The Good Dinosaur

Grade: B

Pixar’s new film The Good Dinosaur has fewer bells and whistles – and more heart – than, say, Minions, Free Birds, and both Hotel Transylvanias, and it is better for it. It borrows bits from other movies, but they come across here as more homages than something it depends on. When a tragic thing happens to an unrevealable character near the beginning, I was inevitably reminded of The Lion King. Also, the young boy who lives in the wild and, unlike the dinosaurs, never speaks [The humans are the only non-speaking characters here. Isn’t that a neat twist?] could have been Mowgli from The Jungle Book. Other cinematic allusions exist, but alas, I have forgotten. With The Good Dinosaur, we get characters that are easy to get to know and care for, beautiful “locations,” and solid voice talent. I recognized Steve Zahn and Sam Elliott right off the bat. Elliott’s voice is still built Ford tough after all these years.

Grade: B