Ralph Zondag and Eric Leighton direct D. B. Sweeney, Alfre Woodard and Ossie Davis in this first feature length CG animation from Walt Disney studios.

One downtime day when they could not get a special effect working on the set of Robocop, Paul Verhoeven and Phil Tippett devised a dinosaur feature where they would never have to worry about live action humans integrating unsuccessfully with go motion FX. They hired The Wild Bunch writer Walon Green to bash out a script… and 15 years later the end result was a Disney cartoon with all of their unlikely names floating around the periphery credits. To say Dinosaur was unduly dark or violent because of these early stage talents is unfair, you could pretty much say there’s a certain uncomfortable edge to well over half of the Mouse House’s kids films. But the plot has an apocalyptic air that is startling yet also a John Ford wagon train bonhomie, a jovial sense of community, that is the flick’s true strength. I’m guessing Walon brought that to the table. The combining of live action landscapes with CG creatures is successful – especially in the thrilling opening prologue which is dialogue free… a choice the whole movie should have made. And the subtext of out with old / survival of the fittest in a shifting landscape is curiously apt considering this is Disney’s first attempt to cut loose and leave behind hand drawn animation. Ultimately here is a fine, if a bit bland, adventure but the providence of Dinosaur proves fascinating.

6

Perfect Double Bill: The Good Dinosaur (2015)

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