The Good Dinosaur

Last week Peyton and I went to a sneak peak of The Good Dinosaur. And I must say I have mixed emotions about the movie. On one hand I thought the animation was beautiful but on the other hand I felt like the ending was extremely unsatisfactory. I did not feel it was tied up nicely. It’s like the writer just stopped, went for a coffee and never came back to finish it off.

So what’s the story line? Arlo, The Good Dinosaur, and his family live on a farm, Arlo’s family consist of himself, 2 older siblings and his mother and father. We all know from the previews that the meteor missed Earth thus not wiping out the dinosaurs. Fast forward to current time and we have The Good Dinosaur. It’s like the dinosaurs had now evolved to what human early settlers were and humans have no taken on animal like qualities.

Arlo and his family are raising corn to harvest for the long winter ahead. But, a critter (human child names Spot), keeps breaking into their silo and eating all the corn. It’s up to Arlo to catch the critter and kill it. Arlo sets a trap and hides, waiting to catch the critter. But when his trap snares the critter Arlo cannot bring himself to hurt it. So he lets the critter go.

When Arlo’s father finds out what he did he’s furious! Arlo and his father set out on a mission to capture the critter and finish what should have been done. I won’t give away the bulk of the story. However, throughout the remainder of the movie Arlo becomes friends with Spot (the critter). And they journey through the land trying to get back home. Along the way they meet some interesting characters and have a few adventures. Finally they make it home! And the story just ends. That’s it. You never know if Arlo and his family have enough food to make it through the winter. You never know if Spot likes how his new life turned out. You just never know. It ends with Arlo being reunited with his family. I really wanted more!

My 5 year old daughter loved The Good Dinosaur. She did say there were some parts that were too scary but for the most part she was sitting on the edge of her seat enjoying the show. She didn’t seem to mind how the movie ended and I’m sure most kids won’t. So for my daughter she loved it. But for me I was more luke warm about it.

Either way, I still think it’s a wonderful movie to take the family to this holiday season. It’s wholesome and cute. Everyone is sure to enjoy the movie.

If you have a child obsessed with The Good Dinosaur or just dinosaurs in general I have a treat for you! Here’s a link to download The Good Dinosaur advent calendar. Enjoy!

And if you are looking for some The Good Dinosaur holiday gifts the Disney Store has you covered. There is a complete line of clothes, toys and books.