After being blown away by Pixar's previous film 'Inside Out' (which is one of their best too),while not really deserving of so many 1- star reviews 'The Good Dinosaur' disappointed on many levels.

Not just lesser Pixar but a contender for their worst too, even more so than the often panned 'Cars 2' (which to me while not great was not that bad). It is a long way from an awful film, certainly much better than several reviews have lead you to believe (seeing as 1- star indicates no redeeming qualities, which is not the case here),but considering Pixar's usual incredibly high standard I was expecting so much more.

There are a number of good things here in 'The Good Dinosaur'. Much of the animation is spectacular, including some of Pixar's most gorgeously vivid colours and some of their most stunning and rich- in-detail backgrounds. The music score is both whimsical and energetic, and the film also benefits from some clever casting and very strong voice acting, Sam Elliot in particular stands out. Many have complained of Arlo's voice work, it wasn't a problem personally.

On top of those, 'The Good Dinosaur' does have some genuinely funny moments (mostly visual),parts that are genuinely touching, some thumping, thrilling action, a beautifully realised central friendship, an endearing lead character in Arlo and an inspirational main message (as a matter of fact, all the lessons and messages the film teaches are great). So a lot to admire.

However, 'The Good Dinosaur' does fall short. While there is much to admire in the animation overall, it also contains the least appealing character designs in any of Pixar's film, the photo- realistic look looks cartoony rather than realistic and jars against the vivid backgrounds . While keeping things simple can work in a film's favour, 'The Good Dinosaur' is rather too simple and straight-forward that the storytelling while not completely dull lacks momentum and veers on being too paper-thin and simplistic as well as being too predictable and familiar. Target audience is also an issue.

Adults may find themselves checking their watches, not that it's completely dull but unlike much of Pixar's other films it is not consistently captivating. And with children, while this viewer usually tries to not complain about anything being too dark or unnecessary and has been known to defend films criticised for that 'The Good Dinosaur' is an example of a film where that criticism is valid and understandable, because there is some dark and disturbing content (like a decapitation and a drug reference) that added absolutely nothing and quite frankly had no place in a family film. The violence is similarly gratuitous. The script is inconsistent in the laughs and emotional investment factors and is not as clever, witty, insightful or as intelligently structured as the writing for Pixar's best, coming across as even more paper-thin and simplistic than the storytelling and the dialogue itself is often cheesy and clichéd.

In conclusion, not as bad as most have made out but very much a lesser Pixar. Has enough good merits to make it watchable, but it's the only Pixar film to date to disappoint me. Very hard to decide between a 5 or 6, as it was actually not easy to rate, so it's got a 5.5/10 (somewhere in between). Bethany Cox

The asteroid misses Earth and the dinosaurs don't go extinct. Millions of years later, they have evolved some more. A family of Apatosaurus are farming next to a river at the base of Claw Mountain. They have three kids, Libby, Buck, and the runt Arlo. The father is trying to catch a critter stealing their food. Arlo lets the critter escape which turns out to be a human boy. The father is killed trying to recapture him. Arlo and the boy are washed down the river. Arlo names the boy Spot and they journey to return home.

It is not the best Pixar but it still has its DNA. It's not the first to anthropomorphize dinosaurs. It's better than Ice Age. At least, it's more daring. However, it doesn't take it far enough. It may be better for the dinosaurs to evolve into a more humanoid stage. The predator prey distinction is not always dealt with correctly. Arlo's fear of everything gets a little annoying. This is better than most but not the best.

"The Good Dinosaur" is an American 90-minute movie from this year. The director is Peter Sohn, a prolific voice actor in other Pixar films and after the very good short film "Partly Cloudy", this is his first full feature movie. He also co-wrote with 3 other experienced writers. This is Pixar's take on prehistoric dinosaurs. What if the comet had missed the earth? We follow Arlo, a young dinosaur who wants to prove he is able to help his family and Spot, a little Neanderthal. It was actually funny how these two had switched roles, which means Spot is the pet (acts like a dog) while Arlo is the owner, or I should maybe say the one who is capable of speaking.

We meet several other dinosaurs in this film as well, but still I felt this was never about who they were in the biological sense, but about their actions. Some dinosaurs were friendly, where you did not expect it while others were evil, what was a surprise. Well.. not really. It was kinda obvious these flying dinosaurs were searching for weak dinosaurs they could kill easily, but that's fine as they solved this quickly. This film reminded me occasionally of the "Lion king" with the father's early death and the flying dinosaurs I just mentioned felt a bit like hyenas, only that one of them was smart.

I had some difficulties early on with the fact that the father's death was not really elaborated on, we did not see anybody mourn (especially the siblings) or we did not really learn about the consequences other than the mother having to work much harder now. However, this was made up thanks to the scene with the sticks who stand for the characters' families. It was a very moving moment and, near the end, when Arlo lets Spot go they brought in this reference again and it was truly emotional at this point. I also quite liked the reunion scene. It was expected, but still a thing of beauty. Needless to say anything about the music and animation. It's Pixar, top-notch as always. A great movie, maybe slightly inferior to "Inside Out", but nonetheless a great achievement and certainly a contender for best 15 films of 2015. Highly recommended and this one truly made me curious about Sohn's next works.