Hi folks! Welcome to my My Own Personal Nerdy Disney and Animation Scrutinizing Analysis blog. A blog where I'm analyzing several Disney films, Disney or Animation in general! These entries are just meant to be my analyses. Not reviews or statements. Just fun analyses! Though I'll make some personal remarks now and then, the content of these entries are meant to be depicted objectively. They're made for entertainment purpose only and the pictures/clips are copyright Disney or other companies.
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And finally; If you haven't seen the films, beware of spoilers! And the funny lines aren't meant to be nothing than funny. So I hope you won't find them offensive. If so, I apologize
This entry was originally written when we got Pixar's first venture into the dinosaur territory. So I thought I could synergize with this entry about Disney's previous dinosaur movie. Which was simply called Dinosaur.
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| Yes, it's the opposite of comfortable to have that many dinosaurs inside of my eye. What did you expect? :) |
In many ways, dinosaurs have always been perfect creatures to depict in movies. Due to the fact that they're extincted creatures who don't exist on this planet anymore (whether it's unfortunate or fortunate it's debatable, haha) and therefore can be easily brought to life on film. Perhaps that's what triggers people's fascination for them. For being exotic and rare creatures who's extincted from this planet today. It wouldn't be an understatement to confirm that movies about dinosaur are rarely know for elaborate and complex plotlines (for obvious reasons). But they've still been regular re-visitors in cinematic history and TV shows.
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| At least I can have this Jaw open... for a minute :) |
A Short Dinopedia
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| You'll be surprised if you'll survive this walk :) |
Don Bluth and Steven Spielberg's The Land Before Time is among the well-known features about dino's (which has turned into a vast, extended franchise). And you don't need a reminder of what a huge phenomenon the Jurassic Park franchise has been! Now we've gotten a reboot with the franchise. 2015's Jurassic World became one the most grossing films at the time. And it's sequel grossed $ $1,308,467,944 millions to date! Even the successful Ice Age-franchise had dinos in their third movie (despite some reservations from members by the crew).
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| We're Modern Family, the dino versions :) |
Another famous dinosaur property that's worth to mentiom is the documentary-series Walking with Dinosaurs from 1999. That was made in the same mold as regular documentaries about animals. And let's not forget Jim Henson's animatronic Dinosaurs series in 1991, which of course was entirely fictional and anthropomorphic.
Of course dinosaurs have been regulars on other animated TV shows, Like Denver The Last Dinosaur, which was about a lost dinosaur living with current humans. And speaking of which, let's not forget the stereotype of dinos and cavemen existing together in the same time period. As evident in the unknown The Flintstones (yes, note the sarcasm, folks ;)
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| We're the dysfunctional One Direction and we don't know why we are so! :) |
Of course dino-movies have a long history prior to these features, starting with the short Gertie the Dinosaur in 1914. But we're not having a dino movie encyclopedia here, are we? ;) But at least dinosaur are perfect for stop motion, animatronics and last, but not least CGI. The CGI in the original Jurassic Park received a lot of praise for it's CGI during it's time. And the use of CGI have improved a long way since. Yet CGI was actually used for this feature that we're going to discuss.
History of Disney`s Dinosaur
In May 2000, Disney finally released their much delayed and expensive contribution in Dinosaur. Director Paul Verhoeven and special effects wizards Phil Tippet suggested the idea in 1986, while the screenplay was written by outsider Walon Green. It was originally scrapped because of it's costs, but got revived later on. 
Michael Eisner revitalized it to synergize with the DinoLand attraction in Disney's Animal Kingdom (though it opened two years prior to the release of Dinosaur). And also to compete with Pixar's upcoming CGI releases (with a good reason, since Pixar managed to gain their own legacy and identity that would outshine Disney).
It's no understatement to say that Dinosaur was Disney's first big film for the millennium. But it was never included among the canon list, until it was mysteriously added almost a decade later to make Tangled the 50th feature (way to mess up your list, Disney).
As with most post-Aladdin films, Dinosaur had a summer release. But it was also a rare CGI feature without Pixar at the time. Disney merged with the studio The Secret Lab to have their own equipment (though Disney originally wanted to rent George Lucas' Industrial Light & Magic IML for the job). While hesitating at first, Disney wanted to differentiate their dinosaurs from Pixar by giving them their own look.
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| I'm so cute that you'll forget that I could chew you when I grew up ;) |
Final Reputation
Unfortunately Dinosaur haven't stood the test of time. While it was far from a flop financially (grossing §349,822,765 Worldwide), it's general reception was lukewarm from critics. The same could be said about the public, who didn't warm up to the movie. Which is probably the reason why has become somewhat semi-forgotten today.But what hampered Dinosaur from being a so-called classic?
First Theory: Comparisons to The Land Before Time
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| Of course he doesn't look like me, I cloned him! :) Duuh :) |
One pivotal reason is how audiences were never compelled by the derivative Land Before Time-esque plot. While Dinosaur may not be an identical copy of Bluth's feature, the similarities are still overt and obvious. It's basically another Moses-esque plot with some elements of Tarzan into it It also takes obvious cues from Bambi/The Lion King as well (birth and rebirth opening and ending the movie).
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| Yes, I'm curious if you're an actual gorilla or an costume :) |
Critics weren't compelled by the characterizations either. The charismatic protagonist Aladar (D.B. Sweeney) was panned for being too bland and pure to be interesting. The lemurs, especially the wisecracking Zini (Max Casella), were also criticized for being too contrived and shoehorned in (and yes, the infant Suri was played by, yes, Hayden Panetierre). The elderly duo Eema (Della Reese) and Baylene (Joan Plowright) gained more praise from critics and audiences for being more engaging and compelling as a whole.
Reasons For The Simple Storyline/Discarded Ideas
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| No, we're not those from The Lost World :) |
The simplistic plot was exectued because of two mayor reasons; That Dinosaur was originally conceived as a concept the studio wanted to try, rather than a story they wanted to tell (understandably enough). And because of it's long production and budget, the executives of the studio demanded the complicated story elements of Dinosaur to be excluded and demanded the plot to be simple. Dinosaur had already been into production during three years in 1998 and there were almost no footage made! 
The original outline had Aladar and Bruton (Peter Siragusa) as separated brothers who were reunited after the big Meteor strike. Another version had Aladar (then called Noah) traveling with his grandparents. Though it seems as the quest for the lost paradise was a part from the get-go. Chris Farley was originally a part of Dinosaur, voicing a wisecraking, clumsy brachiasaur named Sorbus. But his unfortunate death by an drug overdose made the creators scrapping the character.
Second Theory: The Dinosaurs Talking
Another criticism is how general audiences were repulsed by the dinosaurs actually speaking. Well, that complaint is legit enough. Especially due to how naturalistic and realistic they look. Which pretty much could be said about the rest of the film. The pantomime opening was put as a trailer. Which was a conscious choice, to replicate The Lion King buzz. The teaser captivated (and frightened) moviegoers, but obviously gave them false expectations about the movie. And therefore disappointed them.
My Own Opinion About the Speaking Dinosaurs/Some Trivia and Scrutiny
Personally I was never repulsed by the dialogue! For some reason I thought it worked Though it's remakarble how in true Disney fashion (and once again), the protagonists/good dinosaurs are given dialogue. While the predators and certainly the Carnotaurus (who were originally scavengers) are "mute" and naturalistic (kudos for not choosing Tyrannosaurus Rex this time!) But fortunately the voice actors never overshadows the characterizations in this movie (the ruthless Kron was voiced by The Little Mermaid's Samuel E. Wright, who played Sebastian). 
Several people (and scientifics) were also outraged by the inclusion of the lemurs in the same time period as dinosaurs. Why actually having lemurs at all is in an interesting question. But it was a conscious choice from the get-go (but remarkably enough Tarzan broke that rule as well, since it had lemurs and they only live in Madagascar).
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I tried so hard to sing You'll Be in My Heart that he wanted to hear more, I fell asleep :)
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My Own Theory About it`s Dismissal/Rating
Perhaps Dinosaur came at the wrong time. Perhaps audiences weren't truly ready for a Disneyfied dinosaur movie. Perhaps Dinosaur never really resonated enough with an audience to spell them. Perhaps also due to Dinosaur can be perceived as neither fish nor fowl; Being too scary for kids and too simplistic for adults (though of course this could be subjective).  |
| Don't mistake me for El Toro ;) |
Despite it having it's puns and wisecracks (especially Neera's line; "That children, is known as a Jerkasaurous"), it's wasn't praised for them, either.
Dinosaur is rooted and steeped in Disney's famous and pivotal components. But it was Disney's first film in fifteen years to receive a PG rating since The Black Cauldron (one that The Hunchback of Notre Dame deserved as well).
Despite being quite cute and fluffy, Dinosaur is not particularly too syrupy either. It's dark, gloomy and even explicit at times! More than expected, actually! Even the happy ending has a bittersweet feel to it (due to that we know what happened to dinosaurs at the end). Though it would be easy to label the happy ending as too Disneyfied and contradicting with history, the creators claimed that the movie was about how the dinosaurs adapted and survived the meteor strike. And how it was the beginning of the end of the dino era (though not all of the species in the movie lived in the same time period).  |
| We didn't know how to build a sandcastle, so therefore this result! Blame our thumbs! :) |
What Dinosaur Received Praise For: Visuals
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| I'm not letting him watch The Jungle Book more from now on :) |
The most impressive about Disney's Dinosaur's visuals is how much detail and care were given to the skin to the dinosaurs. It's impressive and it's possible to see the ripples on their skin. As well as the fur to the cute lemurs, modeled after real sifaka lemurs. An entire new computer system was made for the fur. But the lemurs weren't the only inaccuracy, as grass was present in The Nesting Grounds sequences.
Music
The score was written by James Newton Howard. Dinosaur was a rare Disney animated feature at the time to not have any songs at all, not even the end-credit single. Though Howard initially wanted to place a few songs in certain places (the Courtship and the Aftermath), they never quite worked within the movie. Kate Bush had originally written a song that was excluded, because it didn't resonate with audiences. Disney asked her to rewrite the song and Bush refused. Though Dinosaur was far from Disney's first non-musical film ever made, it certainly began the new trend of non-musicals which Howard would successfully score for in the future (as Atlantis The Lost Empire and Treasure Planet).
The eclectic score itself, while being loud and boisterous at certain parts, is actually quite well made and pull of the right strings. But a head-scratching part of the soundtrack is the inclusion of Lebo M! It was actually a conscious choice by Chris Montan, to give the score some flavor to some sections! Though the intention was to not replicate a The Lion King feel, the chants still have an African feel to it. It's may be an odd compromise, but still not something mismatched either (despite that the crew were apprehensive about it at first).
Epilogue
Despite it's shortcomings, Dinosaur has grown to become a guilty pleasure of mine. My love for the film has grown since I initially saw it. I consider it to be an odd, but genuinely good film with great visuals, score and various memorable scenes. While I was initially underwhelmed by the movie for all it's aforementioned flaws, the film has happened to grow on me, nonetheless.
The characterizations, while not being unforgettable, are neither awful. The aforementioned opening has been praised by critics, along with the meteor strike.  |
| This time it started with an egg, though Walt would hate me for using this phrase ;) |
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References;
Dinosaur Collectors Edition DVD.
Dinosaur - The Evolution Of An Animated Feature (Jeff Kurtti)
Starlog Special Edition; Dinosaur.
http://web.archive.org/web/20030203052904/http://www.animated-movies.net/Dinosaur.html
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0130623/trivia?ref_=tt_ql_2
http://www.boxofficemojo.com/
http://filmschoolrejects.com/features/history-of-dinosaur-movies.php
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/film/jurassic-world/history-of-dinosaurs-in-cinema/
https://www.google.no/?gws_rd=ssl
http://www.boxofficemojo.com/news/?id=4406&p=.htm
Ice Age 3: Dawn Of The Dinosaurs Blu Ray
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