The Good Dinosaur (2015), PG, ★★★

A dinosaur and his boy story.

Let's think about this. What happens if the asteroid missed hitting the dinosaurs 65 million years ago? The dinosaurs would not mind and just go on eating grass and maybe eating other dinosaurs. However, this has been a dinosaur mania this year with Jurassic World coming out earlier this summer, which was a fun summer popcorn flick with flaws and illogical situations. But, Pixar had a great movie, Inside Out, which is one of the best movies of 2015, and it has been a while since Pixar has released two movies in one year. With this late release from Pixar, even though it is not at the top of their game, it is a technical achievement with an average but adorable story.

Poppa Henry and Momma Ida (voiced by Jeffrey Wright and Frances McDormand) have three dinosaurs but their youngest and mischievous is Arlo (voiced by Raymond Ochoa). However, as they are hunting for food near a river, both Poppa Henry and Arlo get separated as Poppa is being carried down the river. The kids try to help Momma gather food before the winter as fast as they can without Poppa anymore. However, Arlo see a corn cob fly out of the silo and finds the boy eating the corn and blames Poppa's death on the kid. But, they both fall in the river and Arlo gets injured.

When the kid saves Arlo from being stuck, during a rain storm, Arlo provides some shelter but still does not have food. The boy comes around and brings what he thinks are suitable meals for Arlo. A few were questionable to eat but when he brings a branch with berries, Arlo is satisfied. They try to survive as they also encounter dinosaurs along the way and find some food and also try to find his family.

The luscious scenery. 

It is interesting to watch Disney release 2 Pixar movies with Inside Out and this movie but this was a good adventurous time at the movies. However, there is not much surprise from this movie since it is a simple "boy-and-his-dog" story about them finding their way back home except it is the other way around. It is a bit refreshing but when the clever premise turns back in itself, the movie becomes formulaic and predictable as we need to have villains to set up the climax. I am getting tired of these by-the-numbers climax in which a villain has to be required to make the story excited. Plus, somehow they try to distribute a message across the movie but it's not executed pretty well.

But, on the other hand, I enjoyed the movie because of the interaction between the dinosaur and the boy and also how they interact via pantomime with sticks. Plus, there is a scene that did not quite tear me up as much as their first Pixar movie this year but it is profoundly moving. Also, this is probably one of the beautifully animated movies I have ever seen with the animators delivers some luscious atmosphere and realistic settings that gets you involved in their journey. It is spellbinding. Granted, this is not a top-tier Pixar movie but it's a good movie for the family to watch. I liked it.

***