Series Intro: This is Part 39 of a multi-part retrospective of Walt Disney Animation Studios' endeavors.
Official Title: Dinosaur
Release: May 19, 2000
Running Time:82 minutes
Estimated Cost: $127.5 million
Estimated Revenue: $349.82million
Overall Rating: 3 stars out of 5
Plot Summary:
Baby Aladar, the Iguanadon, gets adopted by a family of Lemurs and they live a happy life until a meteor nearly destroys their secluded island. Aladar and his family safely make it to the mainland and find themselves in the middle of a herd of herbivores making way to their nesting ground.
Aladar also finds himself in a power struggle with the herd’s leader, Kron (who is the older brother to Aladar’s love interest – Neera). Kron’s Darwin philosophy is that only the strongest survive, while Aladar makes sure that his new friends (elder dinosaurs) make it to the nesting ground.
Aladar, his family and the old biddy dinos separate from the herd. They find a short cut to the nesting ground, thanks to the attack of the Carnotaurs. Aladar goes back to save the herd and lead them to the short cut. Kron fights off the Carnotaur with the help of Neera and Aladar. Kron dies and Aladar seems to take on the roll of alpha of the herd.
Neera and Aladar mate and have their own baby, who also becomes adopted by Aladar’s Lemur family.
Songs:
Not a musical.
The score was decent, but I was never moved enough to notice it.
Plot Rating: 3 stars out of 5
The entire plot was that of Land Before Time, I honestly couldn’t believe how similar the two are!
I didn’t have any connection to any of the main characters, however I love the old biddies. This movie also didn’t have a recognizable villain. Yes, the Carnotaurs were bad, but they weren’t motivated by revenge or money like most of the previous Disney villains. Kron wasn’t a villain per se either, he was just doing what the herd had always done.
Animation Rating: 4 out of 5
The CG only stood out once or twice against the live backgrounds. The characters movements were fluid and the design was realistic (as far as the science of the time is concerned). All of the practice CG WDAS has done had really paid off!
The Test of Time:
WDW’s Animal Kingdom has a ride that was retro-fitted to be rethemed to match this movie (though the timeline suggests that the ride was intended to be themed to the movie from the beginning (with the ride opening just over two years before the film was released).
Beyond this attraction, I don’t think many children know about this film and it doesn’t have the following the Fairy Tale movies currently have.
This was the last Disney film I would see in theaters until Princesses and the Frog
Through the Modern Lens
This movie seems pretty flawless. Neera works hard to break traditional roles and even fights the Carnotaur! I guess my only problem was the way Kron treated the biddies, but he was of that type of mindset.
Next Up:
The Emperor’s New Groove (thus beginning the decade of Disney that I’ve never seen).
