SCREEN IT! PARENTAL REVIEW: DINOSAUR

"DINOSAUR"
(2000) (voices of D.B. Sweeney, Alfre Woodard) (PG)

Alcohol/ Drugs	Blood/Gore	Disrespectful/ Bad Attitude	Frightening/ Tense Scenes	Guns/ Weapons
None	Mild	Moderate	*Heavy	None

Imitative Behavior	Jump Scenes	Music (Scary/Tense)	Music (Inappropriate)	Profanity
Minor	Minor	Extreme	None	None

Sex/ Nudity	Smoking	Tense Family Scenes	Topics To Talk About	Violence
*Minor	None	Minor	Moderate	Moderate

QUICK TAKE:: Action/Adventure: After a meteorite storm devastates their home, a dinosaur and his adoptive lemur family join a herd of herbivorous dinosaurs trying to make their way to the safety of their nesting grounds.

PLOT:

Aladar (voice of D.B. SWEENEY) is a three-ton iguanodon who, through a series of mishaps, came to be adopted and raised by a family of lemurs headed by patriarch Yar (voice of OSSIE DAVIS) and matriarch Plio (voice of ALFRE WOODARD). Although he's obviously much different than his primate siblings, including Zini (voice of MAX CASELLA) and Suri (voice of HAYDEN PANETTIERE), and hasn't grown up with any of his own kind, Aladar is a happy and carefree dinosaur.

That is, until a horrific meteorite storm arrives and destroys their home island. Forced to flee and swim to safety, Aladar and his family find nothing but desolate and ravaged lands filled with hungry carnivores such as raptors and the terrifying and much larger carnotaurs.

Luck prevails for the small family as they encounter a large herd of disparate herbivorous dinosaurs migrating toward the safety of a reportedly paradisiacal nesting ground. Unfortunately, the tribe is led by Kron (voice of SAMUEL E. WRIGHT), a dictator-like iguanodon who, with the aid of his right-hand dinosaur, Bruton (voice of PETER SIRAGUSA), pushes the herd to its limits as they try to reach those grounds as quickly as possible.

The much smaller Aladar immediately clashes with Kron, especially when the leader seems not to care about the old or tired stragglers including Baylene (voice of JOAN PLOWRIGHT), a "dainty" brachiosaur, and Eema (voice of DELLA REESE), a slow moving styrachosaur. As Aladar tries to keep them caught up with the rest of the herd, he meets and eventually befriends Kron's gentler sister, Neera (voice of JULIANNA MARGULIES). With many miles and long days ahead of them, and despite repeated encounters with the various carnivores, the herd tries to complete their journey.

WILL KIDS WANT TO SEE IT?: A movie made by Disney about dinosaurs? You can bet that the kids - even some teenagers - will be desperate to see this one.

WHY THE MPAA RATED IT: PG: For intense images.

CAST AS ROLE MODELS:: While it's doubtful many kids will look to computer-generated dinosaurs as role models, here's a quick look at the major characters.
ALADAR is an iguanodon who's been adopted into a family of lemurs and does what he can to make sure that the old and weak aren't left behind during the herd's migration. He also shows plenty of bravery and compassion.
PLIO is the lemur matriarch who cares for her family.
YAR is the patriarch whose occasional gruff demeanor is just a front covering his more compassionate interior.
ZINI is Aladar's stepbrother and best friend.
KRON is the dictator-like ruler of the herd who doesn't care if stragglers don't make it as long as most of the herd does.
NEERA is his sister who falls for Aladar and his compassionate ways.
BRUTON is Kron's equally domineering right-hand assistant.
BAYLENE and EEMA are two of the old and/or "dainty" dinosaurs who help Aladar as much as he helps them.; ALADAR is an iguanodon who's been adopted into a family of lemurs and does what he can to make sure that the old and weak aren't left behind during the herd's migration. He also shows plenty of bravery and compassion.
PLIO is the lemur matriarch who cares for her family.
YAR is the patriarch whose occasional gruff demeanor is just a front covering his more compassionate interior.
ZINI is Aladar's stepbrother and best friend.
KRON is the dictator-like ruler of the herd who doesn't care if stragglers don't make it as long as most of the herd does.
NEERA is his sister who falls for Aladar and his compassionate ways.
BRUTON is Kron's equally domineering right-hand assistant.
BAYLENE and EEMA are two of the old and/or "dainty" dinosaurs who help Aladar as much as he helps them.; PLIO is the lemur matriarch who cares for her family.
YAR is the patriarch whose occasional gruff demeanor is just a front covering his more compassionate interior.
ZINI is Aladar's stepbrother and best friend.
KRON is the dictator-like ruler of the herd who doesn't care if stragglers don't make it as long as most of the herd does.
NEERA is his sister who falls for Aladar and his compassionate ways.
BRUTON is Kron's equally domineering right-hand assistant.
BAYLENE and EEMA are two of the old and/or "dainty" dinosaurs who help Aladar as much as he helps them.; YAR is the patriarch whose occasional gruff demeanor is just a front covering his more compassionate interior.
ZINI is Aladar's stepbrother and best friend.
KRON is the dictator-like ruler of the herd who doesn't care if stragglers don't make it as long as most of the herd does.
NEERA is his sister who falls for Aladar and his compassionate ways.
BRUTON is Kron's equally domineering right-hand assistant.
BAYLENE and EEMA are two of the old and/or "dainty" dinosaurs who help Aladar as much as he helps them.; ZINI is Aladar's stepbrother and best friend.
KRON is the dictator-like ruler of the herd who doesn't care if stragglers don't make it as long as most of the herd does.
NEERA is his sister who falls for Aladar and his compassionate ways.
BRUTON is Kron's equally domineering right-hand assistant.
BAYLENE and EEMA are two of the old and/or "dainty" dinosaurs who help Aladar as much as he helps them.; KRON is the dictator-like ruler of the herd who doesn't care if stragglers don't make it as long as most of the herd does.
NEERA is his sister who falls for Aladar and his compassionate ways.
BRUTON is Kron's equally domineering right-hand assistant.
BAYLENE and EEMA are two of the old and/or "dainty" dinosaurs who help Aladar as much as he helps them.; NEERA is his sister who falls for Aladar and his compassionate ways.
BRUTON is Kron's equally domineering right-hand assistant.
BAYLENE and EEMA are two of the old and/or "dainty" dinosaurs who help Aladar as much as he helps them.; BRUTON is Kron's equally domineering right-hand assistant.
BAYLENE and EEMA are two of the old and/or "dainty" dinosaurs who help Aladar as much as he helps them.; BAYLENE and EEMA are two of the old and/or "dainty" dinosaurs who help Aladar as much as he helps them.

CAST, CREW, & TECHNICAL INFO

HOW OTHERS RATED THIS MOVIE

Curious if this title is entertaining, any good, and/or has any artistic merit?
Then read OUR TAKE of this film.

(Note: The "Our Take" review of this title examines the film's artistic merits and does not take into account any of the possibly objectionable material listed below).

OUR WORD TO PARENTS:

The following is a brief summary of the content found in this PG-rated film. Much like the movie "Jurassic Park," this film contains many scenes and images of ferocious and menacing looking dinosaurs that may be unsettling, suspenseful or downright scary to kids, all dependent, of course, on their age, level of maturity and tolerance for such material.

As such, there are many scenes where large and small, menacing-looking and decidedly carnivorous dinosaurs pursue and/or attack various members of the herd. While the attacks aren't particularly graphic in nature, they are rather intense, with a few of the dinosaurs being a bit bloody after the attacks. Some more "personalized" fighting takes place between the main character and the leader of the herd (who's been given most of the film's bad attitudes).

Beyond all of that and the related suspenseful/scary music, and some non-explicit comments about the lemurs finding mates, the rest of the film's categories have little or nothing in the way of major objectionable content. As always, however, should you still be concerned about the film's appropriateness for anyone in your home, you may want to take a closer look at our detailed content listings.

For those concerned with bright flashes of light, a few moments of that (in non-strobe fashion) appear during a thunderstorm.

ALCOHOL OR DRUG USE: None.

BLOOD/GORE: As Yar holds up Aladar as a baby, the little iguanodon urinates (and we see the falling urine). Later, the same is repeated, but we only hear the related sound.
We see a few dead dinosaurs along the herd's path, but other than being dead, most aren't bloody or gory (although we briefly see some raptors feeding on a carcass and then see that they've pretty much picked it down to the bones).
Bruton and a scout encounter two carnotaurs, one of which grabs the scout (and we briefly see what looks like it pulling off some flesh in the distance).
It looks like Aladar has a tiny bit of blood in the corner of his mouth after getting into a brief fight with Kron.
Bruton returns after being attacked by a carnotaur and has some bloody woods (we see blood on his wrinkled/scaly looking skin).
Another injured dinosaur has some blood on its leg.
A carnotaur eats some flesh off a dead dinosaur.
Aladar has a little bit of blood on him.

DISRESPECTFUL/BAD ATTITUDE: Thinking it will grow up to eat them, Yar wants to get rid of baby Aladar, but quickly changes his mind.
Although he's pretty much following nature's survival of the fittest and "the good of the many outweighs the good of the few" maxims, Kron comes off as the bad guy since he pushes his herd, is okay with leaving stragglers behind, and bullies and/or attacks those who challenge his authority.
After Aladar and the others have found water, Kron charges up and makes the others get out of the way so that he can drink.

FRIGHTENING SCENES: The following scenes (most of which are accompanied by suspenseful music to some degree), as well as ones listed under "Violence," may or may not be unsettling, suspenseful or downright scary to kids and depends on their age, level of maturity and tolerance for such material. In essence, however, many of the scenes are at or near the suspense/terror level of that in the "Jurassic Park" films.
A large and definitely menacing-looking carnotaur (that looks like a T-Rex) suddenly chases a small dinosaur out from the woods (while suspenseful music plays), chases others and then finally bites into one of them (but not in a graphic/gory fashion).
As a little bit of dramatically suspenseful music plays, the Lemurs slowly approach a dinosaur egg that's landed amongst them. Moments later and after baby Aladar has hatched, Yar prepares to toss or throw the infant dinosaur down to the ground far below him, but decides not to.
We see a dinosaur chasing some young and screaming lemurs through the woods and then see that the dinosaur swallows one of them into its mouth (but it turns out just to be Aladar playing with his monkey friends).
What starts as a pretty-looking meteorite storm turns scary when a large meteorite crashes into the sea and explodes like a nuclear bomb (the resulting shockwave knocks the lemurs down). Aladar and his monkey family then try to flee the ensuing wall of flames that quickly approaches them, as well as more meteorites that crash down all around them. They must then leap from a cliff into the sea below to avoid the fire and other dangers.
Aladar and his monkey family find themselves surrounded by raptors that slowly and menacingly move in on them from all sides. They then chase them through a rocky area, with one biting Aladar and others trying to bite the lemurs.
The gargantuan Baylene unknowingly nearly steps on Aladar and his monkey family while walking over them. As they watch the dinosaur pass by, the raptors show up once again and briefly chase after them before they join the herd for safety.
We see that not only are the raptors on the herd's tail, but that two carnotaurs are trailing them as well.
Bruton and a scout encounter two carnotaurs, one of which grabs the scout (and we briefly see what looks like it pulling off some flesh in the distance) and the other that charges Bruton (and we see his point of view of it doing so).
Hiding in a large cave during a thunderstorm, Aladar, his monkey family, Baylene and Eema realize that two carnotaurs are just outside the cave entrance (that's partially veiled by a waterfall of sorts created by the rain). Aladar ends up just on the other side of that waterfall and freezes there, hoping the large meat eater doesn't spot him. It does, however, and then chases him back into the cave as he tries to climb up a rocky slope inside the cave. The carnotaur then grabs Aladar by the tail and tries to pull him back down the slope (where the two carnotaurs fight above him over which gets to have him for dinner). Bruton then bashes into the two carnotaurs, allowing Aladar to escape. A large amount of rocks/roofing then falls onto Aladar, Bruton and the two intruders.
Traveling alone at night, Aladar hides from a carnotaur that's only a few feet away from him.
Kron charges Aladar and knocks him to the ground, but Aladar pushes him off. The two then fight (with Kron throwing dirt into Aladar's eyes and using his tail to knock Aladar back against some rocks). Neera then steps in and knocks Kron aside.
Cornered in a dead end canyon, the herd sees a carnotaur approaching them. Aladar stands up to him and is then joined by others who drive the carnotaur backwards.
The carnotaur goes after Kron, chasing him up a rocky slope until cornering him on the edge of a precipice. The two then fight (tail hitting, biting, etc.) with Aladar and Neera joining the fight with more tail hitting until the carnotaur falls off the edge (but not before briefly grabbing ahold of Aladar before losing that grip).

GUNS/WEAPONS: None.

IMITATIVE BEHAVIOR: Phrases: "Get lost, kid" and "Jerkosaurus."

JUMP SCENES: A raptor suddenly jumps down in front of the camera.

MUSIC (SCARY/TENSE): An extreme amount of suspenseful and scary music occurs throughout the film.

MUSIC (INAPPROPRIATE): None.

PROFANITY: None.

SEX/NUDITY: Although there's clearly nothing that's explicit, there's some talk about Zini practicing his "pick up" lines for female lemurs ("If you'll be my bride, I'll groom you" and that he's "the professor of love, and school's in session") and of all the young male lemurs finding mates (except for Zini).
Later, and seeing that Aladar is interested in Neera (who doesn't initially return the attraction), Zini tells him, "What you need is a little help from the love monkey."
Later, when he finds other female lemurs that surround him, Zini asks if any of them are up for "a little game of monkey in the middle?"

SMOKING: None.

TENSE FAMILY SCENES: A dinosaur must deal with the death of a sibling.

TOPICS TO TALK ABOUT: The scientific accuracy of the story (such as dinosaurs talking, etc.).
The fact that the dinosaurs didn't give up and were eventually rewarded for their perseverance.
How Aladar helps anyone who needs help, regardless of whether they've been mean/rude to him in the past.

VIOLENCE: Much of what follows could be considered along the lines of nature films showing wild animals pursuing, killing and/or eating their prey, but since many of the creatures are given personalities and voices, some may see it more like movie violence rather than what's natural.
Played out in a natural sort of way, a carnotaur chases after smaller dinosaurs and finally catches and bites into one of them (in a non-graphic/gory fashion).
A large meteorite storm devastates much of the land and presumably kills many of the animals.
Many raptors surround and menacingly approach Aladar and his monkey family and then chase them through a rocky area, with one biting Aladar and others trying to bite the lemurs.
Bruton and a scout encounter two carnotaurs, one of which grabs the scout (and we briefly see what looks like it pulling off some flesh in the distance) and the other that charges Bruton (and we see his point of view of it approaching him).
Aladar and Kron briefly fight, with the latter quickly getting the upper hand and telling Aladar that he'll kill him if he interferes again (while knocking him to the ground and whacking him with his tail).
Some carnotaurs chase after and grab Aladar. Bruton then comes to his rescue and fights with the meat eaters.
A large amount of rocks fall on some dinosaurs, burying and presumably killing some of them.
Aladar and the other dinosaurs repeatedly smash into a cave wall, eventually breaking through it.
Kron charges Aladar and knocks him to the ground, but Aladar pushes him off. The two then fight (with Kron throwing dirt into Aladar's eyes and using his tail to knock Aladar back against some rocks). Neera then steps in and knocks Kron aside.
The carnotaur goes after Kron, chasing him up a rocky slope until cornering him on the edge of a precipice. The two then fight (tail hitting, biting, etc.) with Aladar and Neera joining the fight with more tail hitting until the carnotaur falls off the edge.
We see that a dinosaur has died from injuries sustained in a fight.

Reviewed May 16, 2000 / Posted May 19, 2000

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