Review of Dinosaur (2000) by Fernando C — 02 Nov 2015

The film follows the story a young Iguanadon, named Aladar, from an egg to a young adult. He's raised by lemurs on an island, until asteroids come along and destroy the life that they've always known. Afterwards, they must find a new home and they meet up with this herd of different types of dinosaurs, who are heading for their nesting grounds. From what is said, the nesting grounds is where the herd goes to lay their eggs and where there is plenty of food and water.

I was about 3-4 years old when I saw this film in theaters. I loved it and I still do. Is it flawed? Yes, but it's not terrible. Because I was so young when I first watched and when it was released, I don't recall the reaction that critics and the general audience got from this film. Years later, I looked up the reactions and was greeted with much hate and criticism for this film.

Many complain that it's basically a darker version than "The Land Before Time" and such. I would greatly disagree because I watched this and The Land Before Time while I was growing up, and I never saw a huge comparison. The basic story is a bit similar in that a young dinosaur is orphaned and left with the issue of "working together" with other dinosaurs in order to make it to 'the great valley'. Those aspects are similar, but the movies are still very different.

The characters are a bit generic, though. There's the character you just know is going to be the hero, the obvious villain, the obvious love interest, and the annoying comedy relief that makes several modern-day references.

I guess this is just one of my guilty pleasures. The animation and landscapes are just breath-taking. The dinosaurs look so real and the flying scenes are just amazing. The dinosaurs and animals do talk, but it doesn't bother me because the film takes a very serious tone, and it didn't feel weird when the animals first talked.

It has a creepy sense to it, but I think that's what makes it unique. There's a lot of dark colors and settings, but that's what I liked. It wasn't a typical kid's film about dinosaurs. The characters weren't all that bad even if they are typical kid film material. It has meat-eating dinosaurs, creepy music, and dark settings that just make it memorable and intense. Aladar, himself, is a very interesting character, despite him having the generic good guy role. He's very kind and compassionate and never gives up, which sounds generic for a female character, I guess. But, I've yet to see a male character that has those types of traits throughout the entire film. Give it a watch. Kids can get something out of it as well as adults. If you don't want talking dinosaurs and generic characters, you might not like it.