We're Back! A Dinosaur's Story (1993)

Overrated

Good story, Not enough for a whole film

Great example of an old-fashioned, pure-at-heart escapist event movie that doesn't pretend to be anything that it's not and has boat loads of fun being its own ludicrous self.

By the time the dramatic fireworks start popping off, each one feels earned.

A great old cartoon about how important and necessary it is to dream!After all, as you know, if you want very much, dreams come true! Even the most incredible! Such as the desire to see a living dinosaur, or even more difficult - to have a good and faithful friend! And what if we combine both of these desires at once?Why not?The last time I watched this cartoon 15-20 years ago, but despite such a long break, it still leaves a bright impression on yourself!..Of course, with age it is more and more difficult to immerse yourself entirely in the fairy world, dissolve in this film-made fairy tale, continuing to feel like a child). Many episodes may seem inappropriate or unnecessary to an adult (for example, the final kiss of a boy and a girl...)... but on the other hand, it is much more accurate to formulate those thoughts that are inherent in the cartoon and that children are more difficult to understand...For example, the basic idea that premature attempts to enter into adulthood, so to speak, "to flutter out of the parent's nest" ahead of time, being still fragile and not ready for the harsh struggle for survival in the adult world "chick", is fraught with serious difficulties and dangers; or that under no circumstances can not lose your human face ("do not be so evil just because he (crazy Professor) evil! Rex means " king." So be a king no matter what! I'm begging you, Rex!»); and the final scene with Professor Screweyes (which doesn't seem quite fair to me today, but rather sad) tells the kids how dangerous it can be to have your own fear, to the point where it can eventually destroy you ("Wait! Don't leave!.. When I have no one to scare - I myself begin to fear...»)...So to review these time-tested things, sometimes useful, even if you are one of them, seemingly all grown up! After all, the questions posed in these tapes, sometimes are much more relevant only when you stop being a child... But I personally want to watch such masterpieces through the eyes of a little boy, who first met them in the late 90's or early 2000's. nothing special without thinking, but just immersed in a world of beautiful imagination and wonderful animators...Score 10 of 10

Steven Spielberg might not be the first thing that comes to mind whenever animation is brought up but, believe it or not, he's actually made a big impact to the industry. He has collaborated on two of Don Bluth's movies, directed The Adventures of Tintin, and produced some of Warner Bros. most famous cartoon shows. He has also formed two animation studios which include the studio Amblimation and its more famous successor, DreamWorks Animation. The former studio only produced three animated movies before closing its doors in 1997 though sadly its films don't really live up to the ones from its successor. I think 'We're Back! A Dinosaur's Story" is a good example of why. I originally watched the film when I was about seven or eight years old and had forgotten about it over the years. Upon rewatching it, I realized how bizarre and strange this movie was. It's one of the weirdest animated movies ever made and that's saying a lot given the kind of movies coming out now.The movie follows four dinosaurs in prehistoric times named Rex, Elsa, Dweeb and Woog (John Goodman, Felicity Kendal, Charles Fleischer and Rene LeVant), who have been living ordinary dinosaur lives until a futuristic ship arrives and gives them a breakfast cereal that makes them very intelligent as well as giving them the ability to talk and think. They are then met by the pilot of the ship named Captain Neweyes (Walter Cronkite), who informs them that he is planning on putting them in a live exhibit at the American Museum of Natural History to entertain children. However, before they are zapped into a present day New York City, Neweyes warns the dinosaurs to beware of his crazy evil brother Professor Screweyes (Kenneth Mars). Once they arrive in the Big Apple, the dinosaurs run into two runaway children named Louie and Cecilia (Joey Shea and Yeardley Smith), who plan on joining a circus. From there on out, the dinosaurs are in a crazy journey around the city with bizarre adventures to follow.The film is based off of a children's book written and illustrated by Hudson Talbott. I feel that the source material was just too bizarre and too short for a full-length animated movie. In general, it's a strange somewhat circuitous story to explain, which becomes less about the dinosaurs and more about those two runaway children. It also has too many bizarre moments to even count; notable examples include the films opening scene where Rex is playing golf, and the scene where the dinosaurs are discovered resulting in the police being called in to arrest them. Some of the casting choices also seemed off. Both Walter Cronkite and Julia Child were cast in this movie, but neither seem to fit the roles properly. Although they didn't have lead roles, it felt odd hearing their voices coming out of animated characters. As for the animation, I had some mixed feelings. The scenes were colorful and bouncy, and the character designs are unique and, thankfully, were not an attempt to copy Disney's designs. However, I feel that the digital clean-up could have been better. While watching this movie, it became very clear that the animation was scanned into a computer as I saw pixels around the characters quite a few times. I don't know if this was a home video problem or not, but it was distracting either way. I also felt like they could have spent more time on the character development. The dinosaurs are likable characters and have some quirky charm to them, but they're not as much of the focus as those two children, who are mainly just there to be cute. Louis is your typical 'tough guy' and Cecelia is the stereo-typical girl that is able to melt his heart with her cute looks and nice attitude. Professor Screweyes is also your run-of-the-mill villain; he's just some random evil old guy with no good in him whatsoever. The story would have been much better with an interesting villain. The one thing that was well done was the music composed by the late James Horner. The score is beautiful to listen to and has a sweeping feel to it but it's sadly not enough to hold this movie up."We're Back! A Dinosaur's Story" is probably one of the poorest examples of an animated movie with Steven Spielberg's involvement. The film is not horrible per say, but I don't feel it's as strong as any other animated movies he's worked on. The story is very bizarre and strange, the animation looks a little too pixelated, and, in general, the characters are just underdeveloped. I feel that for those that want a stronger animated dinosaur movie with Spielberg's involvement, they should instead look at The Land Before Time and leave this film as a fossil.Note: This review was originally written and published May 7, 2017 for Rotoscopers "Indie-Mation Club".

Okay, so as many of you have so eloquently stated, this is no The Land Before Time. You know why? The Land Before Time is a classic, it's my all-time favorite animated movie that still brings tears to my eyes. It's... legendary.This is a totally different movie with a totally different premise, so no, it's not like The Land Before Time because it's not supposed to be. The only thing that links the two is they both have animated dinosaurs that talk. This movie takes you on a fantastic ride through the wishes of children. This movie is all about seeing childhood wishes come true. And being so, yes, it's ridiculous and a bit beyond the realm of reason, but hey, what childhood fantasy IS logical? Good points about the movie: The voice acting was wonderful and believable. I absolutely fell in love with Louie's character. He is adorable and the deepest character in the film. I love how he progresses in his character with the help of the dinosaurs (especially Rex) to not only get his wish for a friend but also find there is more to life than being a "tough guy" because the "original tough guy" chose the life of love and heart instead of teeth and claws. The sacrifice the dinosaurs made for the children was very heartwarming. Imagine basically giving up your sanity for a friend. Having a mental illness myself I can imagine that as someone forcing me to give up my medicine to save a friend and I can tell you it'd be a tough decision, a terrible one, but I'd do it in a heartbeat. Thinking of it that way, one cannot belittle that moment in the plot by saying this movie doesn't have a lot of heart. The animation was great but I would have preferred they kept the dinosaurs slightly more realistic when they entered the human world. They looked a lot like mushy balloons to me and as an artist and fan of animation I would have loved to see a film with a more realistic and anatomically substantial set of lovable, cuddly dinosaurs. I immensely enjoyed the scene where Rex shows how he started life as a "monster". That part of the movie and that alone reminded me of the animation in The Land Before Time. It was excellently pulled off. And the other animation was great too but as I said, it had a "saturday morning cartoon" sort of feel rather than an animated movie. The dinosaurs were goofy in comparison to the animation given to the humans. And we can't talk about good things without mentioning Professor Screweyes. I love this villain very much. I wish his character had more development and that they had kept the deleted scene explaining his past. There were some issues I had with the parts of the movie with him in it but I'll get to that later. But I will say this, I will never forget the fear I had as a young child watching this villain. It was wonderful. Negative: As mentioned earlier the friendly forms the dinosaurs took looked more like the goofy form to me. They could have been friendly and more anatomically correct. I would have loved to see Rex looking more like a friendly version of Sharptooth because I've always found these animals beautiful just the way they are. They took Rex's beauty.Also I do have a bone to pick with Screweyes and the whole premise of him being a villain. Captian Neweyes told the dinosaurs that Sreweyes was insane and evil right from the beginning. As a child I didn't understand Screweyes was a villain because he manipulated the kids and the dinosaurs. The moment I saw him, before he made the children sign the contract, I thought he was a villain just because he dealt with fear and that he scared people. That is the way a lot of people teach their children. Horror is evil. Exploring fear is evil. When it is not. I love horror, good creepypasta, and even write my own. This movie displays anyone who enjoys fear or dresses in a darker more alternative style as "evil". Yes I know he IS evil and shows this later in the film but the first thing you get from the movie as proof of his evilness is that he runs a scary circus and prefers horror to comedy. There's nothing wrong with a good scare when it's under control. If he hadn't had his backstory deleted it would have made more sense as to why his scaring people is evil. It shows that he scares and manipulates people to feel in control of fear so that he isn't afraid of things himself. A very selfish reason for doing what he does. Without it he just seems like a horror buff for a while until the real "bad" things happen. Even Rex as a monster couldn't find a reason to eat the poor guy.Overall I love this movie. It will always be one of my childhood favorites and a great memory. It has heart, fear, childlike wonder, and even a tiny smidge of romance. It is short and yes, Screweyes will be horrifying to younger children but I watched it at 2, got a wonderful scare out of it and turned out fine. Sometimes watching the darker animated films from that time is good for kids. A more realistic take on the world than all the bubbly, happy nonsense our kids watch today. If your kids haven't seen it yet I say give it a try.

its great i loved it ha cause i love dinosaurs they r the greatest animals but i loved the show cause it wasn't copied from another show and it was a originals ha it has a good storyline and great for little kids (if they like dinosaurs that is) i have a few downs too its not all that great cause of the dinosaurs look a little mutated so i should have had but a 7 but right now is a little late for that yay 4 more lines to go it is great for a fantasy show though warning this might spoil a part for u so if u don't want it to be spoiled don't read on plz near the end is kinda weird cause all they need to do is get dang i forgot what it was so nvm guess its not a spoiler so never mind i loved it and its my opinion and sorry for any missed spelled words if any