One dinosaur’s goal to find a place in his family where he belongs, takes him on a journey of personal discovery, in Pixar’s “The Good Dinosaur”. The film raises an interesting question: What if the asteroid that forever changed life on Earth missed the planet completely and giant dinosaurs never became extinct? In this eye capturing journey into the world of dinosaurs, an Apatosaurus named Arlo (Voiced by Jack McGraw) makes an unlikely human friend, in a cave boy named Spot (Voiced by Jack Bright). While traveling through a harsh and mysterious landscape, Arlo learns the power of confronting his fears and discovers what he is truly capable of, while trying to find his way back home. “The Good Dinosaur” is a bit of a change of pace from Pixar’s usual schtick. Sure, there is usually a sentimental message, but it’s rarely treated as the complete tone of the movie, and that is what leaves a warming feeling inside of everyone coming out of this film. I thoroughly enjoyed this film, and it’s certainly a front runner for the most beautiful animation of 2015.

The first half hour of this movie really floated by smoothly. The plot to the film is a little simple, but it keeps the attention of it’s audience by leaving the contrived subplots on the editing room floor. The real bread and butter from the movie comes from the friendship of Arlo and Spot. These are two outcasts who have been left behind from the progression of two families cast in the rearview mirror of their current predicaments. Their chemistry and bond was built so strong that I was brought to tears in the final minutes of the film, when they are presented with a tough decision. It’s not often that this cold heart is moved to the point of wet eyes, but that’s really the kind of trust that writer and director Peter Sohn has in a script that did it’s homework on animated buddy films of the 90’s. Aside from the two child stars who voice Arlo and Spot, the movie is blessed with strong voice work from Frances McDormand as Arlo’s mother, the sternly voiced Jeffrey Wright as Arlo’s father, and the movie’s antagonist Thunderclap, voiced by Steve Zahn. On the latter, I feel like this movie kind of shoehorned in a villain to this story. It feels like a studio made move, as Thunderclap is in two scenes in the entire movie, and doesn’t even show up until there is 35 minutes left in the movie. His presence isn’t all that intimidating, and I felt it only took away from the building of the relationship between our central protagonists.

I mentioned the animation earlier, and I have to give props to Pixar for creating their most visually surreal movie since “Wall-E”. When I saw the trailer for this film in Spring of this year, I worried endlessly about the design of Arlo and his family when compared to the rich and live action backgrounds that are present in the film. I couldn’t have been more wrong, as “The Good Dinosaur” combines a rich blend of color tapestry for the extinct animals of the film, as well as an eye popping background shots that gives the movie a three-dimensional feel when the shading of our characters are present with their surroundings. Perhaps the most impressive aspect of the movie’s cinematography is the wonderful effects work of a couple of storm scenes. It’s the little things from the splashing of the rain against the creatures, to the slow-but-progressing reaction to the calming of each storm that really gives this movie an honest aspect to the presentations creatively that it gives our younger audiences. One interesting tidbit about the design is that the dinosaur statues in this year’s “Inside Out” are used as kind of a hidden Easter egg for the ones used in this particular movie. Pixar is known for hiding certain secrets that relate to other films, and it’s cool to see the relationship between two films that i feel are among the very best in animated cinema this year.

This review would be getting a big disservice if I didn’t mention the emergence of goose bumps on my skin by a well timed musical score by brothers Mychael and Jeff Danna. There are many times throughout the movie when the musical composition tells a story in tones that our characters can’t quite comprehend in speech, and it always pointed us in the right direction for the appropriate moments. There are many times in films (Especially in kids movies) where I feel like the film’s score can do damage by manipulating the audience into feeling a certain emotion, but in “The Good Dinosaur” the tones follow the moves of the characters and not vice versa. The brothers Danna set the mood for a movie that would be lost in direction without such an important score, and their time invested into the film deserves as much of the credit as Sohn does creatively.

Overall, “The Good Dinosaur” earns it’s accolades by being a film that doesn’t follow suit with the creature movies that want to make kids laugh with cheesy vocal work. It’s an honest and heart warming movie that is as moving as anything currently playing in theaters. It has a rough time during the second act, when some less than stellar elements are introduced, but if you enjoyed the first half hour of this movie, I think those rare slow spots aren’t going to do much to get in the way of your enjoyment for the film. The kids will have a good time, but like it’s 2015 Pixar counterpart “Inside Out”, this film will be appreciated by the adults alike, for it’s unmistakable positive message that reflects on us to find the place inside our own families where we belong.

7/10