Dinosaur

Directed by Ralph Zondag (2000)

While I'm not sure Dinosaur enters my personal pantheon of childhood classics, the movie is surely endearing and fun. My girlfriend lauds the film as the pinnacle of family films, and I don't necessarily agree, but I think the disagreement mainly stems from a simple reason - nostalgia. Attempting to be objective, I can't really point to anything in this film that makes it second-rate to some of my childhood mainstays (such as The Land Before Time or Fox and the Hound). Even the animation, a risky mix of year-2000 CGI and live-action sets, miraculously holds up fairly well. You get what you want in a family flick; the love story, the quirky characters, the evildoers, the whole works. Some scenes are genuinely sad, especially for my girlfriend but for me as well. I think I laughed out loud a few times too! Of course if I watched it as a kid I think I'd like the movie more, but even for a first-time watcher, Dinosaur is a good movie.

(11/19/21)