<i>The Good Dinosaur</i> not a Jurassic world-beater, but it still has the Pixar polish 

The Good Dinosaur is an odd little pickle. For starters, it's the second Disney/Pixar movie to come out this year, and that's never happened in Pixar's 20-year history of releasing films. Pixar must've realized, since DreamWorks (which released their dinosaur-heavy cartoon The Croods two years ago, with a sequel on the way) and other studios churn out animated flicks practically every season, they must step up their game and release more product. Second, the movie would have you believe that if dinosaurs were still alive, they would live like they were in a Western.

Set in an alternative timeline where dinosaurs were never extinct and humans never evolved, the movie is centered around Arlo (voiced by Raymond Ochoa), a small, scared weakling of an apatosaurus — a type of dinosaur that, according to the movie, looks like a combination of Gumby and Pokey — who gets separated from his family and tries to venture back home, with only a small caveboy (whom he officially calls Spot) guiding him through the rough terrain. Of course, adventurous stuff ensues, especially when he has to protect Spot from carnivorous pterodactyls (led by a hippie-dippie Steve Zahn), as well as help a tyrannosaurus family (led by the suddenly ubiquitous Sam Elliott) get their herd of longhorns away from velociraptor rustlers.

You get the sense that Pixar wanted to push Dinosaur out there just so they could be done with it. The movie went through a lot of behind-the-scenes drama, from cast changes to director changes to script revisions to production delays. The movie does have a jumbled vibe to it, as the arsenal of screenwriters — five are officially credited — throw together a slew of ingredients, while other logical components fall by the wayside. (Why the hell doesn't the family search for Arlo when dude ends up missing? That irked me.)

And yet, however hastily put together Dinosaur feels, it's still as sincere, scenic and sentimental as Pixar's most elite work. Director Peter Sohn makes the most of what he has with a coming-of-age journey that's embracing and entertaining, focusing on the bond two young creatures forge when they're out in the wild having to fend for themselves. Considering that critics and audiences have already declared Inside Out the best Pixar movie this year — I thought it was a'ight — people may dismiss Dinosaur as a bad buzz-plagued disaster. However, compared to most of the nonsensical kids' movies that come out this holiday season, The Good Dinosaur is a sensible, flawed but enjoyable selection for the little ones. Besides, in the pantheon of Pixar films, it's still better than Cars 2.

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