The Good Dinosaur

[RyGuy]

I saw it last night with my kids. We all enjoyed it. The plot is predictable (and at times cliche). It pulls the typical emotional punches you'd expect in a movie such as this, but to me they did not feel forced. I didn't find the designs to be that distracting because the entire story flirts with fantasy anyway. Since the plot isn't realistic, I didn't expect the characters to look realistic.

If I were to pick one word to describe the movie it'd be sweet. It's a pretty simple story told (for the most part) in a linear fashion. I'd compare its tone to The Fox and the Hound. It was charming enough that I'd watch it again, but I doubt this will be a fan favorite.

[taei]

I went to see this last night.

I wrote down a bunch of stuff below, nothing too spoilery. The only thing that you might not want to spoil is the last paragraph which I've hidden. It's not a specific spoiler, but it's something that you might want to discover in the movie and not before, cause without it, this movie doesn't really have much to offer, save for the animation.

I thought it was okay. It had a lot of heart but was missing the captivating story. I liked playing the "What scene in a Disney or Pixar movie was ripped off in this scene?".... There are a lot! Like seriously, a pack of raptors, grumpy male, aggressive female, and dumb male? Who thought that was a good idea? We've all seen The Lion King!

I found the designs to be distracting, but that's mainly due to the jaw dropping background animation. The background animation in this movie is so good that I found myself focusing more on that than the story. I guess it might be because the story wasn't really demanding a lot of attention. But the background animation makes this worth seeing on a giant screen.

As for the designs.... It bothered me so much that you'd have carnivorous Dinosaurs and they'd have rounded teeth. They were not sharp. I understand that they wanted a kid friendly simplistic design, but that just didn't work for me. How can they even chew on meat? It also bugged me that T-Rex bites did instantly impale whatever they bit.

I felt like there were characters that were completely wasted. The pet collector was in just one scene and you've seen it in the trailer, the T-Rexs should have been in the movie longer. The Raptors I was glad to see little of, cause they were kind of an abomination.

I will say this though.... This movie is surprisingly violent for an animated movie. And while there was a mother at my showing who yelled "Jesus!" at one scene, I fricken loved it! It was so satisfying to see the animal kingdom depicted realistically in a Disney/Pixar movie! It reminded me a lot of Finding Nemo (minus the fantastic story). <--- Last paragraph

Side note:
And one last thing... Have we ever seen a parent go out of control in an animated movie? I thought that was very touching cause sometimes parents get so frustrated and they accidentally go out of control.. Taking about Arlo's father forcing him to go after Spot before he died.

[Lady Cluck]

This wasn't the best Pixar film by any stretch of the imagination but it was very cute, fun, and BEAUTIFULLY animated. The scenery was absolutely breathtaking, and I got used to the cartoony characters to be honest. I wouldn't have traded the lush environments they created for a more cartoonish world

It seemed a little more geared towards kids than Inside Out, but I still enjoyed it and it does have some mature themes that got me a little teary, though they weren't really anything new - making your dead parent proud by finding your place in the world and all

Some of the side characters were out of place and odd to me, but I enjoyed the T-Rexes.

[Kyle]

So, where were the easter eggs? I don't recall hearing ratzenburger or seeing a pizza planet truck. Or any type of reference to another pixar film, aside from a newt, if that even counts.

[DancingCrab]

And one last thing... Have we ever seen a parent go out of control in an animated movie?.

[Miss Manday]

So, where were the easter eggs? I don't recall hearing ratzenburger or seeing a pizza planet truck. Or any type of reference to another pixar film, aside from a newt, if that even counts.

Ratzenburger was one of the raptors.

[stevemcqueen]

Blu-ray/DVD/Digital/3D Release date is February 16th, 2016.

Source

[blackcauldron85]

I absolutely loved this movie! It absolutely was sweet, but it was very exciting, too. I laughed, I cried, I was very into the story.

[Maerj]

I absolutely loved this movie! It absolutely was sweet, but it was very exciting, too. I laughed, I cried, I was very into the story.

Agreed. This was very good, we loved it! To compare this to 'Inside Out' as some have is not right. Two completely different films. This one may be a little more lightweight but there's nothing wrong with that once in a while. It had heart and humor and the backgrounds were absolutely stunning.

[Patricier21]

I really hope that Pixar (and Disney or any other film study for that matter) learns from the bizarre scene in The Good Dinosaur (you'll know what I mean when you see it) that they will not put any other sort of scene in their movies from now on.

A fruit scene that is completely out of context and makes no sense whatsoever. Would that really do that to you? It seems as though all of the other elements in every other Pixar film made sense and was completely believable as such but then this comes through. And like I said, considering the movie's mixed reception and currently underperforming box office numbers, that must tell you something. Its not that big of a stretch to suggest that this scene could have tainted people's feelings towards the rest of the movie (even if it actually did get better after this scene), also bringing other complaints about it to a brighter light when otherwise they may have been disregarded.

I cannot believe that anyone would even think that you'd want something like that.They actually had the sense to cut a similar Cars 1 Deleted scene that thankfully got changed to something not only less disturbing but more functional for the story in the final film. Seeing something ridiculously bizarre (not to mention pointless and about as "out there" as you can go) happen to characters that you love just smugs you and makes you never look at them the same way again. There are appropriate ways to tell the story and create humour with it than to resort to bizarre adult referenced humour. They have done that in the past with all of their other films which from the look of things are going to be a lot more successful and memorable then this will be.

It is also unchallenging and unimaginative that they have to result to desperate, bizarre humour just to tell a story. They have discarded these kind of elements from their movies in the past, and all of their movies before now would probably have not been as memorable or celebrated had they kept those elements in. They have created movies that challenged them and brought out the bestow their imaginative thoughts before now. Was the delay in production enough to tear it out of them? Yet, they revamped the entire movie of Toy Story 2 (aka my favourite movie and the movie that made me want to get into making movies (and NOT animated movies for that matter, just movies in general)) in 9 months when it was normally a 4 year process. Here they revamped the entire movie in 2 years and 3 months. What happened? Did they forget the process that they went through and how that film turned out? While others may not like it as much as me, consider the following facts:

Toy Story 2 has a 100% rating on Rotten Tomatoes

It won the Golden Globe for Best Picture (as in for ANY movie in general, period)

It made pretty close to $500 Million at the box office

I've yet to meet one soul (online or not) who was disappointed in it. Even those who normally hate sequels say that they loved this one. "The rare sequel that is just as good or better than its predecessor." I've also met many people who even say that they liked this one better than Toy Story 3 and consider it one of Pixar's best.

Now let's look at The Good Dinosaur:

78% on Rotten Tomatoes (even lower on other critic sites)

Pretty much the lowest opening in Pixar's history (and considering that ticket prices are more expensive and it has the 3-D element, the movie's opening should be higher than the movies which were released in 2D, which were more than half of the previously released ones)

Quite a lot of people (even those that did like it) have called it disappointing or even "meh" and most have agreed that they would have cut this messed up bizarre scene out of the movie.

Bottom line is that Pixar could have challenged themselves and put more imaginative input into this movie like they have in the past. All reviews and reactions that I have seen towards this movie state that they didn't even find that it felt Pixarish.

And by the way, Inside Out earlier this year had the biggest opening (excluding Toy Story 3) of all time for Pixar and the biggest opening for an original movie AND the biggest opening for a second place at the box office movie. It was loved by most and you would think that this fact along with the popularity of dinosaurs, fuelled by the to grossing movie of the year (and the top 3 highest grosser of all time), that it would be enough to make this movie do better and even receive a better acclaim.

[Kyle]

I really hope that Pixar (and Disney or any other film study for that matter) learns from the bizarre scene in The Good Dinosaur (you'll know what I mean when you see it) that they will not put any other sort of scene in their movies from now on.

A fruit scene that is completely out of context and makes no sense whatsoever. Would that really do that to you? It seems as though all of the other elements in every other Pixar film made sense and was completely believable as such but then this comes through. And like I said, considering the movie's mixed reception and currently underperforming box office numbers, that must tell you something. Its not that big of a stretch to suggest that this scene could have tainted people's feelings towards the rest of the movie (even if it actually did get better after this scene), also bringing other complaints about it to a brighter light when otherwise they may have been disregarded.

I cannot believe that anyone would even think that you'd want something like that.They actually had the sense to cut a similar Cars 1 Deleted scene that thankfully got changed to something not only less disturbing but more functional for the story in the final film. Seeing something ridiculously bizarre (not to mention pointless and about as "out there" as you can go) happen to characters that you love just smugs you and makes you never look at them the same way again. There are appropriate ways to tell the story and create humour with it than to resort to bizarre adult referenced humour. They have done that in the past with all of their other films which from the look of things are going to be a lot more successful and memorable then this will be.

It is also unchallenging and unimaginative that they have to result to desperate, bizarre humour just to tell a story. They have discarded these kind of elements from their movies in the past, and all of their movies before now would probably have not been as memorable or celebrated had they kept those elements in. They have created movies that challenged them and brought out the bestow their imaginative thoughts before now.

What on earth are you talking about? And yes, I've seen the movie.

[JeanGreyForever]

I really hope that Pixar (and Disney or any other film study for that matter) learns from the bizarre scene in The Good Dinosaur (you'll know what I mean when you see it) that they will not put any other sort of scene in their movies from now on.

A fruit scene that is completely out of context and makes no sense whatsoever. Would that really do that to you? It seems as though all of the other elements in every other Pixar film made sense and was completely believable as such but then this comes through. And like I said, considering the movie's mixed reception and currently underperforming box office numbers, that must tell you something. Its not that big of a stretch to suggest that this scene could have tainted people's feelings towards the rest of the movie (even if it actually did get better after this scene), also bringing other complaints about it to a brighter light when otherwise they may have been disregarded.

I cannot believe that anyone would even think that you'd want something like that.They actually had the sense to cut a similar Cars 1 Deleted scene that thankfully got changed to something not only less disturbing but more functional for the story in the final film. Seeing something ridiculously bizarre (not to mention pointless and about as "out there" as you can go) happen to characters that you love just smugs you and makes you never look at them the same way again. There are appropriate ways to tell the story and create humour with it than to resort to bizarre adult referenced humour. They have done that in the past with all of their other films which from the look of things are going to be a lot more successful and memorable then this will be.

It is also unchallenging and unimaginative that they have to result to desperate, bizarre humour just to tell a story. They have discarded these kind of elements from their movies in the past, and all of their movies before now would probably have not been as memorable or celebrated had they kept those elements in. They have created movies that challenged them and brought out the bestow their imaginative thoughts before now.

What on earth are you talking about? And yes, I've seen the movie.

I think he/she means the scene where Arlo and Spot eat the hallucinogenic berries. I don't really see the big deal with that though. Personally, I think the most disturbing scene was when that small cute creature that Arlo helped save was devoured.

I actually enjoyed the film a lot. The opening wasn't particularly engrossing, but the movie picked up when Arlo met Spot. Those two's relationship is really what made the movie for me and I was engrossed in their every scene. I didn't find any of the side characters compelling though, besides the t-rexes. The animal menagerie dinosaur in particular wasn't very funny imo.

I wasn't a fan of the ending, because I wanted Spot to go home with Arlo. The random humans felt too contrived imo and done just to add a final emotional punch to the film which really wasn't necessary.

[milojthatch]

It's official, PIXAR isn't perfect at the Box Office.

The Pixar brand is not bulletproof after all. The computer animation leader saw its latest entry The Good Dinosaur open in second place with some of the worst numbers in company history launching to an estimated $39.2M over the Friday-to-Sunday span and $55.6M over the long five-day holiday frame. The last 13 Pixar films all generated bigger opening weekends across the last 16 years. The only ones to debut smaller were the company’s first two films in the 1990s – Toy Story and A Bug’s Life – and both of those sold more tickets than Dinosaur did.

Reviews were not as glowing as for recent original Pixar films, but they were still very strong. The CinemaScore grade was a solid A so those who did come out and buy tickets enjoyed the product they got. In a first, Pixar released two films in the same year as The Good Dinosaur followed June’s Inside Out which bowed to a much more muscular $90.4M over a standard three-day weekend. Dinosaur‘s look and feel were more kid-oriented too so some of the non-family crowd – which Pixar films do great with – skipped this time around contributing to the deficit. The last seven consecutive films from the toon giant all opened north of $60M.

Disney still has plenty of time ahead. With good word-of-mouth, Dinosaur should continue to play as it faces no competition over the next two weeks. Historically, Thanksgiving kidpics with positive buzz can finish with three times their 5-day openings or more. Of its 15 movies over two decades, Pixar’s lowest grossing film ever is 1998’s A Bug’s Life with $162.8M. Reaching that mark is not guaranteed right now for The Good Dinosaur.

Overseas openings were also softer for The Good Dinosaur. Compared to the debuts for Inside Out, Mexico was down 59%, the U.K. fell 61%, France was down 39%, Argentina was off 33%, and Russia was down 73%. Many key markets will open after Christmas.

http://editorial.rottentomatoes.com/art ... aur-creed/

I'm kind of sad about this, but on the other hand the last few PIXAR films just were not as good in my option. The last PIXAR film I LOVED was 2011's Toy Story 3. I've just not been as excited about any film from the studio since then. They've just all been kind of *blah* sadly. For me, I'd have to say PIXAR's Golden Age was Toy Story to Toy Story 3. Even the weakest films of that era were more entertaining then everything since.

Well, anyway, the over all Box Office is still not settled. The Good Dinosaur could start to do better the next few weeks. I'll be interested to see how it fares. I'm sure Disney will still make their money, but I have to wonder if the PIXAR brand has been damaged beyond repair anytime soon? Cars 3 probably won't help it! o_0

[Sotiris]

I wonder what Pixar will take away from this. Will they rethink their strategy of releasing two films in one year? Will they push for even more sequels? Will they write it off as just a fluke?

[Lady Cluck]

Sequels sequels sequels are on the horizon anyway so it probably doesn't matter, but I'm disappointed it didn't do as well as Pixar films usually do. The marketing probably didn't really grab people's attention, but it was solid family entertainment at least on par with overrated far-from-masterpiece Pixar films of the past like Finding Nemo.

I think it could have box office legs and still make a decent amount through the holidays though.

[DisneyFan09]

Yet, they revamped the entire movie of Toy Story 2 (aka my favourite movie and the movie that made me want to get into making movies (and NOT animated movies for that matter, just movies in general)) in 9 months when it was normally a 4 year process. Here they revamped the entire movie in 2 years and 3 months. What happened? Did they forget the process that they went through and how that film turned out? While others may not like it as much as me, consider the following facts:

Toy Story 2 has a 100% rating on Rotten Tomatoes

It won the Golden Globe for Best Picture (as in for ANY movie in general, period)

It made pretty close to $500 Million at the box office

I've yet to meet one soul (online or not) who was disappointed in it. Even those who normally hate sequels say that they loved this one. "The rare sequel that is just as good or better than its predecessor." I've also met many people who even say that they liked this one better than Toy Story 3 and consider it one of Pixar's best.

While I'm not picking on "Toy Story 2", I'll personally not as fond of it as the majority. It's not bad, it's just vastly overrated and inferior to it's predecessor. "Toy Story 2" feels duller and sappier at times and while it has it's moments of sheer charm, it's just less appealing as a whole.

I wonder what Pixar will take away from this. Will they rethink their strategy of releasing two films in one year?

Disney's did it as well in 2002. They released the low budget "Lilo & Stitch" in June, which turned out to be a huge hit. And released the more expensive "Treasure Planet" five months later, which turned out to be a huge flop. And the rest is history (unfortunately). But I'm wondering what Pixar will take from this as well.

[Patricier21]

What on earth are you talking about? And yes, I've seen the movie.

I think he/she means the scene where Arlo and Spot eat the hallucinogenic berries. I don't really see the big deal with that though. Personally, I think the most disturbing scene was when that small cute creature that Arlo helped save was devoured.

I actually enjoyed the film a lot. The opening wasn't particularly engrossing, but the movie picked up when Arlo met Spot. Those two's relationship is really what made the movie for me and I was engrossed in their every scene. I didn't find any of the side characters compelling though, besides the t-rexes. The animal menagerie dinosaur in particular wasn't very funny imo.

I wasn't a fan of the ending, because I wanted Spot to go home with Arlo. The random humans felt too contrived imo and done just to add a final emotional punch to the film which really wasn't necessary.

Its not so much that they hallucinated but what the images were of when hallucinating. The Pink Elephants sequence did not do anything to Dumbo yet here we see Arlo and Spot in a very bizarre way that makes me never think about them the same way again. And again, the fact that they hallucinated (in a way that did not make any sense at all for the record) when it seemed very out of place like it was not even part of the same movie and for no real reason to have it in there makes me disturbed. I know Pixar can do better than this. Like I said there was a very disturbing deleted scene that they cut from Cars 1 that would have been funny to some but what they had in the final film was not only more creative and challenging but it still created more humour and felt more natural and appropriate for the movie. While I can disregard this scene through simple fan editing, whats to say that something like this will occur in Toy Story 4 or another Pixar film? It may not be so easily edited away or disregarded next time.

[rodis]

That's disappointing about Dinosaur but Pixar went through a similar situation with Cars 2 in 2011: not breaking the $200 million mark domestically and getting a 6.3 on IMDB and 39% on Rotten Tomatoes. And coming off a huge hit back then as well.

But they were able to bounce back so who knows.

[JeanGreyForever]

I think he/she means the scene where Arlo and Spot eat the hallucinogenic berries. I don't really see the big deal with that though. Personally, I think the most disturbing scene was when that small cute creature that Arlo helped save was devoured.

I actually enjoyed the film a lot. The opening wasn't particularly engrossing, but the movie picked up when Arlo met Spot. Those two's relationship is really what made the movie for me and I was engrossed in their every scene. I didn't find any of the side characters compelling though, besides the t-rexes. The animal menagerie dinosaur in particular wasn't very funny imo.

I wasn't a fan of the ending, because I wanted Spot to go home with Arlo. The random humans felt too contrived imo and done just to add a final emotional punch to the film which really wasn't necessary.

Its not so much that they hallucinated but what the images were of when hallucinating. The Pink Elephants sequence did not do anything to Dumbo yet here we see Arlo and Spot in a very bizarre way that makes me never think about them the same way again. And again, the fact that they hallucinated (in a way that did not make any sense at all for the record) when it seemed very out of place like it was not even part of the same movie and for no real reason to have it in there makes me disturbed. I know Pixar can do better than this. Like I said there was a very disturbing deleted scene that they cut from Cars 1 that would have been funny to some but what they had in the final film was not only more creative and challenging but it still created more humour and felt more natural and appropriate for the movie. While I can disregard this scene through simple fan editing, whats to say that something like this will occur in Toy Story 4 or another Pixar film? It may not be so easily edited away or disregarded next time.

Was how the hallucinations depicted Arlo and Spot really disturbing to you? All it did was swap Arlo and Spot's heads on each other's bodies, which I didn't find particular disturbing, but maybe it was to some. The only scene in the film that I found off-putting was seeing that creature get devoured.

I will agree though that the hallucinatory scene wasn't really necessary and I didn't completely understand it at first. Especially since they had just consumed berries a little bit before this so I thought they would be safe. But I don't think it was meant to be disturbing, just comical.

[estefan]

I think it's way too early to declare Good Dinosaur a flop (that's one of my issues with modern box-office analysis, that people are so quick to judge a film's success or failure after only a couple of days). I think it will keep on playing through the holidays and while it might not reach Inside Out numbers, it could still reach a perfectly satisfying total.