Dinosaur

Rating:
Summary: Dino-riffic
Review: Rumor has it that some kids like dinosaurs. Well, at least that is what I have heard. I bet the folks at Disney heard the same thing. So, they chose a movie about Dinosaurs to be their first 'In-House' computer generated film. (TOY STORY and A BUGS LIFE were created by PIXAR). Visually and musically, the film is nothing short of a masterpiece. From the opening, following an Iguanadon egg on a tremendous journey, A huge comet destroying the dinosaur common ground, all the way to the finale, a pull back to reveal several new dinosaur families who found the breeding grounds, avoiding extinction. All of this under the melodic and haunting musical score by JAMES NEWTON HOWARD. Unfortunately, there is more to a movie then just the visuals and the music. The screenplay quickly becomes an episodic journey to find the breeding grounds. That is not always a bad thing but in this case, the episodes always culminate in our heroes running from the carnotaurs. Frightening as any T-Rex, the Carnotaurs may have been relentless killers back then, but it can get a bit old on screen. Couldn't conflict come at least once in some other format? Fortunately, the film matures around the problem and its resolution is well worth while. A fantastic film. The Deluxe DVD is mastered beautifully with a DTS soundtrack that'll shake your living room apart. And the hours and hours of extra material are always worth a listen. Enjoy Dinosaur.

Rating:
Summary: Great for the dinasour lover in the family
Review: Kept me on the edge of my seat while watching with my daughter. She loves to watch it!

Rating:
Summary: Watermark Appears every 20 min or so. Don't Buy it!
Review: I like the movie. It's true that Disney should have developed the story more before they started animating it.

I saw Dinosaur in the theaters and bought the Collector's Edition when it first was available from Amazon.

This DVD works great with my DVD without any problem (I have a Sony DVP-S7000).

However, if you are thinking about purchasing the "Collector's Edition" you should know that a very annonying white outline of a dinosaur appears about every 20 min for about 30 sec (superimposed ON the film image, lower righthand corner).

Way to go Disney! What were you people thinking? Let's put a watermark that shows up and ruins the display of the content. Very, very disappointing and distracting.

I would have given this movie 4 stars (for the animation, texturing and compositing with live film footage). But with that watermark this DVD's a stinker (1 star is too good)! I'd recommend you wait until they release a real Collector's Edition. Get it together Disney!

Rating:
Summary: Cool Graphics!
Review: I think it's neat how they put the dinosaurs in with the real backgrounds. It's a cute movie for kids!

Rating:
Summary: Dinosaurs + lemurs = fun + excitement
Review: "Dinosaur" is a visually stunning prehistoric adventure, told with amazingly detailed computer animation. The story centers on Aladar, a young iguanodon who is raised by a peaceful tribe of lemurs. After disaster strikes their island, Aladar and other members of his inter-species family must undertake a dangerous quest for a new home.

"Dinosaur" is in some ways an old-fashioned animal tale a la "Bambi," with an interspecies group of talking animal characters. Unlike similar films like "The Lion King" and the "Land Before Time" series, in "Dinosaur" there is a clear distinction between the carnivores (presented as monsters who do not engage in speech) and the other animals.

The visuals of "Dinosaur" are truly amazing. The filmmakers had me hooked with the stunning opening sequence, which features many different prehistoric species and locales. The animation is superbly enhanced by the outstanding vocal performances of a talented all-star cast. D.B. Sweeney is an appealing hero. Joan Plowright and Della Reese have great chemistry as a dino duo. And Ossie Davis is both grouchy and sweet as the lovable lemur patriarch.

"Dinosaur" is a story of survival and courage, friendship and family. There are some scary scenes, but they are offset by many scenes of tenderness and humor. And the film as a whole is enhanced by James Newton Howard's emotionally rich musical score. This is a good film for all ages, and just may spur younger viewers to dig into educational fare about the species here depicted.

Rating:
Summary: Typical Disney ...
Review: The film looked great--computer animation at its finest. Then, "the dinosaurs opened their mouths." It seems Disney has once again ripped off everything it has already done to make a trite, predictable, politically-correct, movie--but this time it has dinosaurs in it. I once heard it remarked that Disney is getting far too preachy, and this is no exception--the ultra Politically Correct "Good guy" dinosaur triumphs in the black and white cookie cutter struggle with the ultra non-PC "Bad Guy" dinosaur in a way that was utterly uninspired, unrealistic, unemotional, and almost unwatchable. If you are an unintelligent 10 year old child who was raised on the usual fare of dumbed down Disney ... you are sure to like it, otherwise, please pass it by. Maybe I'm being overly harsh--just the other day I watched the masterpiece Princess Mononoke, and had an epiphany--Disney is bad. There are so many good movies out there (most of which are not American made and do not pass through the Hollywood butchering shops), why waste your time on this?

Rating:
Summary: From Disney, a rather blunt Fable...
Review: A Fable is a tale that often involves animals, but always has a very blunt moral or lesson to its telling. The tortoise and the hare, for example, always ended with that line: "The race does not always go to the swift, but to those that keep on running."

Disney, with this movie, made a Fable with a message of teamwork. In and of itself, the movie is a good, if straightforward, story. Survival of the fittest vs. The good of the whole and working together come to vivid life with an incredible computer generated world of dinosaurs and lemurs. It's cute, it's fun, and it's just scary enough for young kids to enjoy but not be frightened of.

It's also way too dark. Not in a metaphorical sense, but in a "I can't see what the heck is going on" sense. On my television screen, which is a mid-sized set, the night and cave scenes were more like voice-overs to a blank black screen than a movie.

So, if your child is up for a lesson in teamwork, this is a good movie for him or her. But as an adult, I didn't find much to keep me going in this one (certainly nothing as on par as "The Emperor's New Groove," for example). I found I enjoyed watching the graphics and scenery, but not so much the plot.

Rating:
Summary: No Jurassic Park but still cool
Review: If you're a dino nut like I am then you'd love this movie. It's got a fairly entertaining plot about a mixed herd of dinosaurs trying to get to a new home, but the real high point of this movie are the dinosaurs themselves. While nowhere near as cool as Jurassic Park, it features dinos not seen in either Jurassic Park or Lost World, including Carnotaurs and Ovaraptors (my two favorite dinosaurs woo hoo)Some of the dinos are rather cartoony in their faces, but the carnovores all look very lifelike. This movie is a must for any and all dinousaur junkies

Rating:
Summary: NOTHING LIKE THE LAND BEFORE TIME
Review: I see that some people think that Dinosaur is just a copy of "The Land Before Time". I don't think it's anything like "The Land Before Time". HELLO- "Land Before Time" didn't have lemurs in it, and it was all cartoon. I think that Disney took a long time to make this film for everyone to enjoy, but everyone is just putting it down. I read that it took around 12 years to make this film, with all the REAL backgrounds. I think it was very creative to have real backgrounds with an animated movie....

Rating:
Summary: Very realistic
Review: I love this movie though there's lots of violence in it. The dinosaurs look so real and the music is good too!