Dinosaur Review
by Chuck Dowling (chuckd21 AT fdn DOT com)June 23rd, 2000
Dinosaur (2000)
Rating: 3.0 stars out of 5.0 stars
Cast: D.B. Sweeney, Julianna Margulies, Joan Plowright, Ossie Davis, Max Casella, Alfre Woodard, Samuel E. Wright, Della Reese
Written by: John Harrison and Robert Nelson Jacobs
Directed by: Eric Leighton and Ralph Zondag
Running Time: 82 minutes
Screening Theater: Starnet Pablo 9 Theaters - Jacksonville Beach, FL
Di$ney's latest mega-blockbuster Dinosaur is set in the age of the dinosaurs (duh, obviously), around the time of their proposed demise at the hands of a comet or meteor smashing into the Earth. The film's main dinosaur Aladar (voiced by D.B. Sweeney) attempts to lead a group of other dinosaurs (as well as the monkeys who raised him... long story) to safe haven away from the destruction.
My rating for Dinosaur is actually a composite of two separate ratings. The first is for the technical aspect of the film. In terms of execution, Dinosaur is a five star movie. The computer generated animation (with digitally enhanced real life backgrounds) are simply gorgeous. Granted the real world shots are limited, but when they are used it's some of the most flawless integration of real film and computer animation I've ever seen.
Secondly, there are three fantastic sequences in the film. The first is the opening of the film... the "Egg Travels" sequence that was seen in the initial trailers for the film. The next one (and the best of the three) is the meteor shower. And last is the climactic battle between Aladar and a T. Rex.
Finally, there's the rousing score by James Newton Howard, his best (and most memorable) since 1994's Wyatt Earp. His score here should be rewarded at year's end with numerous awards.
The other aspect of the film's rating is the creative side, and it unfortunately receives only one star. Dinosaur is about as creative as a pile of mud, and only slightly more entertaining. Amazingly, SEVEN people are credited with writing Dinosaur (two with the story, three with the actual screenplay itself, and two with "additional story material"). I'd love to have sat in on those brainstorming sessions...
"Ooo! Let's have the dinosaurs walk!"
"Good one! Hey... what if we have one dinosaur who can't keep up and our hero dinosaur has to keep nudging it and giving words of encouragement!"
"Yeah! And then... more walking!"
Hey folks, give me one dollar... that's roughly 1/7th of what you'll pay to get in to Dinosaur and I'll let you watch me walk. I'll even bring a friend along to poke me whenever I can't keep up and to tell me to "never give up".
The biggest creative pitfall of Dinosaur is the fact that the dinosaurs talk. Now I know there was no chance in hell Di$ney would make a movie like this without dialogue (no talking plush dolls to sell for $30.00 each), but the film would have been much more effective if it had done without the talking. The aforementioned "The Egg Travels" sequence was so effective without one word of dialogue in it. You understood all the action and emotions in the scene without the need for one spoken word.
So let's talk about talking dinosaurs for a moment then. I know Dinosaur is a kid's movie and I know you're not really supposed to argue logic with kid's movies, but I just can't turn off that part of my brain like Di$ney wants me to. My main problem is that the dinosaurs are using modern day terms and expressions. Now fine, I'll buy the fact that the dinosaurs are speaking English even though no such language existed. For argument's sake I'll buy that what we're hearing is just an English translation of dinosaur speak. But why do they have to use modern day terminology and catch phrases? I mean... school? Professor? Love monkey?!
And how do the characters even know what they are? Characters are aware if they are a monkey or a T. Rex or whatever... but these are terms humans came up with to describe animals. Dinosaurs didn't tell us what they wanted to be called. Then there's a BRITISH dinosaur. If all the dinosaurs had one accent (American, Russian, Norwegian, whatever...) I'd have been fine. But having different accents in there just throws everything out of whack. (Yes, I realize that the entire language itself was made up by humans so technically the dinosaurs shouldn't know any of the words at all, but when they speak they... oh dear I've gone cross-eyed.)
The dinosaur hierarchy also doesn't make any sense. One dinosaur has a pet dinosaur, and the pet dinosaur behaves like a dog and is unable to speak. Why? And the "villain" of the film, the T. Rex, doesn't talk either. If you're going to aim for every cliché in the book (and the writers clearly were), then why not make the T. Rex all creepy and menacing by casting Jeremy Irons or Dennis Hopper to do its voice?
If you want to see a kid cry, go up to one leaving the theater. Dinosaur actually has a happy ending, with surviving dinosaurs frolicking in the promised land without a care in the world. Go up to that kid and tell him or her that about a week after the movie is over, all the cute little dinosaurs they just fell in love with will be dead. It's fun, and historically accurate.
Dinosaur is rated PG for some intense scenes, and deservedly so. But the audience I saw the film with didn't seem to care. Kids are fascinated with dinosaurs... they're the only monsters we tell kids about that actually exist. They'll laugh at the monkeys and at the stupid dialogue and make their parents take them to see it over and over again, earning Di$ney billions of dollars. And at Di$ney, that's all they care about. [PG]
Reviewed by Chuck Dowling - [email protected]
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The Jacksonville Film Journal - http://www.jaxfilmjournal.com/
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