User reviews

When i heard that the original screenplay o this film planned no dialogue at all for the characters, i became even more disappointed at the end result. While a very good film Dinosaur certainly is, it could have been incredible. The visual effects alone are a sight to behold, never more so than in the opening sequence. This is probably the best stretch in the whole film for me; it's unsanitised by talking animals and genuinely feels like a prehistoric world (ignoring the multitude of historical inaccuracies like grass in the Mesozoic era, particular dinosaurs living side by side). Once the animals start to talk the film is bogged down by the shortcomings of the script, which is idealistic and morally exposition heavy, for the sake of the target audience. It also detracts from the illusion the film so effortlessly produces on the screen at the start; it all just becomes so standard an routine when it seemed to be so much more. With a weak script, the visuals no longer arrest like they did before and would have done had nobody talked. Without the amazing cgi, this could have almost been straight to video.

I say almost because despite the shortcomings Dinosaur is a good movie; it's at times thrilling, exhilarating, touching and surprisingly intense, for a movie with a such a routine story. Had it had a better script it could have been great. Had it had no dialogue at all it could have been a classic and perhaps one of Disney's finest. The era of risk taking and inventiveness for the company seems to be at an end, or at least under suppression. Damn you Eisner! They were onto something this time.

I am quite surprised at so many negative comments people have made. It's just a movie and one that is sheer entertainment. People seem to have a problem with the way violence is portrayed but I liked how the directors portrayed the brutally and the honest way death was portrayed. Thankfully, it's not excessively sugar-coated and there are some very sad scenes but it beautifully ends on the note of hope. I liked the way Leighton and Zondag told Enriquez's written story but I thought that some of the situations weren't developed. For example, how does Aladar adjust to the lifestyle of the dinosaurs considering that he was raised by lemurs. Most likely it may have been due to time constraint but nonetheless the current adventurous story of migration and survival is engaging and moving. Aladar's selfless attempts to save the dinosaur's are touching to watch as it reflects how the kind-hearted Plio raised him. The characters are enjoyable and the voice cast, that includes talents like Alfre Woodard, Joan Plowright and Ossie Davis do a fine job. D.B. Sweeney too does a very good job voicing Aladar. The animation is very detailed, giving the characters and setting a very authentic look. Even though the slight stop motion takes away from the realism, this is only a minor quibble. Newton Howard's score flows well with the story. 'Dinosaur' is sheer beauty and a pleasure to look at. It's a dinosaur classic and it's become one of my favourite dinosaur films.

I have read some very negative comments about this movie and I think some people take themselves way too seriously!! This is a movie, people, and a Disney at that, so please just relax and let yourself be entertained! The plot is simple, but there are a few minor twists that keep things interesting. And the word 'animation' to describe this movie seems to be a misnomer; this is not a cartoon or even a cardboard-cutout lay-over a-la Toy Story. 'Computer-generated action' or animation would be better terms, since the characters all look 'real', especially to a child. I was impressed with all the nuances that were caught, such as the way pupils dilated, the way flesh of the creatures' bodies shook with movement. If you want to get deep into meanings, the film is also a story about how being arrogant and self-centered (Kron) and not being willing to accept others' input, eventually brings you down; and how standing together can help defeat evil. My kid can't get enough of this movie.

The people at Disney keep out doing themselves. This a wonderfully computerized animated movie about the life, struggles and triumphs of a dinosaur named Aladar. Some of the scenes may be too intense for younger children, but on a whole this is a very enjoyable and safe movie for the entire family.

Lending voices to the animation are D.B. Sweeney, Julianna Margulies, Ossie Davis, Alfrie Woodard, Samuel E. Wright, Matt Adler and Della Reese.

This film has terrific animation that is so life-like it makes Toy Story look like South Park (not that south park is bad). The computer animated characters set behind (sometimes) real backgrounds brought back memories of Jurassic Park's visual dinosaur delights. But there is a drop-off here. Unlike Jurassic Park, this film is made by Disney, which means to sell to the kids, their had to be as much work put in to make human-like dinosaurs as there was to animate them. And it struck odd to me that dinosaurs actually had human emotions and characteristics (and lemurs looked a whole lot different 65 million years ago). Still, there is a two sided mirror to this film. If you are looking for great animation and effect animation techniques, this film is calling for you more than a worried parent. But if you are looking for a good story and characters, rent The Land Before Time (because this is a replica of it almost). A-

This movie featured computer-generated graphics to tell a story about the possible extinction of some dinosaurs thanks to killer meteors. And, while the story rarely gets much deeper or memorable than that, the animation quality is so amazingly great that this could be forgiven. I'm sure that even by now people might see the movie and think the animation is good, but that is all. Well, when it came out in 2000, it was absolutely state of the art and had critics and the public talking. Sure, movies like Toy Story had already been out, but here was a non-cartoony film done by computer that looked essentially like real dinosaurs running about and having adventures. An amazing technical achievement.

I mean, I don't understand why lots of people hated this movie. Sure, it isn't a masterpiece due to it's flaws that I will point out in a moment, but before I can get to those flaws, I would like to point out the redeeming qualities. I like the premise: An iguanadon named Aladar and his adopted family of monkeys walk to find a new home after their's was destroyed by a meteorite to find themselves in a conflict by joining the other dinosaurs led by Kron and Neera while being chased by Carnotaurs and velociraptors. It was very interesting, but Disney, being a master of storytelling, didn't bring anything new to the story and it's character development was lacking.

The characters, while undeveloped, are at least likable and the voice acting suited them really well. The script has some nice moments including the romance between Aladar and Neera which makes them a very cute couple to watch. The music from James Newton Howard is amazing and has been stuck to my head since I was a little child when I watched this a few more times. The strongest aspect goes to the computer animation. The prehistoric environments are amazing and are some of the best visuals I've ever seen in an animated film from my childhood.

Overall, Dinosaur may not be a masterpiece, but I still love it today and I think this would always be recommended to those who like computer animation and traditional animation.

O.K. so there were no lemurs back then. Monkeys and their ilk evolved much later. Nevertheless, I refuse to get too critical with movies where animals talk. On one level I enjoyed this movie. It was pretty much formula. The plant eaters are the good guys. The carnosaurs are the bad ones. The good guys converse in happy-go-lucky dialect or philosophize over their respective plights. Why do the meat eaters never talk? They trumpet and growl, drool and chase. They never stop to have a conversation. Remember "The Jungle Book" with the tiger with the cold British accent. His slyness and duplicity provided temptation. There is too much "chase" in this movie.

The antagonists may as well be volcanoes or boulders or fire. They have not personality, no evil volition, other than their stomachs. The contemporary references, especially one to booking an airline flight seem strained. Some are just for the sake of jokes--"There's a monkey on my back."

The other side would included the visual magnificence, the very realistic movements of the creatures, and the beautiful landscapes. The first five minutes are wonderful. I liked the contrasting of the meteor shower which starts out as a fireworks display and soon becomes close and violent.

There is, of course, the quest for peace, the promised land. Only the "good" dinosaurs are allowed in. The getting there makes a fun ride with lots of action. If only the characters had been a little more developed. They are human, after all.

Most people either hate or are indifferent to Dinosaur. I personally really enjoyed it. True, the plot is basic and unoriginal and most of the characters are dull, but I still really liked it! I loved Aladar as a main character, not to mention the animation is spectacular for 2001! It's technically not very good, but I really liked it.

I honestly don't see why people are so upset whit this movie. Yes, there is talking dinosaurs, but how are you supposed to understand them otherwise. Mute dinosaurs walking around wouldn't be interesting at all and remember, this is a kid's movie. And yes, the animation might not be as good as in Jurassic Park, but this is a fully animated movie, JP used a mix of animatronics and CGI inside an otherwise live action movie, and in a interview I saw, Spielberg (or if it was a special effects guy, I don't remember) said that they would use the animatronics when ever possible and only cover up rigs and refine movement with the computer 'cause the CGI models looked like crap in comparison the robots. And yes, the story has been used before, but so has the story in most films we're watching today, only in varying degree and in different mixes and it's not like Disney is known for their originality story wise. As good as everyone of their Classics are based or inspired by other works.

Personally I love this movie. The CGI is still good, and at times more realistic than many rushed animations we see today, the characters are fun to follow, unlike Land before Time were they were unbearable and made me hate the movie (even as a kid the first one was never my favorite) despite a similar story to Dinosaurs', which I by the way like, and the moral of it is a really good one.

Somehow I never liked Disney's movies. Being dragged into the midnight sneak preview by some disney fan, I naturally had low expectations for this. So it did not turn out quite bad. The story revolves about how this male dinosaur ended up in the care of a horde of monkeys and grew up in the jungles with them. (ecological nightmare?) Then some meteor shower came and destroyed their home so they were forced to migrate with this herd of other dinosaurs to some "breeding grounds" where it was untouched by the carnage. Sounds familiar? Yes. You saw it before in "The Land before Time". They just didn't have monkeys in that movie. Good humor, great family fun but not for me, too much cliches (such as our "hero" wins the heart of the big baddie leader dinosaur's sister and it erupts to a jealous struggle for the brother or some bad tempered dinosaur finally realises his "mistakes" when he is injured and the only people to care for him are our "hero" and his company...) The movie also earned a "PG" rating instead of "G". Why? I didn't think that any scenes were violent or top that effect. Maybe they thought that the sight of T-Rexs tearing up their prey was very much over the line. I thought those scenes pop up pretty frequently in Discovery Channel documentaries?

This is a film that will delight viewers time and time again.

It's terrific family entertainment that isn't afraid to venture into darker territory. There are carnivorous dinosaurs chasing herbivores and a giant asteroid that crashes towards earth. As tense as these scenes can be, it's okay. This is a Disney film that shows us in the end we can get through things by sticking together. Ultimately I feel that is the moral of this film and it's a good one.

The music by James Newton Howard happens to be one of his best. It's beautiful and adventurous with themes that evoke a sense of wonder.

The look of the film is fantastic. The dinosaurs look quite real and the scenery is nothing short of breathtaking.

It's a film that contains all the right elements for a family masterpiece. Perhaps, my only wish is that it was a bit longer, but it is what it is and I am more than happy with it. It's a film that earns it's place along the great Disney classics such as The Lion King, Toy Story, Mary Poppins, and all the other classics.

Bravo Disney!

When the trailers for "Dinosaur" were released in late 1999/early 2000, I was about nine years old and I was experiencing one of the greatest anticipations of my childhood. The trailers for "Dinosaur" showed the first seven minutes or so of the movie, where we saw first-class, revolutionary animation of CGI dinosaurs superimposed against real backgrounds and the blending was seamless. These dinosaurs looked just as good as the beasts that wowed us in "Jurassic Park." What's more, they acted like real dinosaurs. They didn't speak or behave like human beings covered with scales at all. Added with a majestic score by the great James Newton Howard, the trailer had me excited. I'd had my fill of talking dinosaurs with "The Land Before Time" and its excessive sequels; I wanted to see real dinosaurs without people in the foreground. That would have been a dream come true for a young dinosaur-lover like me.

And Disney was originally going to give me that dream. That's right, folks, the first seven minutes of "Dinosaur" was originally going to set the mood for the entire picture. The dinosaurs would act like dinosaurs and not like people; it would be like a feature-length version of the Rite of Spring sequence from Disney's 1940 masterpiece "Fantasia." But a Mr. Michael Eisner of Disney insisted on changing this all and revamping this concept for a real winner into basically just a retread of "The Land Before Time" with CGI instead of hand-drawn animation. Mr. Eisner ought to be ashamed of himself, because instead of getting this wondrous spectacle that the trailers and the first seven minutes of the movie promised us, we got just a generic family movie special only in its animation, but destined to be forgotten outside of the special effects department.

I suppose Mr. Eisner's reasoning was that kids could not follow a story about dinosaurs without a) people or b) dinosaurs that act like people. Well, to him, I say your reasoning is backward. I was a "kid" at the time and I was disappointed to hear that the dinosaurs were going to start acting like people after the opening sequence. I would have been okay with narration; heck, I would have been okay if the lemurs in the movie voiced by Ossie Davis, Alfre Woodard, Max Casella, and Hayden Panettiere talked. But why the dinosaurs? What's more, even if they were to talk, why did they have to have such humanlike qualities? They have conversations, morals, love interests, and even philosophies. Oh, and some species of dinosaurs keep other dinosaurs for pets, too. The romantic subplot between two dinosaurs in the movie is completely wooden, generic, and worst of all, boring. That's a real disappointment for me because these dinosaurs are animated via some of the most impressive CGI I have ever seen. Like Roger Ebert noted in his spot-on review for the picture, the filmmakers spent a lot of effort making these dinosaurs look real, but spent more effort undermining that illusion. The only dinosaurs that do thankfully carry the illusion through are the carnivorous dinosaurs, who only snarl and roar and don't appear to have any morality or philosophy. And besides, did Pinocchio have a love interest? No? Then why should a dinosaur?

But enough of me bashing what doesn't work. Now I will tell you this: despite all of my complaints and suggestions (ones that would have made this a great picture instead of a good one), the movie does, I repeat, *does* entertain. It's a most adequate family picture that is sure to wow and amaze its many-aged audience members with its wonderful animation, strong voice acting, and dazzling moments of energetic action. I also appreciate that for the snarling antagonist, they chose a carnotaurus as opposed to the typical tyrannosaurus or allosaur. It's refreshing to see a new dinosaurs here and there. But why, oh, why, Disney, did you have to go and throw away such a brilliant idea for a more generic and forgettable one? The first seven minutes of "Dinosaurs" are absolutely wonderful. Before the dinosaurs talk, when they act like dinosaurs, when we see the real wonder and viciousness of that strange prehistoric time, the movie scores with absolute brilliance. But save for the animation, what follows is rather generic. Oh, there I go again....

I like "Dinosaur" but I really feel that it is a missed opportunity. A colossal one. This was my reaction when I first saw in the movie at the age of nine in 2000. Now seeing it again for the first time in years, my reaction is exactly the same. The people running the company once owned by the brilliant Walt Disney ought to reflect upon his genius and his ideas and his masterpieces. If they had done this (as they had wanted to before Mr. Michael Eisner stepped in) "Dinosaur" would have been a great movie, one destined to be remembered like the Rite of Spring sequence in "Fantasia" that its opening so reminds us of. But beyond that opening sequence, there is nothing that isn't well, like the dinosaurs themselves, fossilized. I will not deny that I ultimately liked the movie, nor will I deny that given its potential, I felt a little cheated.

Very good cartoon movie, superb effects and wonderful graphics. This is the best cartoon i have ever seen before.

The story is slightly similar to other dinosaur movie but this one got all the spices, humour,story and excellent screenplay.

Iguanadon, Aladar (D. B. Sweeney) is raised by a family of lemurs consisting of adoptive mother Plio (Alfre Woodard), grandfather Yar (Ossie Davis), uncle Zini (Max Casella), and younger sister Suri (Hayden Panettiere). When a barrage of meteors destroys their island home and their entire clan, Aladar and his adoptive family are left with no choice but to set out and look for a new home. By chance they come across a herd headed by the domineering Kron (Samuel E. Wright) who makes no secret of his contempt for "weakness", compassion, or altruism. Aladar tails behind the herd with the older dinosaurs and serving as their the crux of their group of misfits as they travel to the last unspoiled place for food and shelter, the Nesting Grounds, while navigating the harshness of the environment and predators that stand in their way.

Released in 2000 and becoming a massive success as the 5th highest grossing film of the year, Disney's Dinosaur underwent a tumultuous development process of around 15 years. Initiated but Robocop and Total Recall director Paul Verhoeven in the mid 80s, the film was intended to utilization the same computer assisted stop motion technology that had brought to life ED-209 in Robocop, Vermathrax Pejorative in Dragonslayer, and the Rancor in Return of the Jedi with a combination of models and mattes to create a dialogue less story that would be framed not unlike a nature documentary. Development was proceeding in fits and starts due to Disney execs wanting a "cute" talking dinosaur movie, while creatives wanted a more naturalistic and gritty approach. Then Spielberg's Jurassic Park happened meaning doing the film in it's original stop motion style was no longer viable, and the film went into development hell while it waited for computers to catch up to the level it would need to render the appropriate assets. The final film while visually arousing and a benchmark for special effects, also feels very restrained from where it wants to be as a result of executive mandates.

The animation of the dinosaurs is very well done. The movie was made using a combination of real life geographic locations across the world with practical effects integrating for terrain deformation, and then overlays of CGI dinosaurs integrated into the real life environments. It's not seamless as there is sometimes a noticeable "break" where reality ends and CGI begins, and some of the rendering and things like fur and feathers is still very preliminary with a noticeable "plastic" quality to these assets. With that said, this was an ambitious attempt for the time and it's still remarkable from a technical standpoint even with the advancements in technology all these years later.

What undercuts the movie significantly is in the execution of its story. The first 7 minutes of this movie are near masterful as aside from some narration the entire sequence is done with dinosaur cries and body language that makes the audience feel like they're watching actual creatures instead of effects. There's real thought given to how these dinosaurs act in a myriad of situations and we're given essentially a tour of this world as we watch Aladar's egg bounce around this world missing all manner of hazards. The opening seven minutes are a great sequence and it really illustrates the underlying issue with this movie in that it was always intended for visual minimalistic storytelling which would be fine.....if the dinosaurs and creatures didn't talk. The problem isn't so much that the dinosaurs talk, it's more that when they talk its clear that they were never intended to as the story is so bare bones point A to B simple that you could watch this movie on mute and still understand what's going on. The rendering of the characters speech also results in a number of "uncanny valley" shots where they'd tried too hard to anthropomorphize some elements of the dinosaurs resulting in some rather unflattering angles. Not only does their speaking clash with the naturalistic style and setting, but the dialogue is horrendous with some rather obnoxious anachronistic dialogue choices and an obnoxiously grating performance by Max Casella best known as Daxter of Jak & Daxter and he's pretty much playing the same character type minus the restraint. There's really nothing else story wise to comment on because as I said it's a straightforward "journey to salvation" narrative well in line with the previous movie of this type, Land Before Time. While the Dinosaurs talked in Land Before Time, it made sense there because the intention was always to make a film themed very much after Bambi and the dialogue was there to put in commentary on prejudice and racism. Dinosaur doesn't have any subtext to it with a very basic "never give up, never give in" message that shows it was a mistake to humanize the dinosaurs because they were never meant to be humanized.

Dinosaur is an okay film that flirts with being a great one. While the animation and cinematography are beautiful with clear thought given into how to incorporate these CGI models with real world settings, and the opening 7 minutes show just how amazing the technology and craft truly are, the movie makes a massive miscalculation by humanizing the dinosaurs which only serves to call attention to how anorexically thin the narrative is. The dialogue is not only pointless often pointing out details that are either obvious or not needed, but it's also obnoxiously anachronistic often times feeling like leftover rejects from the Jim Henson sitcom Dinosaurs.

Last night I took my boys ages 5 and 10 to see Dinosaur. Some of the scenes were a bit too intense for the 5 year old, who got scared and had to sit on my lap.

The visuals were stunning. The story was disappointing. As my 10 year old pointed out, it was a rehash of the animated dinosaur movie (series now) "Land Before Time". Could it be that the only things talking dinosaurs ever want to do is to find a hidden valley after a meteor strike?

This movie was shear pleasure to watch. The movie looks visually absolutely stunning and the animation is done nicely. It's true eye-candy and entertaining as well.

The movie has a typical adventurous story and feeling and is at times spectacular as well. Especially the beginning is impressively spectacular. There are some nicely done action sequences that are at times tense as well. My only true complaint of the movie are the characters. There isn't really any character development in the movie and we never really get to know the character or care much about them, this is probably mainly due to the short running time of the movie. Also of course the story itself is somewhat predictable but that doesn't take away any of the fun or entertainment value of the movie.

Dinosaur fans will enjoy this movie as well, unless you're one of those persons who complains about the accuracy of the movie. This movie is entertainment, not a documentary.

The musical score by James Newton Howard fits the movie like a glove and in my opinion he delivers one of his best and moving scores, in his career.

There is much hate for this movie but quite frankly I can't see why. If you simply take the movie for what it is, you'll have a good time watching it. It's beautiful, adventurous and at times truly spectacular.

8/10

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I was fortunate enough to see an exclusive preview of this film, not yet released in Australia. The producer Pam Marsden was there for the presentation too. AFter the showing she told the audience about the making and the lengths the computer animators went through to get realism into the characters and scenes. So, obviously, the movie should appeal to anyone who is interested in computer animation and/or filmmaking. By the end of the film I was still dazzled by the beautiful animation (especially the fur on the leemurs) but left thinking that the plot could've fitted into 30 minutes. Of course the story is made so children will understand, but thinking to the last Disney movie I saw (Tarzan), it had a lot more substance, humour, and fun which "Dinosaur" just didn't. On another note, the music for "Dinosaur" is quite good and interesting in that there aren't any lyrics or a famous voice behind it.

Finally Disney has created an animation that isn't sugar-sweet!

What usually bugs me about Disney's films is the constant bursting-into-song sequences that clog up the stories, and the comic side-kicks that keep making bad jokes. No such thing in Dinosaur! It's a serious movie that is very sad and partially cruel: a wonderful tale of courage and survival, told with respect for the audience, with unpresidented animations. The dionsaurs merge seemlessly into the real surroundings, and they move and look absolutely real. Finally, computer animations have reached the stage where it doesn't look animated anymore!

I was also very touched by Aladar's attempts to save the old dinos, and although I'm a grown-up, I jumped in my seat when the carnotaurs emerged. There was violence in this film: cruel battles between carnivores and herbivores. And surging through it all there is a feeling of sadness and loss, for a world that is about to fade away into the pages of history.

Thus, it's not for the smallest children, but it's a great story that treats it's audience with respect and pays homage to that great lost Earth that was buried in the dust millions of years ago.

9/10

The cgi animation is astonishingly well looking for the time it came out but the story is too simple, the characters are very forgettable and despite his shortness the movie is very boring.