Pixar's Good Dinosaur
- Tommaso Carlo Mascolo
- 10 dic 2015
- Tempo di lettura: 2 min
Pixar’s latest production, The Good Dinosaur, directed by Peter Sohn, is an enchanting trip in a prehistoric world in which dinosaurs are not extinct but socially and culturally evolved. Arlo is an Apatosaurus living with his family which cultivates the ground and places great expectations on him to become a good farmer. But when the young dinosaur must face his fears by chasing the mysterious animal that is stealing his family’s corn supplies, he ends up far away from home. And he finds out that the thief he was looking for is not an animal, but a human child conducting a savage life. This is how his trip begins, during which the child, at first his worst enemy, becomes his best friend.
The long way home © 2015 Disney/Pixar
Such a trip gives Arlo the chance not only to overcome his fears, but also to think about the true meaning of the word “family”. Spot, as Arlo calls the child, is an orphan, looking for a family or a friend that can take care of him. And, eventually, he will find what he is looking for.
Spot and Arlo become friends © 2015 Disney/Pixar
The Good Dinosaur has clearly been influenced by other Disney movies, especially by The Lion King, one of the most successful cartoons of the “Disney Era” before the advent of Pixar and digital animation. In both films we can identify a strong attention to the relationship between father and son. Like Simba, Arlo wants to be like his father and become a guide for his family. The turning point of both movies is the loss of the father, and the sequence of the death in The Good Dinosaur is very similar to the one of Mufasa's death in The Lion King, even in the angulation of the shots.
Spot has a similar role to Mowgli’s in The Jungle Book, especially in their quest for human counterparts and gradual departure from the “animal world”.
Spot in his Mowgli pose © 2015 Disney/Pixar
The influence of The Ice Age on The Good Dinosaur is also evident, though the latter cannot really compare to the quality of the former.
After all, The Good Dinosaur is not one of Pixar’s best efforts, being too attached to its models and excessively children-oriented. Still, The Good Dinosaur has proved to have what it takes to become a box office success.
Director: Peter Sohn Writer: Bob Peterson (original concept), Peter Sohn (story), Bob Peterson (story), Erik Benson (story), Meg LeFauve (story), Kelsey Mann (story), Meg LeFauve (screenplay). Cast (voice): Jeffrey Wright, Raymond Ochoa, Jack Bright, Jack McGraw, Maleah Nipay-Padilla, Frances McDormand, Ryan Teeple, Marcus Scribner. Year: 2015
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