A Single Moment Can Change History -Pixar’s “The Good Dinosaur”

September 9, 2015 Leave a comment

Thanksgiving is about family, food and being together. This year be prepared to be swept away as the The Good Dinosaur” enters its way into theaters across the country and into your hearts. If the glimpse we saw at the D23 Expo is anything like the rest of the movie, The Good Dinosaur will touch your heart and mind, stay within in soul.

Like all things Pixar, this is a movie that is designed to make us laugh, to make us cry but most of all, tell a story in such an eloquent way that it will leave you wanting to hug and reach out to everyone around you. And yes, this is also one of those movies that will demand that you bring a tissue or two or three. Like many a Pixar movie before it, the film presents an epic journey, an unlikely friendship, and an emotional wave that swells from deep within that is meant to put you in touch with deep-rooted feelings you didn’t even know you had. After seeing The Good Dinosaur presentation at the D23 Expo, I promise that all of that all of this will come to pass and more.

“We’re putting everything we have into making an adventurous and emotional story,” director Peter Sohn noted during the presentation, which showcased a few clips from the movie as well as a lot more detail about its story. “It’s always started with: what if the asteroid had missed the earth?” says Sohn, who previously worked on The Incredibles and Finding Nemo, among others. “From there it’s been about trying to focus what the story is. In filmmaking, or at least those I’ve been a part of, stories can sometimes become two stories, or three stories — it’s been about trying to boil it down, and find the emotional arc.”

Without giving away too much of the plot, The Good Dinosaur asks the question: What if the asteroid that forever changed life on Earth missed the planet completely and giant dinosaurs never became extinct? The Good Dinosaur centers on Arlo, a young Apatosaurus who becomes separated from his family not long after losing his father. He soon meets Spot, a human cave-boy, and the two set off to find home. While traveling through a harsh and mysterious landscape, Arlo learns the power of confronting his fears and discovers what he is truly capable of. This is vintage Pixar fare at its very best with a smart reversal on what Sohn calls “a boy-and-his-dog story”.

What’s brand new for Pixar is the animation style: The Good Dinosaur is the studio’s first film to use photorealistic environments and at times you have to remind yourself that this is an animated movie. This may be a world that has very cartoon-like characters, but it also looks so incredibly photorealistic that you have to remind yourself at times that this is an animated movie.

Every clip we saw had a distinct lifelike feel to it while also giving its main characters the same cuteness that makes you want to take home each one of them and love them and make them a part of your family forever. What will happen to Arlo and Spot in their quest to be reunited with their family? Mark your calendars and get ready for The Good Dinosaur, roaming into theaters November 25