For the first time ever, Pixar has decided to release two movies within the same calendar year, a move that seems unprecedented, yet after the sensational Inside Out this past June,  the studio is at their top of their game. The Good Dinosaur’s premise is an intriguing one, asking the pivotal question of what would happen if the asteroid that extinct dinos 65 million years ago missed? The answer: not much, as the creative team over at Pixar failed to capitalize on such a cool idea. Nonetheless, this story instead focuses on a friendly green misshaped dino named Arlo, that gets separated from his family during a monstrous storm, only to come in contact with a little “critter” named Spot, a human boy who is also just as lost as Arlo. The two form an unlikely bond, and venture on their journey home together. What stands in the way is some greedy Pterodactyls: one named “Thunderclap” Mother Nature, and some berries that can take you on an acid trip. Sound weird?

Weird it is. The Good Dinosaur looks and sounds beautiful but is so uneven otherwise that it almost doesn’t feel like a Pixar movie. I can’t tell you if that’s good or bad, I just know I wasn’t as invested in this film as I feel I should have been. Did I mention there is a scene where Arlo and Spot get high off berries? Spot is a fun little guy to watch run around, bite and hiss at other creatures in the vast nature which these two characters explore. Still – most of it feels like a rushed endeavor with hardly anytime to soak up the richness of the surroundings. Then there is the voice work by Jeffrey Wright (Papa) Frances McDormand (Mama), and newcomers Raymond Ochoa (Arlo) and Jack Bright (Spot) that is just ok. While it’s also important to note that this movie also turns into a western about halfway through complete with cattle wrangling, and Sam Elliott voice-over …the only thing is, it doesn’t fit in with the rest of the movie.

Director Peter Sohn uses many basic grabs from works like The Lion King to fill the voids in some of these moments that needed some more attention. With that said there just isn’t enough here for me to warrant a recommendation. Pixar is a studio known for paying close attention to detail in circumstances like this, maybe this film is a testament that perhaps the studio only focused on one movie this year, that being Inside Out, and left The Good Dinosaur for the scraps, it’s a shame too..there was much potential here for an amazing experience. C