The Good Dinosaur

It's the holiday time, and that means a lot of family fare. When one thinks of family fare, animated films certainly come to mind. We've seen many films, "The Peanuts Movie" is still in the theaters as I write this, but Pixar Animation Studios has brought us yet another gem, and it shines in the form of "The Good Dinosaur".

This film asks the generations-age question: What if the asteroid that forever changed life on Earth missed the planet completely and giant dinosaurs never became extinct? In this epic journey into the world of dinosaurs, an amiable young Apatosaurus named Arlo (Raymond Ochoa) loses his father (Jeffrey Wright) during a storm and Poppa is swept away by a vicious river current stranding Arlo in a frightening new place far from his home. While traveling through a harsh and mysterious landscape, he befriends a prehistoric human child known as Spot (Jack Bright) along the way, and ultimately ends up learning the power of confronting his fears and discovers what he is truly capable of.

Others to round out the cast are Frances McDormand as Momma, Marcus Schribner as Buck, Arlo's brother, Maleah Niray-Padilla as Young Libby, Arlo's Sister, Steve Zahn as Thunderclap, Mandy Freund as Downpour, Steven Clay Hunter as Coldfront, A.J. Buckley as Nash, Anna Paquin as Ramsey, Sam Elliott as Butch and Peter Sohn as Forrest Woodbush.

This was whimsically directed by Peter Sohn ("Partly Cloudy" (short) '09). Considering this is Sohn's first theatrical film in the director's chair, this was executed in ways that were amazing. These characters simply came alive assuredly as the story progressed. This filmmaker has done quite a bit of acting which certainly hasn't hurt his ability to direct. It was penned beautifully by Meg LeFauve based on a story by Sohn, Erik Benson, LeFauve, Kelsey Mann and Bob Peterson which is based on an original concept and development by Peterson. The continuity carried this film through an effortless process where one could just follow the flow of this with such ease. There were a lot of minds involved in the idea of the story, but when the rubber met the road, one writer came out of it credited in the writing, and this is what any studio or producer wants so the production doesn't get bogged down with the 'too many hands in the pot' philosophy. And what can I say about Pixar Animation Studios? You know, the same studio that gave us "Toy Story", "Cars", "Finding Nemo", "Monsters, Inc.", "Inside Out", "Up", and the upcoming "Finding Dory". Every project they touch turns to financial gold, as it should considering the incredible quality.

I've mentioned before and I'll say it again, how do those guys at Pixar do it? How do they create film after film giving us such simple topics and bringing them to life in ways that we would never see, and then after viewing them, walk out of the multiplex and be thinking about them long afterwards? How do they do it?

Out of 4 Stars: 4                                     Rated: PG                               100mins.