Review of The Good Dinosaur (2015) by Torrey A — 17 Mar 2016

For every innovational film that pushes the boundaries of creativity like Inside Out and Wall*E, Pixar churns out 2-3 vanilla films that are pretty straightforward and ultimately forgettable. The Good Dinosaur falls into the latter category.

It's decent---hence the 3 stars. Even had a couple of heart string pulling moments, and I'll always credit a film that can get me to feel that. But the story is pretty straightforward with lots of running, running away, and overall chaos. I don't enjoy when films use the "running away from danger" bit as a story model like you see with most films nowadays. That said, the quality theme of family and coping with loss helps makes the countless bits of chaos more cope-able.

Also, while I wasn't a fan of the character design for any of the characters in the film, the surrounding nature is the best use of CGI I've probably ever seen. Everything looked so real. It was quite beautiful.

Lastly, this is one scary film for young kids. I know if I were still that age, I'd have nightmares. So if you have a kids that scares easily, I wouldn't see it yet.