Dinosaur

Technically proficient, occasionally even breathtaking and artistically pioneering, but narrative inert, Dinosaur plays like a less memorable retread of The Land Before Time. While that film gave us several memorable characters, both from their presence in the original film and the fact that they were franchised in such a manner as to even make Disney blush, Dinosaur gives us hollow emotions but pretty images. It’s enjoyable, but almost in spite of itself.

As with most reviews, Roger Ebert nailed it by stating: “An enormous amount of effort has been spent on making these dinosaurs seem real, and then an even greater effort was spent on undermining the illusion.” Truly, Dinosaur is most engaging when it sits back and just observes these animals, and comes to a grinding halt when it tries to make them as cutesy and cuddly as the forest denizens of Bambi or pride land dwellers in The Lion King. The original idea was to have Dinosaur be completely silent, making it essentially an upgrade to “Rite of Spring” in Fantasia. The first five minutes plays out how this film would have played out, and it’s the unquestionable highpoint.

We follow the journey of a random Iguanodon egg from the nest after its mother is forced to flee following an attack by a Carnotaurus to an island of lemurs. Once we land on this island, and all of the characters start talking, the problems quickly compound upon themselves. The lemurs and dinosaurs rarely appear to be occupying the same frame, with the dinosaurs covered in cracked lizard-like skin, and the primates looking like leaping bits of cotton balls. They’re so fuzzy and soft, sometimes to the point where they look like more traditionally animated critters next to the realistic dinosaurs.

The asteroid attack is quite beautiful, looking like heaven crying hot white tears, but it’s so dark in comparison to the rest of the film. The Carnotaurus is appropriately frightening, but the complete evisceration of the lemur island is an entirely different subject. As are the numerous scenes of dehydration, starvation, and general cruelty, Dinosaur can’t decide if it wants to be a faux-nature documentary or a silly kiddie film. It splits the difference, and ends up being a bit of a mess. The faux-wildlife documentary is the approach I would have taken, with occasional bits of narration to really sell the illusion. Yet I get the choice to make them talk and appear more humanistic. Would children and families have sat through an entirely silent, slightly scary and dangerous movie about dinosaurs being actual beasts?

But for special effects work that is fifteen years old, it’s still surprisingly solid to look at. Age shows in spots, mainly in the asteroids hitting the earth, the lemurs, and trying to stick cute, big Disney eyes on its heroic dinosaurs, but most of it is still gorgeous. That opening scene is a wonder, effectively combing live action backdrops with CG animals to create images that look like they could have plausibly happened in the era. The hulking mass of these animals is felt in numerous scenes of them interacting with dirt, rocks, water, or each other. Maybe the best way to watch Dinosaur is to mute the sound, and just bask in the images. The plot and characters are unimaginative and nondescript, but it’s combination of live-action and animation is still shockingly sturdy.