The Good Dinosaur (2015) - Blu-ray Review

Details: By Loron Hays; 29 February 2016

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The Good Dinosaur - Blu-ray Review

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There is something painfully simple at work deep in the mechanics of Pixar's The Good Dinosaur. It is a child-like simplicity that woefully recalls some of the problems a lot of people had with Brave. Neither one is a bad film but, if I am being completely honest, both make little use of their true potential and settle for mere child's play, although, both sure are pretty to look at.

Occurring in an alternate universe where the dinosaurs were never wiped out by an asteroid, The Good Dinosaur is the tale of Arlo and how a human – a critter, if you will – came to be his best friend. It is equal parts tragic and heroic, with only a few moments of humor thrown in. All in all, the film registers some serious positive vibes as it embraces the wide, unknown world with big ol' bug eyes.

Voiced by Raymond Ochoa, Arlo is a very scared Apatosaurus. He's the runt of the litter and completely out of sync with the big, scary world outside of his family farm. He even struggles with menial tasks. We laugh at his response to the big chickens and feel for him as he watches everyone else get their footprint on the wall of the corn silo.

Poor Arlo, though, can't do anything right. The voice talent; however, can and often does. Featuring the voices of Sam Elliott, Anna Paquin, A. J. Buckley, Jeffrey Wright, Frances McDormand and Steve Zahn, many of the characters brought to life feel very much lived-in. Unfortunately, the path the film takes never rises to meet them.

When a capture and kill assignment backfires, Arlo finds himself without a Dad, swept away by the strong currents of destiny. Alone and far from the confines of his safety zone, he befriends Spot (voiced by Jack Bright), the human critter he was originally to kill, and begins a voyage back to the farmlands he calls home.

Complete with a hallucinogenic trip the duo takes after chowing down on some bad fruit, The Good Dinosaur waddles all over the place. There's danger and oddities at every turn and, as directed by Peter Sohn from a screenplay by Meg LeFauve,
It's both sweet and vicious and, as most trail pictures do, creates a natural appreciation for the outside world.

Note the lightning bug scene. In a field of green grass, Arlo's father – a scene later recreated to establish a bond between man and dinosaur – takes his tail and swoops it across the field, revealing orbs of glowing light as they sputter and spin through the night sky alit with fright and warning. Beautiful. Scenes like this are paramount in Pixar films, unfortunately, beyond a simple tale and an excellent-looking film, there's nothing else to it.

With Inside Out getting all the attention, Pixar should probably not release two films in a year. With a little more time, the flaws in The Good Dinosaur could have easily been fixed. This is enjoyable nonetheless, just not as special as it could have been.

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MPAA Rating: PG for peril, action and thematic elements.
Runtime: 93 mins
Director: Peter Sohn
Writer: Peter Sohn
Cast: Jeffrey Wright, Frances McDormand, Maleah Nipay-Padilla
Genre: Animation | Family
Tagline: Little arms big attitude..
Memorable Movie Quote: "I think we went far enough today. Let's get you home."
Distributor: Pixar
Official Site: http://movies.disney.com/the-good-dinosaur
Release Date: November 25, 2015
DVD/Blu-ray Release Date: February 23, 2016
Synopsis: The Good Dinosaur asks the question: What if the asteroid that forever changed life on Earth missed the planet completely and giant dinosaurs never became extinct? Pixar Animation Studios takes you on an epic journey into the world of dinosaurs where an Apatosaurus named Arlo makes an unlikely human friend. While traveling through a harsh and mysterious landscape, Arlo learns the power of confronting his fears and discovers what he is truly capable of.

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The Good Dinosaur - Blu-ray Review

Blu-ray Details:

PIXAR / Blu-ray + DVD + Digital Copy

Available on Blu-ray - February 23, 2016
Screen Formats: 2.40:1
Subtitles: English, English SDH, French, Spanish
Audio: English: DTS-HD Master Audio 7.1 (48kHz, 24-bit); English: DTS-HD HR 5.1; French: Dolby Digital 5.1 (640 kbps); Spanish: Dolby Digital 5.1 (640 kbps)
Discs: 50GB Blu-ray Disc; Two-disc set (1 BD, 1 DVD); iTunes digital copy; Google Play digital copy; DVD copy
Region Encoding: A

With a 1080p transfer that is as bright and vibrant as expected, one might not expect there to be so much texture to its dinosaurs, but there is. The creatures, both on and above the land, are fantastic looking and rendered in a stylized lens that suggests a little cartoon, big-eyed influence. Heck, even the fields of corn move with detailed precision. In fact, it might be the best handling of texture I've seen, more so than in any other Pixar movie – and that's saying something. The audio is bass-heavy in this terrific DTS-HD Master Audio 7.1 lossless mix and some of the dialogue gets lost in the soundscape, requiring a little adjustment for the main audio to be heard clearly – or you could simply turn the stereo up LOUD and shake the walls with that massive encoded volume of the disc.

Supplements:

Commentary:

Director Peter Sohn; Story Supervisor Kelsey Mann; Animation Supervisor Mike Venturini; Director of Photography, Lighting Sharon Calahan; and Supervising Technical Director Sanjay Bakshi record an epic commentary that goes into technical details on the atmosphere of a Pixar film with clear precision.

Special Features:

Complete with the informative commentary, the disc is loaded with solid supplemental material that fans of the movie will appreciate. From cattle ranches to some of the practical challenges of the movie, the special features invite viewers to join in and follow the crew around during the making of the movie. The release also includes the cartoon short that accompanied the original movie, Sanjay's Super Team.