I have to say, I’m not feeling this at all.
This reeks of the kind of overly-cutesy, sentimental garbage that Pixar (and the current Disney Animation) usually work hard to try and avoid. I still have no sense of the story, other than the DINOSAURS AND HUMANS idea that was already conveyed by that production art we saw on that office wall years ago. The human child doesn’t talk, and is treated like a dog, to the point of being named “Spot.” They say that he’s useful, but how exactly does a cognitively-challenged child help a dinosaur do anything? Other than opposable thumbs, what’s he got other than a rough sense of loyalty and some messy hair?
I know I should be more optimistic, but it’s been a while (just over five years, to be exact) since I’ve fallen in love with a Pixar film, and I’m not seeing any evidence that this’ll be the one to beat the trend (though I had such high hopes for INSIDE OUT…). Unless I start seeing some glowing reviews, I’m not sure I’ll even make an effort to check this out in theaters.
But there’s no doubt that having dinos in there at all is going to get the kids to show up en masse, and the pairing of a cute, brightly-colored brontosaurus with a young, scrappy little scamp certainly isn’t going to hurt either. Sometimes, I have to bite down and accept that I'm not the target audience for a film, and that I shouldn't be surprised or offended when something, especially one that might be a massive hit with its particular demo, isn't tailored to my tastes.
Still, I wish there were more than backgrounds on display to get excited for. Hopefully, this does more for you guys than it did for me.
THE GOOD DINOSAUR even has a lame title on November 25th, 2015.
