My Movie Review on Dinosaur (2000)
Yo, what's up, Kemosabes?
This is your friendly film, TV show, and episode reporter here with another review.
Today, for my 200th film analysis, and my first to be posted in 2021, I'm gonna give you guys my take of Disney's "Dinosaur".
Here's the rundown of this adventure:
Aladar is an iguanodon who was raised by lemurs ever since he hatched from an egg. However, when an enormous meteorite crashes on Earth, it destroys the island home of the lemurs. The only survivors of this catastrophic event are Aladar and his foster family, his mother Plio, grandfather Yar, uncle Zini, and sister Suri.
Realizing that they'll have to find a new home in order to survive, the family migrates across a harsh desert. They later run into an entire herd of dinosaurs that are also looking for a new home, their leaders being three iguanodons: the ruthless head of the three, Kron, his second-in-command, Bruton, and Kron's conversely kind-hearted sister, Neera. Ultimately, Aladar and his family stick to the back of the herd, where they befriend its elders: Eema the styracosaurus, Baylene the brachiosaurus, and Url the ankylosaurus.
Will Aladar, his family and friends, and the herd survive the journey and find a new home? Or will they perish?
In all honesty, I had originally intended on making my 200th film analysis be on some other movie. But, I later realized that I wanted to review this movie more than anything as of late, and I thought it'd be the perfect representative of the big 2-0-0 since it was something I fondly grew up with.
So, having finally watched this movie again not too long ago, I really must say that Disney's "Dinosaur" was as fun as I remembered it being.
For instance, the direction by Ralph Zondag and Eric Leighton, the story by Zondag, John Harrison, Robert Nelson Jacobs, and Thom Enriquez, and the screenplay by Harrison and Jacobs, were all fantastically well-done.
I will admit that the overall concept is pretty straightforward and simple in many ways, and it may carry similar plot elements with Don Bluth's "The Land Before Time" (which I apologize for not reviewing yet). But, I found that to be okay, because the story still had a great sense of complexity, intrigue, and unpredictability. It also contained all of the qualifications to make it a true Disney film, which is heart, emotion, humor, and wit; the morals and themes the film had about friendship, loyalty, kindness, love, and generosity were likewise very meaningful and wonderfully executed. Unlike "The Land Before Time", the film also has an appeal for all ages that can very much last to the point of immortality. And yes, I know that the film team incorporated used the long running theory of a meteor crashing onto Earth and killing the dinosaurs as a plot element, but that's easily remedied by the fact that the story's fiction. Plus, even though evolutionists say that mammals and dinosaurs never coexisted, from a creationist standpoint...I enjoyed the incorporation of lemurs in this film, particularly because I believe mammals and dinosaurs did coexist long ago and found the element to be original for an all dinosaur movie.
The animation was amazing, if I may add.
Even today, I find that the overall visual style is the most unique out of every animated film Disney made. The character animation as a whole carried a terrific sense of realism, and they managed to perfectly fit with the live-action backgrounds and settings. Along with that, the animators appeared to have not only been attentive with their work, but were clearly quite passionate about being a part of the project. The moments where the characters talk and give off facial expressions are also moments that I can't help but favorably compare the live-action adaption of "The Lion King", because unlike the latter, the animators actually managed to help the characters be emotive while still having the sense of realism I mentioned. In addition to this, the moment where the meteorites crash into the Earth was perhaps the most visually accomplished moment in the film, as it literally seemed so real.
The voice acting, casting, characters, and character development were brilliant as well.
Every performer portrayed their characters with outstanding passion and commitment! They each incorporated wonderful personality into their roles, and the amount of emotion they put into voicing them was mind-blowing. It was like the cast members were able to literally get in the heads of their characters and not just provide their voices, and they were able to make any piece of dialogue fun to listen to. Not only that, but the characters themselves all had a significant amount of growth to help them be instantly three-dimensional and full of life.
Finally, the music that was composed by James Newton Howard was magnificent.
In my opinion, the movie showcased the very best music of Howard's career, as well as the most awesome of his collaborations with Disney by far. All of the melodies he made not only resonated with the feelings of the characters and matched every moment in the movie, but they carried a sense of something deeply personal that helped the motion picture be instantly engaging and larger than life. A prime example of this comes from the music that played while the migration was being shown.
In conclusion, Disney's "Dinosaur" is a part of my childhood that I'm so happy to have revisited. It has all the hallmarks that make it a spectacular Disney film, and it's one of the company's most unique and ambitious of undertakings.
So, I rate Disney's "Dinosaur" five out of five stars.
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