Today’s quick review: Dinosaur. Aladar (D.B. Sweeney), a dinosaur raised by a family of lemurs, loses everything when a meteor impact wipes out their island home. Escaping to the mainland, Aladar and the surviving lemurs join a herd of dinosaurs who are migrating to their nesting grounds. But Aladar’s altruism makes him an enemy of Kron (Samuel E. Wright), the herd leader, who believes that only the strong should survive.
Dinosaur is an animated family adventure that offers a dramatized glimpse into the prehistoric world. The story follows Aladar, his adoptive mother Plio (Alfre Woodward), her father Yar (Ossie Davis), and the other survivors of a cataclysm as they embark on a long journey to reach a new home. Dinosaur takes a very different approach than other family films, but its unique visual style and mature story help it carve out a niche for itself.
Dinosaur’s visuals are its most striking feature. Unlike other animated films, Dinosaur aims for realism, with just enough artistic liberties to let its animal cast emote like humans. The movie uses highly detailed CGI models of dinosaurs and other animals against live-action backgrounds. The net effect is occasionally uncanny but oten beautiful. Even though the graphics show their age, they are still like nothing else.
Dinosaur’s story is another outlier. Where many family films are tonally light, packed with humor, and limited to very specific types of drama, Dinosaur portrays a genuine struggle for survival in a harsh world. The movie does not shy away from showing death and predation, and its conflicts are almost all life-or-death. Balancing out the drama is Aladar, a surprisingly responsible protagonist whose optimism is infectious.
How much you get out of Dinosaur can vary considerably. At its worst, it is a visually jarring movie with a serious story and none of the cartoon charm that nearly all of its competition has. At its best, it pushes the boundaries of the available technology to bring its unique vision to life. Try out Dinosaur if you are interested in a movie that takes calculated risks, many of which pay off.
For a more cartoonish take on dinosaurs, try The Good Dinosaur or The Land Before Time. For another animated movie from Disney about a baby adopted by animals, try Tarzan. For a more comedic prehistoric adventure, try Ice Age.
[6.5 out of 10 on IMDB](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0130623/). I give it a 6.5 to 7.0 for impressive visuals and an ambitious story with hit-or-miss results.