When I first saw the trailer for "Dinosaur", I was convinced that Walt Disney Pictures just created the #1 Box Office movie of all-time! Then I heard that they had the gall to actually have the dinosaurs talk and I knew this film would flop. I saw the movie and was amazed that I actually liked it, but realized my first assessment was wrong. The talking dinosaurs were not #34;annoying" as I expected, but rather fleshed out characters. Family and loyalty are 2 values portrayed throughout that really enhance the movie. The moral lessons work as well 150 million years (?) ago as they do now...or they should ("Should" is my mother's favorite word).

The animation is excellent as is the story, which is mainly about the randomness of life and how ŗwe" try to deal with the cards that life deals us. The opening sequence (brilliant) is a myriad of life's pictures. One small canvass to paint upon, if one looks at things through a restricted view. Disney animators created a sequence that clearly shows Darwin's theory of evolution as well as the "Chaos Thoery" briefly hinted upon in Steven Spielberg's "Jurassic Park". As a mother is carefully attending to her nest, a carnotaur attacks reaking havoc wherever it steps. Smashing the nest of eggs, only one remains until it is "scavenged" away to only more random elements which must be seen to get the full effect. The egg finally falls into the realm of a family of primates which decide to raise the newborn.

After another of life's random quirks, namely a meteor shower that renders a good portion of Mother Earth uninhabitable, the family does what must be done to survive. The story follows a logical path for the remainder of the movie, not that that detracts from the story.

If Walt Disney supervised this film, the dinosaurs would not talk. He would have hired Marcel Marceau, Charlie Chaplan, Buster Keaton or even Jim Carey to pantomime the moves of the dinosaurs. He would have achieved the same result and the film would have won the Oscar for Best Picture. Unfortunately...

Movie review © 2000 - Lawrence L. Novotny. All Rights Reserved.