*** out of ****
At first I wasn't digging the new Disney/Pixar animated film The Good Dinosaur. The main character, a runt Apatosaurus named Arlo (voice of Raymond Ochoa), is such an unlikable whimp that he nearly derails the film. It doesn't help that the Disney tradition of killing off a parent occurs yet again. And I just didn't like the design of Arlo. That said, after about 20-minutes or so the movie does a 180-degree turn and improves greatly.
Once Arlo gets lost in the wilderness with a human “critter” named Spot (Jack Bright), things really get cooking. This film about a dinosaur on an adventure of self discovery is a weird hybrid of frontier Western and buddy picture, but it somehow works. Its cutesy opening eventually gives way to both wry comedy and some very intense action scenes (Look out for that rain storm sequence!).
So, just stay with The Good Dinosaur and you will be rewarded in Pixar fashion.
