Ladies and Gentlemen, whether you like it or not, the Pixar Playlist
We find ourselves in a special situation with our next film, it’s the first Pixar film to make a loss at the Box Office, the Good Dinosaur
The film was Pixar’s second
release of 2015, but was originally scheduled for November 2013. This film was
in the works since 2009 under Bob Peterson and Peter Sohn, John Walker was also
apparently involved. This film was delayed twice after they found themselves in
a creative block, ultimately resulting in Peterson and Walker being removed
from the film, with John Lasseter, Lee Unkrich and Mark Andrews all brought in
to help Peter Sohn with the film. The script underwent major revisions during
this time.
Most of the cast was recast,
likely at considerable expense. And it’s hard not to think that this film’s
delays may have indirectly resulted in some of the layoffs that were happening
at Pixar at the time
None-the-less, the movie was released to critical praise, a 75% rating on Rotten Tomatoes but with a lower-than-average 6.6/10 average score. The film made $332m on it’s $175m budget. That may sound ok, but with marketing costs and theatre cuts taken from it, it spells around an $85m loss for the studio. So, why did this film fail to connect with audiences? Let’s take a look
The asteroid that originally
killed the dinosaurs missed the Earth, so dinosaurs still roam many years
later. We’re introduced to a family of Apatosauruses, Henry and Ida, and their
3 children: Buck, Libby and our main character, Arlo. Despite coming from a
large egg, Arlo is the smallest of the bunch and develops anxiety issues, even
being scared of feeding a chicken. This is a group of farmers and I have no
idea why herbivores are raising chickens but that’s by the by.
They need a stack of food for
the winter and to that end, Henry has created a storehouse, to keep the
“critters” out. With each member of the family doing their assigned duties,
they each make their mark, (read: footprint) on the storehouse. Arlo’s general
anxiety and clumsiness has left him behind. Sam tries to teach him but the
lessons don’t quite work the way they should. He’s left to guard the storehouse
but when the “critter” is captured, Arlo can’t bring himself to kill him and
lets him go. He and Henry head off in pursuit but during a flash flood, Arlo
succumbs to the Disney syndrome and loses a parent.
Upon spotting the “critter”
again, Arlo angrily chases after him and ends up swept away by the river.
Though he survives, he’s miles from home and it’s only through a newfound
comradery with the critter, a cave-boy he comes to call Spot, that he can
survive. But is that enough to fight the scary world that is encroaching on
them both?
The first positive I can say
about this film is the backgrounds look gorgeous. Pixar’s animation has never
ceased to impress and this might be some of their best work to date. The same
can’t be said for the foreground characters but I’ll get to issues with them
later. I want posters of these backgrounds on my wall, my god they’re so pretty.
They also do a really good job with moving water, which has become a real
showcase for Disney, between this, the water in Moana and the waves in Frozen 2
The story is relatively simple,
after all this setup it’s a standard journey, nothing too spectacular but the
execution here is solid. You do feel the connection between Spot and Arlo grow,
and it helps that Spot’s actions speak for themselves as he’s entirely without
dialogue. He acts kinda like a dog… make of that what you will.
The message that it’s not about
not being afraid being able to work through it is a solid moral, but fairly
simplistic and well-trodden, especially after Inside Out. Still, it’s a good
moral to send to children.
It certainly seems like the
rewrites may have benefited the film. It flows relatively well, it’s structured
decently and the only thing that really feels out of place are the Pterodactyls
which serve as secondary antagonists. Their style is very different tonally to
the rest of the film, but I do understand their purpose, a way for Arlo to
demonstrate his courage before facing the big climax of the inevitable
returning flood.
The voice cast all do a decent
job. Peter Sohn even providing his own voice for a minor role. Props of course
go to Raymond Ochoa and Jack Bright who play our leads and though I’m not
usually a fan, Sam Elliott has a decent performance as a t-rex.
Whilst the backgrounds look
great, the foreground characters do not mesh well with it. Spot gets a free
pass here but the designs of the dinosaurs in general do not fit with the
aesthetic the backgrounds are presenting. The focus seemed to be on making Arlo
look cute, and toyetic but a green dinosaur was not a great choice. The
backgrounds are reasonably realistic, and Arlo stands out as an oddity.
But the T-rex’s look hideous.
And this goes to their animation too. At points I thought I was looking at
Barney the dinosaur.
This combined with the
relatively simplistic story and message gives the impression that’s aimed at a
younger audience that your average Pixar movie. But there’s the problem, it
isn’t. This film is largely bittersweet, Arlo and Spot have to go their
separate ways in the end. The film isn’t really focused on being lively or
upbeat. It’s more about slow character growth, both in the terms of the bond
between Arlo and Spot and Arlo’s growth in terms of courage.
The contrast between what the
film might look like in a trailer, and what it actually is, may have contributed
to the financial failure of this film.
The Good Dinosaur is a solid
adventure with enough to keep young children happy, if they can get past the
movie’s more morose tone. The ‘cute’ designs of the dinosaurs don’t fit with
the film’s frankly gorgeous backgrounds making for a tonally confused movie, I
can see why it failed to find its audience.
#1 Inside Out
#2 The Incredibles
#3 Up
#4 Finding Nemo
#5 Toy Story 3
#6 WALL-E
#7 Toy Story 2
#8 The Good Dinosaur
#9 Brave
#10 Toy Story
#11 Monsters Inc
#12 Ratatouille
#13 Cars
#14 Monsters University
#15 Cars 2
#16 A Bug’s Life
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