All Good Things

20 years and 3 days, that is the time that passed between Pixars first and most recent release. Since the release of the original Toy Story in November 1995 the studio (under the umbrella of the all conquering Disney) has produced no less than 16 feature films, and of course countless shorts and other such side projects.

In that time their work has racked 26 Academy Awards, 3 Grammys and 5 Golden Globes. They have brought to the world some of the greatest animated films of all time and seemingly have moved from one hit movie to the next though of course there have been one or two bumps in the road along the way, Cars 2 we are looking at you.

At their peak Toy Story 3 took over a billion dollars at the global box-office and was until the release of Frozen (another Disney film no less) the most successful animated feature of all time. As the title of this post suggests however nothing lasts forever and eventually all good runs must come to an end, as a supporter of Liverpool FC I know this to be true only too well.

Which of course brings us to 2015 which is to date the only year in which Pixar have released two movies in the same calendar period, choosing historically to work on one project before moving onto the next (though of course behind the scenes they are always working, working, working). In June we were given Inside Out which was a big hit, in fact it was their biggest release since Toy Story 3 and their third biggest of all time in regards to its box-office takings. So of course had they left it there then it would be fair to say that all would still be rosy in the Pixar universe but of course they didn't leave it there because in November they brought us The Good Dinosaur which I have now seen with Megan, my 7 year old daughter, hence the review before your very eyes.

As usual there are spoilers beyond this point.

The film tells the tale of a family of dinosaurs (Aptosaurs' to be precise) who in an alternative timeline to real world events are living as farmers in a world where the creatures are the civilised ones and men are nothing more than savage beasts, more wild animals than sentient beings. Mummy and Daddy Aptosaur have three children, two of whom are perfectly normal and useful around the farm whilst the runt of the litter Arlo (who is of course our hero) struggles to fit in and help out. Long story short a young human is stealing the familys food and so Daddy takes Arlo out to catch and kill the critter only for Daddy dearest to be washed away to his death by a huge wave. Here in lies the first problem with this film in that there is no real emotional connection built between the audience and Arlo to this point and so when he loses his father you don't really feel sorry for him in the same way you do Bambi or Simba.

The boy turns up again and Arlo gives chase but gets washed away by a river (there is a lot of water based chicanery in this film, I'm not sure if it's supposed to be a metaphore or not but it does get played to death). From there he bonds with the boy who becomes his pet and whom he names Spot. They of course run into a variety of other creatures on their journey to get Arlo home to his family, the first of which is a weird Styracosaurus who is frankly bizarre, not as bizare however as the drug induced hallucinations Arlo and Spot have when they eat some dodgy berries, yes it only last a matter of a minute or so but it feels really out of place in a Pixar movie.

They then meet some Pterodactyls who seem like good guys but are not and then some T-Rex's who of course seem frightening but are friendly as you like. The film then briefly becomes a western of sorts as the Rex's are cattle herders and Arlo helps them find their herd before he nears home, facing his fears before getting there as he has to save Spot from the aforementioned Pterodactyls. As he nears the inevitable reunion with his folks Arlo runs into a family of wild humans who bond with Spot and take him as their own (think the ending to Ice Age and you get the idea). Arlo is reunited with his family and the film draws to a close.

Now the first thing to say about The Good Dinosaur is that it looks amazing but then you'd expect nothing less from Pixar who have made their living by producing some stunning visuals but unfortunately theres not alot else that the film has going for it. Now that may seem a little harsh and it is by no means a bad film but when you compare it to what has come before (which you invariably will) you can't help but feel a little short changed by the company that have historically smashed it out of the park.

As I have already stated there is no real emotional connection to this film and because of this you don't get invested in Arlos journey or really care whether he makes it back or not. This is about as far removed from the concern the viewer feels as it looks like Woody and Co are going to be burnt to death in Toy Story 3 as it gets and that is a real shame as I wanted to get swept along with Arlo but it just never happened for me.

I did say however that I watched this with my daughter and at the moment that Spot leaves Arlo to join his new family she was bawling so the film most definately connected with her on some level which is of course what Pixar is aiming for, I'm hardly their target audience now am I?

As far as The Good Dinosaurs success goes it is at the time of writing the first money loser that has come off the Pixar production line as it has not made enough to break even worldwide. Why is this? Is it because the film isn't very good, or were people on such a high after Inside Out that anything released so closely after was going to be a let down no matter how good it may or may not have been? The truth is likely to be somewhere in the middle as a combination of a substandard plot and audience apathy worked its forces against the films success.

When you consider that The Good Dinosaur was originally slated for release in 2013 and that it had been in the workings since 2009 you have to wonder if all of the changes that it went through prior to its release also helped work against it being successful. or example, the director of the movie was replaced in 2013 and then in 2014 its release was shifted once again after the entire film was reimagined due to the entire story not working in the way the studio envisaged. When there are stories regarding problems that any film is having it automatically makes audiences wary of what the final product is going to be like, you only have to look at Josh Tranks Fantastic Four to know that a problematic production can kill afilm stone dead before it even gets released.

HAving said that The Good Dinosaur is nowhere near the abomination that Fanstic Four is and based on the reaction it illicited from my daughter I am going to score it a very reputable 7 out of 10. My advice would be ignore the stories of how bad this film is and give it a go, sure its not Pixar at their peak but its still a worthwhile movie to entertain your kids with.