The Good Dinosaur- Reviews

[Fox&Hound]

Has anyone seen "The Good Dinosaur"? If so, what were your reactions? We took my two-year-old and she loooved it. When it ended she wanted to "watch it again"! =) I loved the background scenery, it seemed almost real, but I felt the story was lacking. Nothing overly creative as far as plot or character development. Love Disney/Pixar but I felt it was one of their weaker efforts. Not bad by any means, but not one I'd want to watch over and over again. I felt like their energy went to "Inside Out" and this was just an after thought.

Thoughts????

 

[Mickey_777]

Saw it today. While I can see how perhaps more effort was placed on the actual story for Inside Out, there's no doubt as to which movie I'd want to watch a second time. It's The Good Dinosaur for me.

 

[FoozieBear]

It was a bit underwhelming but I truly did enjoy it. I was satisfied but not amazed. It was nice, simple and fun.

 

[Sped2424]

It's a sweet simple film. Not pixar's best, not their worst. I think the problem lies is that it's a bit too familiar with other coming of age tales and it doesn't really get it's own identity from that. The visuals are top notch here though, true animated art. Anyways the story being okay doesn't surprise me here given the production history this film had.

 

[DisneyPrincess5]

Glad to read that you guys enjoyed it. There's something about it that doesn't appeal to me. Oh well, I'll wait for it to be on TV 2 years from now.

Anyways the story being okay doesn't surprise me here given the production history this film had.

In reading your thoughts, it did begin to sound familiar that something was off. I thought, "wasn't it suppose to be released earlier than now?" So I researched the history and YIKES is it messy! All clicking now.

 

[Fox&Hound]

It's a sweet simple film. Not pixar's best, not their worst. I think the problem lies is that it's a bit too familiar with other coming of age tales and it doesn't really get it's own identity from that. The visuals are top notch here though, true animated art. Anyways the story being okay doesn't surprise me here given the production history this film had.

Well said! I agree. Beautiful to look at but needed its own identity. Good word choice =)

 

[Sped2424]

Glad to read that you guys enjoyed it. There's something about it that doesn't appeal to me. Oh well, I'll wait for it to be on TV 2 years from now.



In reading your thoughts, it did begin to sound familiar that something was off. I thought, "wasn't it suppose to be released earlier than now?" So I researched the history and YIKES is it messy! All clicking now.

Oh it got a complete overhaul. Rare is the day that an animated film gets so retooled that it changes most of it's cast entirely. I mean they ended up with a completly different cast than they started with.

 

[Jon81uk]

I saw a preview with a talk from the director (who barely mentioned that it was a redo, just that he didn't have much time), lots of info about the techniques used and the focus on the landscapes.

I enjoyed the film, but it felt one act too long, there was too many occasions of "danger" for me to care any more. Just one act less and it would have been better, but the plot was fineand the characters excellent.

 

[Fox&Hound]

I saw a preview with a talk from the director (who barely mentioned that it was a redo, just that he didn't have much time), lots of info about the techniques used and the focus on the landscapes.

I enjoyed the film, but it felt one act too long, there was too many occasions of "danger" for me to care any more. Just one act less and it would have been better, but the plot was fineand the characters excellent.

Haha- that's how I felt about Nemo. Loved it, but by the time the 40th obstacle reared its head it was like "come on"....

 

[GrumpyFan]

I haven't seen it yet, but several news & entertainment sites are starting to say it might be Pixar's first box office "failure".

Honestly though, there was nothing in the trailers that made me want to go see it. So, it makes me wonder if the under-performance is due to marketing or the movie itself just not being as good, or perhaps a little of both?

 

[Sped2424]

I haven't seen it yet, but several news & entertainment sites are starting to say it might be Pixar's first box office "failure".

Honestly though, there was nothing in the trailers that made me want to go see it. So, it makes me wonder if the under-performance is due to marketing or the movie itself just not being as good, or perhaps a little of both?

Now that is untrue a lot of news sites were salivating at the mouth it seems to write the story about pixar's first financial bomb but it's rather far from the truth.

At the moment the film is about 135,000,000 worldwide and it's still got a lot of new territories to open up in!

 

[doctornick]

Well, this article does seem to indicate that it might scramble to break even. The opening was fine, but not anything special and a big value for Pixar (and animated films in general) is that they tend to have good "legs" and make money for a while unlike most blockbusters that have front loaded box office grosses.

when your budget is $200M, you do need to earn a lot to make a profit. And this isn't Cars which will sell so much merch as to render the box office unimportant.

 

[GrumpyFan]

Now that is untrue a lot of news sites were salivating at the mouth it seems to write the story about pixar's first financial bomb but it's rather far from the truth.

At the moment the film is about 135,000,000 worldwide and it's still got a lot of new territories to open up in!

I think the tide has turned though. Most of the headlines from the last couple of days have changed to just bad news. A quick Google search of "Good Dinousaur", showed the following.

GoodDinosaur

• GrumpyFan
• Dec 8, 2015

Good Dinosaur Google search

Good Dinosaur is estimated to have grossed $15.5 million in its second weekend, which is a 60.4% drop from its first weekend, the largest plummet ever for a Pixar movie. So far, the film has made just $131.3 million, after seeing a 60 percent drop in sales during its second week at the box office. After 16 films, something nearly certainly had to give, but given the consistency of Pixar's performance it's hard to not see the performance of Dinosaur as some sort of watershed moment in Pixar history. Apparently, The Good Dinosaur is the first film to become the exception to the rule, as it's on track to be the first film to lose the studio money – failing to meet the once high expectations it set. With a production budget of $200 million and another $150 million invested in marketing, analysts estimate The Good Dinosaur will need to earn $500 million to break even. According to Variety, current projections suggest the film will be lucky to hit $400 million in sales. Unfortunately for Disney and Pixar, however, it doesn't look like that will likely happen. ​

 

[Skip]

Now that is untrue a lot of news sites were salivating at the mouth it seems to write the story about pixar's first financial bomb but it's rather far from the truth.

At the moment the film is about 135,000,000 worldwide and it's still got a lot of new territories to open up in!

Try adjusting those numbers for inflation - Good Dinosaur pales in comparison. The other issue is that of legs... it hasn't been holding up well, week-to-week, as word of mouth categorizes this (true or not) as "B-Tier Pixar." With so many movies out, it doesn't beg buying a $10 ticket.

 

[Sped2424]

Try adjusting those numbers for inflation - Good Dinosaur pales in comparison. The other issue is that of legs... it hasn't been holding up well, week-to-week, as word of mouth categorizes this (true or not) as "B-Tier Pixar." With so many movies out, it doesn't beg buying a $10 ticket.

Adjust any recent flick for inflation and half of that list loses it? Either way it's making it's money back. IT's b pixar but so what? Cars 2 was D pixar and that more than did fine different flicks but either way this is a solid film. And while It's not doing stellar it's also not flopping.

 

[prberk]

Adjust any recent flick for inflation and half of that list loses it? Either way it's making it's money back. IT's b pixar but so what? Cars 2 was D pixar and that more than did fine different flicks but either way this is a solid film. And while It's not doing stellar it's also not flopping.

Should it say anything that here we are on a Disney fan forum and a thread dedicated to reviews of the film has not even gone to page two yet, with most of the posts being about whether or not it counts as a flop? I personally think that is telling.

I saw it because I usually love and trust Pixar and Disney, but I found it less than compelling. Like everyone else here, I thought the visuals were stunning, but the story was mediocre. And I think I agree that the cartoonish drawing of the characters against a photorealistic background hurt it overall. It was hard to "suspend disbelief" and get into the story.

I think the story was plodding, and while it had "heart," as Walt would say, it just still left me not really connecting like it should have me do. I think it will be remembered about as much as "Dinosaur" (the movie for which they re-named "Countdown to Extinction" at DAK) is: um, not much. That movie also was seen as having stunning visuals for the time (and for Disney), but not much on story. This one now is also an OK movie, but not really going to be remembered 10 years from now.

 

[5thGenTexan]

I saw it because my kids wanted to see it, and I was ready for it to be over. I didn't care much for Inside Out either. Not even in the same league as Toy Story(s), Cars, etc.... I never mind seeing those over again.

 

[Animaniac93-98]

It'll be interesting to see if the movie gets a boost in business over the holidays, or will Star Wars and Chipmunks stop that from happening.

 

[fractal]

OK, I think we can stop with the animated Dinosaur movies for awhile.

 

[Sped2424]

Should it say anything that here we are on a Disney fan forum and a thread dedicated to reviews of the film has not even gone to page two yet, with most of the posts being about whether or not it counts as a flop? I personally think that is telling.

I saw it because I usually love and trust Pixar and Disney, but I found it less than compelling. Like everyone else here, I thought the visuals were stunning, but the story was mediocre. And I think I agree that the cartoonish drawing of the characters against a photorealistic background hurt it overall. It was hard to "suspend disbelief" and get into the story.

I think the story was plodding, and while it had "heart," as Walt would say, it just still left me not really connecting like it should have me do. I think it will be remembered about as much as "Dinosaur" (the movie for which they re-named "Countdown to Extinction" at DAK) is: um, not much. That movie also was seen as having stunning visuals for the time (and for Disney), but not much on story. This one now is also an OK movie, but not really going to be remembered 10 years from now.

Many Animated flicks in the animation forum don't move past 2 pages? Also this is just the review thread there are several other threads in this list about the good dinosaur. Am I saying the film is super successful or pixar's best? Absolutely not. But is it flopping? Nah. I don't think you are wrong about it not having a long staying power in terms of memory. But I don't think this film is doing horrible or by any means a loss for the studio. Rather it's doing just okay.