The Good Dinosaur comes out in less than a month in North America. It’s Pixar’s second original movie of the year, the trailers make it look absolutely beautiful, and it features the classic Pixar buddies archetype in Arlo and Spot. And yet I feel the excitement levels are not very high. Maybe it’s because we’re not used to getting TWO whole movies in a single year from the hopping lamp studio or because of all that backstage drama. But let’s talk about everything exciting about it to get us all pumped up!
What if…? Movies: Pixar’s Best
What if toys were alive? What if monsters really did live in our closets? What if the asteroid that killed the dinosaurs missed Earth?
Pixar’s bread and butter has always been taking an idea like that and running with it, developing an organic world out of it and filling it with fantastic characters. It’s obvious to us now but before 1995 not everyone would have thought toys really wanted to be played with or that they’d have anxieties over getting replaced. But, once you hear it, it’s so obvious!
So, after visiting the inside of our minds earlier this year, we’re going to a whole new world. Dinosaurs never went extinct so they kept evolving. How will their society work? I’m really excited to find out what (obvious) surprises the filmmakers have in store for us.
It’s going to be beautiful
The studio that has reduced all adults and children, and probably animals, to tears several times (“Take her to the moon for me”) is giving us a story about loss, friendship, bravery, and discovery. Some lucky journalists had the chance to see part of the movie and what most interested me about their reports was the highlight of a particular scene where Arlo lifts Spot above the clouds and how it “rivals anything in either of the How To Train Your Dragon films.” Knowing Pixar, I feel this scene will be extremely awe-inspiring and that I’ll get teary-eyed (that happens a lot, though).
But besides the internal beauty of the film, from what I’ve seen in the trailers and posters, the movie looks absolutely gorgeous. Some people have issues with the photorealistic backgrounds and their clash with the cartoony Arlo but I love it because it was a thematic choice. Arlo is a fish out of water in this movie and his environment reflects that. Plus I’m sure the aforementioned cloud scene and all those fireflies are going to look amazing, and also probably make me cry.
Dinosaurs! And kids! And adult themes!
Also, I don’t know if you know this but this movie is about dinosaurs. You know what’s more awesome than dinosaurs? Nothing, that is.
I’ve been obsessed with dinosaurs since I was a kid and Steven Spielberg decided to single-handedly turn an entire generation of humans into paleontologist wannabes (He did this after making the previous generation obsessed with archeology). So my favorite studio making a dinosaur movie is a huge deal for me. Especially because it shakes things up, telling a ‘boy and his dog’ story where the dinosaur is the boy and the human is the dog. Typical Pixar.
Also interesting is that this is the first time that two kids will be the leads in a Pixar movie. We’ve had Boo and Nemo and Russell before but they all had adult co-leads. Not this time. Both Arlo and Spot are kids. I love it when Pixar goes to uncharted territory and I’m excited to see how they make these kids go through an experience that will surely be universal. I hear a major theme in the movie is loss and how to handle it. And seeing kids dealing with loss is 100% guaranteed way to make us all cry. And at the end of the day, isn’t that why we go to Pixar movies?
Are you excited about ‘The Good Dinosaur’? What are you most excited about?
Edited by: Kajsa Rain Forden
