Rating: 
Summary: Dinosaurs + lemurs = fun + excitement
Review: "Dinosaur" is a visually stunning prehistoric adventure, told with amazingly detailed computer animation. The story centers on Aladar, a young iguanodon who is raised by a peaceful tribe of lemurs. After disaster strikes their island, Aladar and other members of his inter-species family must undertake a dangerous quest for a new home."Dinosaur" is in some ways an old-fashioned animal tale a la "Bambi," with an interspecies group of talking animal characters. Unlike similar films like "The Lion King" and the "Land Before Time" series, in "Dinosaur" there is a clear distinction between the carnivores (presented as monsters who do not engage in speech) and the other animals. The visuals of "Dinosaur" are truly amazing. The filmmakers had me hooked with the stunning opening sequence, which features many different prehistoric species and locales. The animation is superbly enhanced by the outstanding vocal performances of a talented all-star cast. D.B. Sweeney is an appealing hero. Joan Plowright and Della Reese have great chemistry as a dino duo. And Ossie Davis is both grouchy and sweet as the lovable lemur patriarch. "Dinosaur" is a story of survival and courage, friendship and family. There are some scary scenes, but they are offset by many scenes of tenderness and humor. And the film as a whole is enhanced by James Newton Howard's emotionally rich musical score. This is a good film for all ages, and just may spur younger viewers to dig into educational fare about the species here depicted.
Rating: 
Summary: A Visual Buffet of Dinosaurs
Review: "Dinosaur" is a fine film from the folks at Disney. Like "Hercules," the story isn't moving or too impressive, but the film is fun to watch and has some brilliant moments in it. Many people have bashed the film for being too violent, but the PG rating does seem fair. I agree that kids under the age of five shouldn't see this movie without some serious adult supervision, but at the same time, children do need to know about death...even if it's violent. The Carnotaur sequences involve quite a bit of violence, but these are dinosaurs! Dinosaurs ate each other in reality. Don't knock this movie for that reason. Here's a concept: Watch the movie with your kids(you won't be bored) and then explain to them that death and violence was a very real part of daily life for dinosaurs. It may take your children a little time to cope with this information, but sometimes the truth hurts. If your child is under the age of five, you may want to skip certain sequences in the movie because of the violence. My daughter watched this movie, but I always managed to skip through the violent parts for one reason: she's two years old. She loves this movie. When she gets old enough to understand that things die, I'll let her see the violent sequences in this film. For adults, I found this movie very entertaining. As in other reviews, I agree that the visuals are stunning. The film is brilliantly animated and does use some real scenery to blend in with the CGI graphics. The differences in the two are almost seamless. The lemurs provide both comic relief and solid wisdom in this flick. If for no other reason, buy this movie for it's artistic value, but the story is a good one and the characters are very believable. It's a good show, but I cannot help but reiterate the importance of watching this show with young kids in order to explain some of the things that occur in it.
Rating:
Summary: A Visual Buffet of Dinosaurs
Review: "Dinosaur" is a fine film from the folks at Disney. Like "Hercules," the story isn't moving or too impressive, but the film is fun to watch and has some brilliant moments in it. Many people have bashed the film for being too violent, but the PG rating does seem fair. I agree that kids under the age of five shouldn't see this movie without some serious adult supervision, but at the same time, children do need to know about death...even if it's violent. The Carnotaur sequences involve quite a bit of violence, but these are dinosaurs! Dinosaurs ate each other in reality. Don't knock this movie for that reason. Here's a concept: Watch the movie with your kids(you won't be bored) and then explain to them that death and violence was a very real part of daily life for dinosaurs. It may take your children a little time to cope with this information, but sometimes the truth hurts. If your child is under the age of five, you may want to skip certain sequences in the movie because of the violence. My daughter watched this movie, but I always managed to skip through the violent parts for one reason: she's two years old. She loves this movie. When she gets old enough to understand that things die, I'll let her see the violent sequences in this film. For adults, I found this movie very entertaining. As in other reviews, I agree that the visuals are stunning. The film is brilliantly animated and does use some real scenery to blend in with the CGI graphics. The differences in the two are almost seamless. The lemurs provide both comic relief and solid wisdom in this flick. If for no other reason, buy this movie for it's artistic value, but the story is a good one and the characters are very believable. It's a good show, but I cannot help but reiterate the importance of watching this show with young kids in order to explain some of the things that occur in it.
Rating:
Summary: Dinosaurs + lemurs = fun + excitement
Review: "Dinosaur" is a visually stunning prehistoric adventure, told with amazingly detailed computer animation. The story centers on Aladar, a young iguanodon who is raised by a peaceful tribe of lemurs. After disaster strikes their island, Aladar and other members of his inter-species family must undertake a dangerous quest for a new home. "Dinosaur" is in some ways an old-fashioned animal tale a la "Bambi," with an interspecies group of talking animal characters. Unlike similar films like "The Lion King" and the "Land Before Time" series, in "Dinosaur" there is a clear distinction between the carnivores (presented as monsters who do not engage in speech) and the other animals. The visuals of "Dinosaur" are truly amazing. The filmmakers had me hooked with the stunning opening sequence, which features many different prehistoric species and locales. The animation is superbly enhanced by the outstanding vocal performances of a talented all-star cast. D.B. Sweeney is an appealing hero. Joan Plowright and Della Reese have great chemistry as a dino duo. And Ossie Davis is both grouchy and sweet as the lovable lemur patriarch. "Dinosaur" is a story of survival and courage, friendship and family. There are some scary scenes, but they are offset by many scenes of tenderness and humor. And the film as a whole is enhanced by James Newton Howard's emotionally rich musical score. This is a good film for all ages, and just may spur younger viewers to dig into educational fare about the species here depicted.
Rating: 
Summary: An alarming trend for the mouse
Review: "Dinosaur" will stand in the annals of movie history as a prime example of what happens when a movie is made to showcase technique and effects with little thought as to anything else. Yes, the dinosaurs are astoundingly accurate and convincing. Yes, the special effects are breathtaking. Sadly, effects alone can not carry a movie through it's entire hour and and a half of screen time. Dinosaur's plot is ridiculous in in it's simplicity and the poor screen writing and interaction between the characters only enhance the misery for the viewer. The efforts of the dinosaurs to reach their perceived goal is repetitive and utterly banal. The movie also suffers from the "Pocohantas" syndrome, namely...a clear villain is suggested but not defined. The major conflict stems from a disagreement between the protagonist and the villain with regard to tactics, rather then an out and out battle of wills between two mortal enemies. Disney movies lend themselves to solid conflicts between clearly defined "good" and "evil" forces. They only become muddled and confusing when either is toned down for whatever reason. (Think Indians versus English in Pocohontas (as an example of of toned down conflict) in contrast to the well-estabished hatred between Scar and Simba in the Lion King.) For what it's worth...Dinosaur is visually stunning. A well constructed movie, certainly. What it lacks in plot and character development, however renders it thoroughly unwatchable after the initial thrill of the special effects wears off (as it soon does.) Save your money. Rent Dinosaur if you're desperate to see it. Wait for Shrek to come out on DVD if you want to own a visually amazing film that delivers a solid story, and exceptional entertainment as well.
Rating: 
Summary: sappy dinosaur epic
Review: **1/2 How much you will enjoy this recent Disney production may well depend on which view of dinosaurs you most prefer: the hard-edged, kill-or-be-killed, survival-of-the-fittest "Jurassic Park" model or the softer-edged, warmhearted and cuddly type like Barney. Either way, by trying to have it both ways, "Dinosaur" emerges as an uncomfortable mix of National Geographic realism and storybook schmaltziness. By now, we have all pretty much accepted the rather appalling sentimentalizing of nature that has become standard practice in virtually all mainstream animated films these days. We are used to seeing compassionate lions, tigers and bears in such films, but maybe dinosaurs should really be considered off limits. Of course, "Dinosaur" does feature some "bad" dinosaurs - i.e. those who act according to their real nature - because, like all dramatic works, it needs someone to function as a villain. But when we find a bunch of furry pre-monkey type creatures befriending and then rearing a lost baby dinosaur into adulthood - and when we find that grown up dinosaur acting as baby sitter and playmate to the children of that mammal tribe - well, something tells us that we are going to be in for a rather sticky time for the duration of the movie. (Think of this as "Tarzan" 65 million years earlier). Ask not, for instance, what this carnivorous creature has been feasting on all these years to have reached its present size. That piece of information is conveniently left to our imaginations, I guess. The plot involves the trek to a fabled nesting ground that a group of dinosaurs (and a family of nondescript simians) must endure after an asteroid crashes onto earth destroying their living areas. Despite some vicious attacks by predator dinosaurs, the tone of the film is decidedly gooey and sentimental, with the cloying voices in particular contributing to the bathos. With their big sad eyes, mile-wide smiles and sunny dispositions, these dinosaurs register high on the sappiness meter. We want to let out a big "ahhhhh, isn't that cute!" every time one of them speaks or looks directly into the camera. As this is obviously a film aimed at children and families, I guess many of these criticisms are rendered moot in the long run. And, yes, the computer-generated effects are truly remarkable (though nothing we haven't already seen in the "Jurassic Park" movies). But as an adult writing for adults, I cannot say anything other than that this is a pretty dull movie overall. Show it to your kids if you must, but you may want to sneak another peak at "Jurassic Park" after they've gone to bed.
Rating:
Summary: Beautiful animation...
Review: ...but the story is not quite there. Even the animation is disappointing, in the sense that the breath taking views such as the opening scene (which was also the long theatrical trailer) are very few. Most of the movie is much ... hmm ... smaller. Also, most scenes lack exotism (which makes sense since most of the background was simply filmed in various locations around the globe.) But overall, the animation part is simply great and was beautifully done. What bothered me more was the story, which is a little heavy on messages... The story is definitely one tracked, and there are some weird inconsistencies: the plant eating dinosaurs of the herd are intelligent and talk, whereas carnotaurs (?) and velociraptors are grunting beasts (in that, they're also more realistic than the other "characters"...) Note that I don't think that the movie is ideal for young children. The atmosphere is depressingly gloomy and dark for most of the movie, with several violent scenes. It also lacks the usual cute Disney sidekicks... Overall, Disney did a great job of animating very realistic dinosaurs. However, the movie is neither a realistic picture nor a complete fantasy. As an adult, I would have preferred something more realistic, with less of a story. If I were to take a 5-year old with me, I'd rather have something "cuter", with a simpler morale, and a more upbeat atmosphere...
Rating:
Summary: A few reasons why I hated "Dinosaur"
Review: 1. Decpetive Advertizing - The early ads for the films were stunning and made it look like a plotted dino documentary. Then later ads revealed that the characters talked. 2. Why is this Movie Backwards? - The biggest scene in the film in terms of effects and emotional impact is the asteroid destroying the lemurs' home. Since that came so early on nothing really came a long to top that, the movie pretty much went downhill.
3. I liked it better when it was called "Tarzan" - Despite the lack of songs, this flick feels extremely derivitive, especially of the aformentioned movie about the guy in a loincloth. But Tarzan went through the various trials and emotional battles of trying to discover where he belonged. Aladar just walked around a lot. Basicly, "Dinosaur" is a film that's all show and no substance. I'm all for a pretty film, but nothing in here looks good enough to counter the dull as dirt characters and stale plot. An animated film of any kind can only truly work if time and attention have been paid to the story. Unfortunately, no attention seems to have been paid to the story of "Dinosaur". The star is for the nice textures and a few visuals that I liked. Not nearly enough to rescue this movie.
Rating:
Summary: This film deserve a grade of D -- for Dinosaur.
Review: A dreadful bore, "Dinosaur" doesn't have a single original moment in it. Everything is something we've seen somewhere before. The politically correct story chugs along to a predictable ending, without one moment of novelty or surprise. Children who haven't seen many movies might enjoy it, but adults will wish they'd found a better way to spend their time.
Rating: 
Summary: From Disney, a rather blunt Fable...
Review: A Fable is a tale that often involves animals, but always has a very blunt moral or lesson to its telling. The tortoise and the hare, for example, always ended with that line: "The race does not always go to the swift, but to those that keep on running." Disney, with this movie, made a Fable with a message of teamwork. In and of itself, the movie is a good, if straightforward, story. Survival of the fittest vs. The good of the whole and working together come to vivid life with an incredible computer generated world of dinosaurs and lemurs. It's cute, it's fun, and it's just scary enough for young kids to enjoy but not be frightened of. It's also way too dark. Not in a metaphorical sense, but in a "I can't see what the heck is going on" sense. On my television screen, which is a mid-sized set, the night and cave scenes were more like voice-overs to a blank black screen than a movie. So, if your child is up for a lesson in teamwork, this is a good movie for him or her. But as an adult, I didn't find much to keep me going in this one (certainly nothing as on par as "The Emperor's New Groove," for example). I found I enjoyed watching the graphics and scenery, but not so much the plot.
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