El viaje de Arlo

I'm in my twenties and to be honest, I still enjoy watching Pixar films with my family. There's just something so genuine and beautiful about their movies, not to mention the endless amount of lessons one can learn.

When I initially read the reviews about "The Good Dinosaur", they were all so bad. It didn't stop me from watching though and I do not regret that decision. This has got to be one of the most heartwarming Pixar films I've ever seen and it tugged at my heartstrings. I was crying throughout the movie especially towards the end.

The thing about being an adult, we tend to overthink something so simple. The plot isn't something grand. It's not funny. It's cute. If you're looking for a film like the classic Pixar favorite "Toy Story", forget about watching this. It's a really simple storyline that focuses mainly on teaching the importance of family, dealing with fears and overcoming them as well as finding oneself or making your mark in this world. View "The Good Dinosaur" with an open mind and just be ready to enjoy the movie without reading too much between the lines. The good thing about Pixar films is that they remind you how wonderful it is to still be a kid at heart. This movie is no exception. In fact, I think this joins the ranks of "Finding Nemo","UP", and "Inside Out". Everyone has a right to their own opinion, but I can't help but wonder why majority just plain dislike this movie.

If you're on the fence after reading one too many 1-star reviews, I say go ahead and still watch it. Judge for yourself. Be pure hearted like a kid and try to embrace the beautiful lessons of the film. Allow it to engulf you and touch you. If you have a kid/kids, this would be one of those perfect films to have a hearty conversation with afterwards. It's very inspiring, really.

Give "The Good Dinosaur" a try. Oh and one more thing, don't be afraid to cry while watching this. I've seen this twice and still end up a mess every time.

I felt compelled to write a review, primarily because there are so many "1 star" reviews taking up residence on this site. Let's be frank, folks. If it wasn't Pixar, you wouldn't be whining about how "awful" it was.

Here's the truth for those who are actually interested in seeing it: it's a pretty great flick.

I would love to hop on here and tell you that everyone's wrong and it's the most amazing animated movie I've ever seen, but that wouldn't be true. I would honestly say it's near the bottom when compared to all the other Pixar films.

But it's still a lot of fun. Here are the most laudable aspects, in my humble opinion:

1: The animation is the best Pixar has done to this point. It's truly beautiful! They did a tremendous job of capturing the beauty of nature, from forests to prairies, and interposing an almost cheesy-looking dinosaur in the midst of it was fantastic. Don't waste your time with a DVD on this one, splurge for the Blu-Ray.

2: The characters are heartwarming, and the plot is simple. Frances McDormand is especially wonderful as the mother of the simple farming family of apatosaurs, and the characters are driven by simple values like family and hard-work. I understand why many were frustrated with the simplicity of the plot, but do we always have to jump the shark in a movie? It's a fun and beautiful journey.

3: It's a beautiful parody of a classic western story/film. I'm a little annoyed that the previews didn't push this aspect more, because a lot of the movie-bashing is based on the fact that people didn't get the story they expected. This is not unlike classic Disney movies like "The Incredible Journey." Don't expect something modern or game-changing here. This is just a twist on a classic homecoming story.

I hope this preview helps dispel some of the hate. It's a fun movie, and worth a watch, even if it's not my favorite Pixar.

If you can make it through the tedious first third, it's not a bad little movie. The interplay between Arlo and Spot is generally enjoyable (the first really good scene is Spot trying to feed Arlo). The movie can be quite funny, somewhat thrilling, and occasionally touching.

So basically, if this was some kids cartoon from some lesser studio, this would be pretty good. For Pixar though, it's a big disappointment.

One of the film's biggest flaws is also one of its greatest strengths; the animation. On the one hand, the landscapes - forests, rivers, fields - have an amazing photo-realism that mark them as an incredible achievement in animation. But this hyper-realism makes the main dinosaur breed look terrible; they are about as realistic as the cars in Cars, and it's like someone filmed a sock puppet show in the Grand Canyon. It's the thing most reviewers seem to talk about, so it's rather amazing that Pixar didn't see the problem themselves.

It's not that the dinosaurs needed to look real, but the insistence on those giant, soulful eyes made the heads misshapen, and the colors are too clean and shiny to meld with the environments. Other breeds of dinosaurs and insects have an acceptable cartooniness, but Arlo is just annoying in design, creating a constant de-immersion signal.

The story is conventional and predictable, the emotional moments feel manipulative, but still, it's not bad as kid's cartoons go. But it sure isn't what we expect from Pixar.

So this movie is probably a lot better than what you might have heard. But some parents may have some issues with the themes and things portrayed in here in general. It may be a bit too much for their children to watch. There are some adult situations here (as in life happens and the "brutality of it", without getting explicit), some dramatic moments that may stay in ones mind.

Having said that, you could say, that this is challenging and if you really think about it, animated movies in the past that are considered classics, had some horrible moments in them (without spoiling the moments, just two examples: Bambi and Lion King). Even the Last Unicorn had some dark themes in it. So maybe we try to overprotect children, where they don't need to be protected? It's a fair question though, but the movie handles it very discreetly and to the point.

After being blown away by Pixar's previous film 'Inside Out' (which is one of their best too), while not really deserving of so many 1- star reviews 'The Good Dinosaur' disappointed on many levels.

Not just lesser Pixar but a contender for their worst too, even more so than the often panned 'Cars 2' (which to me while not great was not that bad). It is a long way from an awful film, certainly much better than several reviews have lead you to believe (seeing as 1- star indicates no redeeming qualities, which is not the case here), but considering Pixar's usual incredibly high standard I was expecting so much more.

There are a number of good things here in 'The Good Dinosaur'. Much of the animation is spectacular, including some of Pixar's most gorgeously vivid colours and some of their most stunning and rich- in-detail backgrounds. The music score is both whimsical and energetic, and the film also benefits from some clever casting and very strong voice acting, Sam Elliot in particular stands out. Many have complained of Arlo's voice work, it wasn't a problem personally.

On top of those, 'The Good Dinosaur' does have some genuinely funny moments (mostly visual), parts that are genuinely touching, some thumping, thrilling action, a beautifully realised central friendship, an endearing lead character in Arlo and an inspirational main message (as a matter of fact, all the lessons and messages the film teaches are great). So a lot to admire.

However, 'The Good Dinosaur' does fall short. While there is much to admire in the animation overall, it also contains the least appealing character designs in any of Pixar's film, the photo- realistic look looks cartoony rather than realistic and jars against the vivid backgrounds . While keeping things simple can work in a film's favour, 'The Good Dinosaur' is rather too simple and straight-forward that the storytelling while not completely dull lacks momentum and veers on being too paper-thin and simplistic as well as being too predictable and familiar. Target audience is also an issue.

Adults may find themselves checking their watches, not that it's completely dull but unlike much of Pixar's other films it is not consistently captivating. And with children, while this viewer usually tries to not complain about anything being too dark or unnecessary and has been known to defend films criticised for that 'The Good Dinosaur' is an example of a film where that criticism is valid and understandable, because there is some dark and disturbing content (like a decapitation and a drug reference) that added absolutely nothing and quite frankly had no place in a family film. The violence is similarly gratuitous. The script is inconsistent in the laughs and emotional investment factors and is not as clever, witty, insightful or as intelligently structured as the writing for Pixar's best, coming across as even more paper-thin and simplistic than the storytelling and the dialogue itself is often cheesy and clichéd.

In conclusion, not as bad as most have made out but very much a lesser Pixar. Has enough good merits to make it watchable, but it's the only Pixar film to date to disappoint me. Very hard to decide between a 5 or 6, as it was actually not easy to rate, so it's got a 5.5/10 (somewhere in between). Bethany Cox