The Good Dinosaur (2015)

Another beautiful and heart-warming story from the team at Pixar, this film poses the question, “What would have happened if the asteroid that wiped out the dinosaurs had never hit the Earth?”

And that’s exactly how the film begins: An asteroid headed for Earth flies right past, and the dinosaurs continue to live.

Fast forward a few million years (to when humans come along). But they’re not the humans you expect. In this film, the animals are the intelligent beings, and the humans are the “dumb animals”.

Young dinosaur Arlo (Raymond Ochoa) wants nothing more than to impress his parents (Jeffrey Wright and Frances McDormand) as much as his siblings do. The only problem is, he’s not very strong, not very brave, not very anything, really.

But when the river sweeps him far downstream, and away from home, he must find the strength that lies inside him to get back to his family.

With him is small human Spot (Jack Bright), who is more like a little dog to Arlo, communicating in growls, howls and snarls and walking on all fours.

Along the way, they get help from a family of Tyrannosaurus Rex, Nash (AJ Buckley), Ramsey (Anna Paquin) and their father Butch (Sam Elliott).

Of course, they face plenty of obstacles too, but I’ll let you discover those for yourself.

It feels like I say this every time I review an animated movie, but the realism of computer animation just keeps on getting better. The rocks, trees, grass, water, fire and every other part of nature in this film is so incredibly realistic, you only remember the film is animated when you see the talking dinosaurs.

The screenplay – by Meg LeFauve – is clever, in the same way most animated films are these days, certainly most Pixar films. There is plenty below the surface for older viewers to enjoy, as well as young viewers. I appreciate the cleverness of the writing and the humour immensely.

The score by Mychael and Jeff Danna is superb, strong in all the right places and subtle in others, never distracting you from the action on the screen, but at all times supporting it.

Director Peter Sohn has brought us a beautiful film, that will remind you that healthy fear is not a bad thing, and there are more important things in life than what others think of you.

7 out of 10.