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Pixar's 'The Good Dinosaur' Gives Prehistoric Creatures a New Image

by Ethan Anderton
May 31, 2012
Source: 24 Frames

If there's one thing Pixar does well, it's bring new life to familiar stories and concepts. The idea of toys coming to life wasn't anything new, but the characters of Toy Story were so charming that our heartstrings were pulled hard during their struggles in Toy Story 3. Then WALL-E went and made audiences feel empathy for a robot, and Ratatouille somehow made it not disgusting for a rat to be in the kitchen. Now it sounds like they will do the same for dinosaurs as director Bob Peterson recently spoke with 24 Frames and said The Good Dinosaur would change how the audience connects with the prehistoric creatures.

Peterson, the co-director of Up and writer of Finding Nemo, says, "It's time to do a movie where you get to know the dinosaur, what it's really like to be a dinosaur and to be with a dinosaur." Films have usually only used dinosaurs on two different sides of the spectrum. Either they are mostly mindless creatures roaming around and causing problems for people in a sci-fi story, or they are hilarious animated characters talking and acting like people for the most part. But in this case, with a story that takes place in a world where an asteroid never hit Earth and dinosaurs still roam around along with people, it sounds like the creatures will actually be given a chance to develop into something more.

Peter Sohn, who directed the Pixar short Partly Cloudy, is co-directing with Peterson and the filmmaker says that they've been looking at playing with the idea of what dinosaurs represent today. As 24 Frames puts it, they are "somethings anachronistic or resistant to change" and "If there's a 'good' dinosaur, after all, there have to be bad ones." But Sohn points out that, "The title is deceptively simple. It has more meaning than it seems." Perhaps a hint of the story lies in the fact that John Walker is producing, the man who also produced The Iron Giant, another film about a misunderstood character struggling to live on Earth with humans. Honestly, it sounds like this film won't have any talking dinosaurs, and I would expect some kind of E.T. sort of story to come from Pixar. That would be something we've never seen with dinosaurs on the big screen, but the film doesn't arrive until May 30th, 2014, so we may not get solid story details for awhile.

Filed under Development, Movie News, Pixar, SciFi

From around the web:

Ehsan Davodi

Antique 10 Years Wait For Jurassic Park 4 Fuck It I Wana Pixar's Hipnotic Jurassic Park
Nielsen700

Can't wait!!!
Xerxexx

Dinosaurs = win.
- Brotsis
  
  Dinosaurs = ftw! agreed. Dinosaurs and people roaming the earth together....ummm....why not just turn the novel series of "Dinotopia" into cinematic movies!!!!!!!!?
  - http://www.facebook.com/stagez Brandon Whokarez
    
    Dinotopia is a movie... a really long movie lol Essentially that has been done already
SuicidalOptimist

Aaaah, I love Pixar, and there can never be enough Dinosaurs, ever! The only thing I am worried about is the amount of tears I will inevitably and undoubtedly shed at some point during this movie. Damn you, animated movies, always exposing me as the big pansy I really am!
Dom

Sounds like a bit of a rip off of Land Before Time.
- http://twitter.com/krossoverking Bear Wolf
  
  Are you stupid?
Akirakorn

"Either they are mostly mindless creatures roaming around and causing problems for people in a sci-fi story, or they are hilarious animated characters talking and acting like people for the most part." Like how Wall-E becomes self aware and acts like people, or the dogs in UP? Kind of contradicting yourselves a bit. He probably means they won't be obnoxious little kids like in The Land Before Time, which is made for kids. Which are obnoxious little people. Pretty sure they'll just be really smart pets/helpers for people. Otherwise they'll be evolved to near-human in mental capacity, which would make for hilarious comparisons to The Super Mario Brothers Movie.
si1ver

Has there ever been a movie that screamed for a sequel more than Incredibles? It would work really well right now with the onslaught of superhero movies and now the banding together of superheros in the Avengers. Anyways interested in seeing what "The Good Dinosaur" looks like. Hopefully more appealing than Brave.
- Ehsan Davodi
  
  Incredible 2 & Toy Story 4 !!! Oh God when they came out from doors of pixar!!!!!! They promise them but no signs of movement. Studio work on original ideas and don't have capacity for more doing. I think one part of studio must head for pixar sequels, pixar had very potential and adults & kids Wana more anime from them. 1movie every year is cool but if they had enough subtle mastermind people why no moreeeee? Still there is many original ideas that they can stick to them, then there is no room for more sequels, I love pixar and exist with it but they must uprise their activities, Entire World Love Them Dude!!!!
Danielle Gargano

how can I audition for the voice of a character? have there already been auditions?
blaze

If you're going to claim that you're going to change how people connect with dinosaurs it better be something serious, showing them for what they really were, magnificent and wonderful animals, but this, being from Pixar would probably be nothing more than "hilarious animated characters talking and acting like people for the most part" even if they say won't do that but their inclusion of humans into the story doesn't leave any other possibility... well, they could make them act like dogs...
Anonymous

"That would be something we've never seen with dinosaurs on the big screen"? What about the movie "Baby" from the '80s? That story was exactly about taking care of a dinosaur. I'm as big a fan of dinosaurs and PIXAR as anyone, but I won't set my expectations too high.