodactyls knock him around a bit and steal Spot and his father reminds him that he is like him and more. This gives him the strength he needs to fight through his, what he perceives to be, hopeless situation and rescues his friend.
As the journey winds down the last little bit towards Arlo’s home, Spot’s family finds him and, after an emotional goodbye, and it was a bit of a tear-jerker, the two part ways and Arlo finishes his journey home by himself, finally able to put his mark on the corn silo beside the rest of his family. He has made his mark and has done good.
This heart-warming movie was written for children mostly but if you are young at heart you can enjoy it too. There were areas that I felt where questionable, like the names that the triceratops was giving for the boy, which I felt was not necessary and too angry. Also it was a bit violent at parts, particularly the way the pterodactyls tore apart the furry animal, but overall the good dinosaur is a good movie, although Disney/Pixar have done better, but the movie deserves the acclaim that it is receiving.
