Hello & welcome back to A Look at Disney and today, we continue our Dino-Rama event with our first film review of the event as we look at Dinosaur from 2000.
Trailer
Yeah, this trailer is okay and does give you a good sense of what the movie is going to be like. Though I do recall that early on, the original trailer had no dialogue as the original intent of this movie was for it be silent and only have the story told through the actions of the dinosaurs and I honestly think that would have worked better than what we got.
The Plot
We open on a gorgeous shot of a dinosaur egg travelling as a mother iguanodon has abandoned her nest and we follow this egg for some time before being picked up by a Pteranodon and we get an aerial view of the egg's journey as it soon dropped on an island of lemurs and we soon see the young baby dinosaur hatch and he is soo adopted by one of the lemurs named Pilo, she takes in the baby igunodon and names him, Aladar. Many years pass and we see Aladar helping his closest friend, Zini prep for finding his mate But alas, it turns out not to be as all the lemurs but Zini get partnered up with someone but honestly, I can't blame the girls for not choosing him because, really, would you want to go out with someone that calls himself, The Love Monkey. Yeah, I thought not.
Though, this is all for not as soon, a meteor hits the island and kills most of the lemurs, leaving only Aladar, Zini, Pilo, his grandfather, Yar and Pilo. While walking for some time, our family come across a herd of a multitude of species of dinosaurs and this is when we are introduced to our main villain, Kron and his second in command, Bruton. After being attacked by a group of velociraptors. We learn that the leader, Kron believes in the survival of the fittest as Aladar decides to stay back with a couple of older dinosaurs, Baylene, Eema, and Url. Aladar decides to stay behind with the elderly dinosaurs and it is also during this time that the iguanodon develops feelings for Kron's sister, Neera. They are on a journey to find a nesting ground and from here, it really becomes just a movie of following the dinos walking. Sure, there are some conflicts that arise such as Kron not liking Aladar falling for his sister or how Aladar stands up against Kron.
But there really isn't much in terms of conflict here. We follow the dinosaurs as they find the river but it has all dried up and all seems lost. However, Aladar and Baylene through some stomping of the feet discover that there is still water there but Kron has already moved the herd forward and Bruton is sent out by Kron on a scouting mission. He soon catches up with Aladar's family and the older dinosaurs and they are soon cornered by a carnotaurus. Through this interaction, Bruton does come to see the error of Kron's way and he sacrifices himself. And it is during this that they are a rainstorm and they find a nesting ground. Aladar loses hope at first but is inspired to keep going and soon with the aid of Eema, they find the valley and knock down a wall. But they soon discover that a landslide is blocking the original entry to the valley. We cut back to Kron, who thinks that the herd can climb over the landslide. Aladar runs to catch up to the herd and warn Kron and the herd that it's too dangerous and that there is a safer way. Kron is having none of it and angrily attacks Aladar and he gets the herd to listen to him and they are about to leave until they are attacked by the same beast from before. Kron thinking that he knows what's best decides to take on the much bigger dinosaur. Aladar and Neera take on the dinosaur but it soon kills Kron and it seems all is lost but really, that guy had it coming to him. The herd takes Aladar in as their new leader and he is more than obliged to have this role and he leads the herd to nesting ground through a safer space and we soon see that a new generation of dinosaurs being born starting with Aladar and Neera's children and the lemurs have found more like them and plan to go start a new life together.
If I had to use one word to describe this film, it'd be generic. It's not bad but I feel like that we've seen the idea of this idea film better in other areas. Now, I will give the film this much credit, the integration of the computer animated dinosaurs with the real world backgrounds is great as a good majority of the backgrounds of this movie were shot on location. And whoever the location scout was did a fantastic job.
Characters
Main Characters
Aladar voiced by D.B. Sweeny
Aladar is a nice enough character but there really isn't a whole lot to him. He's just your standard nice guy character that loves kids and wants to see right by the ones that he cares about and that's about it.
Neera voiced by Julianna Marguiles
Neera is likable enough character but like Aladar, there really isn't much to her. I got the sense at first that the film almost wanted her to have a Jasmine like personality, when she looks down on Aladar and calls him, a jerk-saurus. But that really went nowhere.
Supporting Characters
Zini voiced by Max Casella
This character sure did exist and I wish that he didn't because he was annoying and easily the worst part of the movie. His comedic relief was not needed and he only brought the movie down . This is a bad example of comedic relief and that's a shame, when Disney is known for greats like Timon and Pumbaa or Genie but this character really served no purpose in the grand story.
Pilo, Yar, & Suri voiced by Alfre Woodard, Ossie Davis, & Hayden Panettiere
Aladar's family, while not having much to do are still pretty likable. It's clear that they do care about him and only want to see the best for him.
Baylene and Eema voiced by Joan Plowright & Della Reese
These two were really likable and it was a treat to watch them as you could feel their age and that they were just trying to catch up but they struggled. You could see that they were really trying.
Url voiced by Frank Welker
Url is a sweet little character that takes to Aladar pretty fast. He carries on the tradition of dinosaurs acting like dogs a la Dino. Though, it is a little strange considering that all the other characters in this film are dinosaurs.
Villains
Bruton voiced by Peter Siragusa
Bruton is really just Kron's second-in-command and he serves that purpose rather well but that's really about it.
Kron voiced by Samuel E. Wright
If that name looks familiar, that's because Samuel E. Wright was the voice of Sebastian.
But as you can probably figure, this is a different type of character. Kron is more in line with being the leader that thinks he knows best. Even though as we know that's not the case and he is pretty bullheaded. And that is his ultimate undoing.
My Final Thoughts
This film at best is forgettable. There's no real need to go out and see it. It's not the worst movie that Disney has ever put out you aren't losing anything if you don't watch it because at the end of the day, it's just okay. Join me next time as I look at the first two episodes of...
Power Rangers: Dino Thunder
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