Disney's Dinosaur

Initial Thoughts

           

Well, here's our first Disney film, and it’s also an older film that came out in the year 2000.

Sure we had seen movies involving dinosaurs before (such as Jurassic Park); however, in the latter movie the dinosaurs were seen as the antagonists. We had never really seen a movie just about dinosaurs and their interactions with the environment.

Also, at the time, the special effects were groundbreaking, as it was one of the first movies in which the animators were able to go into much more detail with the animation. Animating each individual muscle allowed them to give each dinosaur its own personality simply by creating brilliant and unique facial expressions. 

However, is the story and plot as good as the special effects? Is it believable? Is the writing good? Let’s find out! This is Disney's Dinosaur!

Story/Plot: 8 out of 25

            Now, at the beginning of the movie, when the monkeys are on their island, the story was interesting. Aladar had an interesting background and the lemurs had their yearly rituals, which created good plot devices. But when they leave the island and are introduced to the other characters, the storyline falls apart and there are little (if any) plot devices or twists after that point. Which is pretty disappointing, seeing how I really did enjoy the storyline at the beginning of the movie.

            The storyline sort of just disappears; I believe this is because they introduced other characters. This is one problem Dinosaur has; they focus too much on character development, and not enough on developing the story. You see, most of the time, when a director or writer wants to show character development aside from the animation and issues in the characters life, they make the character interact with other characters. This allows the audience to see how the characters react in many different situations and also gives the screenwriter a chance to show off all the dialogue that s/he chose for the movie. However, most of the time these scenes do nothing to further the story, which is why many writers attempt to keep these scenes short but sweet. Here, these scenes are very long and abundant. They are still well done, which gives us interesting characters to watch, but the story and plot just aren’t as prominent as they should be (especially for a Disney film).

Characters: 25 out of 25

           

Even though the story is definitely lacking, one thing Dinosaur does get right, are the characters. The spectacular animations definitely help speed up and add to character development. Because of the unique way they were able to create great facial expressions, the audience is able to observe the character and watch its interactions with the world before his/her dialogue starts.

            Also, many of the characters seem real, not only in their dialogue, but in their actions, how they interact with everything. It’s quite clear that Disney really did their homework when it comes to knowing about dinosaurs. As each dinosaur acts the way its species would act, this is not only interesting, but really adds so much atmosphere to their prehistoric world.

            Finally, their dialogue seems real. This is also thanks to the work of the fantastic voice actors, who did a marvelous job on making their character seem natural. The writers also did a fine job of choosing dialogue that helped further develop each character. This is also why whenever a character is killed, you either feel sorry or satisfied. In addition, this movie has one of the most epic death scenes ever!  

Special Effects: 25 out of 25

           

As I have mentioned previously, the animators were able to make every muscle in every dinosaurs body move. This helped with character development and just making the movie a wonder to look at. Along with that, the special effects are also nice and crisp SGI, unlike other movies at the time (e.g. Battlefield Earth). They also added camera effects, such as a blur effect during the final death scene.

            Overall these special effects made the movie jump off the movie screen.

Soundtrack/Writing/Lasting Appeal:  17 out of 25

            The soundtrack was absolutely fabulous! Which is no surprise coming from Disney. Whether you recognize it or not, the soundtrack plays a much bigger role than in other movies. In every scene the soundtrack really helps bring out the important emotions. Yes, the dialogue and effects do a good job with that too, however it’s the soundtrack that ultimately puts the icing on the cake.

            The writing on the other hand was lacking, sort of the like the story and plot. The writing felt rushed. The overuse of filler is the main cause of this. However the strong writing for character development helps counter this, which is why the rating didn't get any lower.

            The lasting appeal is very strong. The main reason for this is that by the end of the movie, the characters have been so well explained, and so fleshed out that they could be real. And because of the emotional impact, the audience cares a lot about the characters’ heartaches, which makes it hard to forget about them after the movie is finished.

 Final Verdict

75/100

Good

I can safely say that many audience members will be delighted by this movie. Strong characters, groundbreaking animation, and a great emotional impact. Not everything is perfect, but what it does get right, it really gets right.