Movie Review: We're Back! A Dinosaur's Story

Movie Review: We're Back! A Dinosaur's Story                                                                         1-27-17

In 1993, Jurassic Park premiered, and earned a ton of money at the box-office. However, Universal was worried that, because it was rated PG-13, it wouldn't perform as well. They asked Steven Spielberg and his team at Amblimation if they could make a family-friendly film about dinosaurs, and the result is this rare fossil (no pun intended).

Based on the book by Hudson Talbot, We're Back! A Dinosaur's Story is about a Tyrannosaurs Rex named Rex (John Goodman). He, along with a pterodactyl named Elsa (Felicity Kendel), a Triceratops named Woog (Rene LeVant), and a duck-billed, and buck-toothed, dinosaur named Dweeb (Charles Fleisher) have been feed a brain-altering cereal by the wise Captain Neweyes (Walter Cronkite). He transports the Dino quartet to the 1990s AD so they can be viewed at the Museum of Natural History in New York and make thousands of kids happy. However, he warns them about his wicked brother Professor Screweyes (Kenneth Mars), who specializes in scaring people. When they arrive in the Big Apple, Rex meets a young boy named Louie (Joey Shea), who ran away from home, and a girl named Cecilia Nuthatch (Yeardly Smith), who mourns over her working parents, with the dinosaurs trying to fit into the 20th century, as well as avoiding Professor Screweyes.

I am aware that not many people like this film, but there are some good things to point out. For one thing, the character animation is spot-on, almost Disney quality, and arguably better than Don Bluth's movies at the time.

Another thing to admire about We're Back! is the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade sequence. There are several famous faces that make cameos as parade balloons, like Snoopy and Woodstock, Clifford the Big Red Dog, Woody Woodpecker, and even Spiderman.

Keep in mind that this was before Disney bought Marvel. The song that Rex sings in the sequence is also quite enjoyable.

I also find the two principal human characters, Louie and Cecilia, to be quite relatable. Louie represents resilient kids who are going through the I'm-not-a-baby-anymore phase, while Cecilia represents the obedient kids who always listen to their parents.

It should also be noted that this was the first voice-acting role for John Goodman, who would later voice Pacha in The Emperor's New Groove and Sully in Monsters Inc.

We're Back! A Dinosaur's Story may not be a perfect film, but it's a suitable film for children who have a passion for paleontology. Think of this film like the 'Good Dinosaur' of the 90s.

Rating: 3 stars out of 5