The one detail that the trailer to PIXAR’s The Good Dinosaur forgets to reveal is that the story takes place a million years after the planet Earth has dodged the bullet. The asteroid that’s supposed to wipe out the life of these giant creatures have caused evolution to take a different direction. Since evolution is allowed to take place “normally,” these mighty creatures developed an intellect to conceive language, domestication and agriculture. They are no longer roaming beasts wandering the land in search for their next meal.
Henry (Jeffrey Wright) and Ida (Frances McDormand) are anxiously awaiting the birth of their three children, Libbey (Maleah Padilla), Buck (Marcus Scribner) and Arlo (Raymond Ochoa). The latter is the runt and is fearful of everything. That includes attempting to tame some primitive looking chickens and Henry decides that he has to teach his son how to deal with confronting his fears. There’s a few Studio Ghibli like moments with Arlo and Henry as they find a field of fireflies, but in what makes this film a sweet watch is the music. This movie is very much a love-letter to the Western, and it shows in the visual narrative and the orchestration.
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