Movie Type: Family-Oriented Adventure, Prehistoric Fantasy
Themes: Survival in the Wilderness, Heroic Mission, Daring Rescues
Main Cast: D.B. Sweeney, Alfre Woodard, Ossie Davis, Max Casella, Hayden Panettiere, Sam Wright
Release Year: 2000
Country: US
Run Time: 82 minutes
MPAA Rating: PG
Plot
Walt Disney Pictures redefined computer animation with this technically accomplished fantasy of prehistoric life, combining live-action backgrounds with computer-generated animals. After a pterodactyl snatches a dinosaur's egg and accidentally drops it while flying away, the egg is rescued by a family of lemurs, who keep it warm until it hatches. They raise the baby dinosaur, named Aladar, as one of their own, and as he grows to adulthood, Aladar protects the primates that he has come to regard as his family. When a giant meteor appears in the sky, packs of dinosaurs have no idea what to make of the strange fiery light, but Aladar and the lemurs are convinced that they must escape to a safer place before the huge flaming stone destroys their home, leading Aladar to encounter his own kind for the first time. D.B. Sweeney provides the voice of Aladar; other actors in the voice cast include Joan Plowright, Julianna Margulies, Alfre Woodard, and Ossie Davis. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
Review
A landmark achievement in computer animation, Dinosaur (2000) is one of the most expensive films ever made by Disney and a visual tour de force, although it suffers from a by-the-numbers plot line reminiscent of a Screenwriting 101 class. After a powerful opening sequence featuring the dizzying flight of a pterodactyl and a meteor shower probably too intense for the film's intended audience of young children, Dinosaur lumbers into familiar territory with a programmed story in which every beat is telegraphed far in advance. Mindless villains that don't exactly ramp up the tension and less than inspired vocal performances from leads Julianna Margulies and D.B. Sweeney, neither of whom has a particularly memorable or unique voice, add little to the proceedings. Regardless of the film's script problems, however, Dinosaur is a feast for the eyes; it represents, along with its equally successful box office competitor Chicken Run (2000), a year of major advances in the overall quality of film animation. ~ Karl Williams, All Movie Guide
Cristy Maltese - Art Director, Ralph Zondag - Animation Director, Ruth Lambert - Casting, Mary Hidalgo - Casting, Baker Bloodworth - Co-producer, Eric Leighton - Director, H. Lee Peterson - Editor, James Newton Howard - Composer (Music Score), Walter Paul Martishius - Production Designer, S. Douglas Smith - Cinematographer, Dave Hardberger - Cinematographer, Pam Marsden - Producer, Christopher Boyes - Sound/Sound Designer, John Kent Harrison - Screenwriter, Robert Nelson Jacobs - Screenwriter, Kenneth Wiatrak - Second Unit Director Of Photography, Timothy Housel - Second Unit Director Of Photography, Neil Krepela - Visual Effects Supervisor, Neil Eskuri - Digital Effects, Mark Hester - Associate Editor, Dick Zondag - Supervising Animator, Mark Anthony Austin - Supervising Animator, Trey Thomas - Supervising Animator, Tom Roth - Supervising Animator, Bill Fletcher - Supervising Animator, Larry White - Supervising Animator, Eamonn Butler - Supervising Animator, Joel Fletcher - Supervising Animator, Michael Belzer - Supervising Animator, Gregory William Griffith - Supervising Animator, Atsushi Sato - Supervising Animator, Frank Eulner - Supervising Sound Editor, Fred Weinberg - Assistant Production Coordinator, Evan Jacobs - Visual Effects
