BACKGROUND
Pixar has always been seen as the best in the world of computer animation, having hit after hit after hit for years, ever since they released Toy Story in 1995.
There has been the occasional misstep of course, like Cars (2006) – and then Cars 2 (2011). But for the most part, if Pixar say they are releasing a new movie, generally, people get excited, and have high expectations of what they’ll be viewing.
2015 was looking to be another good year for Pixar, as their summer release of that year, Inside Out, was seen to be incredibly clever, funny, and poignant. It was looking like Pixar were heading into their third decade of movie-making on a high.
And then came The Good Dinosaur, their November release of 2015. Given its initial concept of how would the world have looked had the dinosaurs not been wiped out by an asteroid millions of years ago, people were looking forward to seeing what Pixar did with this story. After all, Pixar rarely make mistakes.
However, many viewers found themselves bitterly disappointed after watching The Good Dinosaur. It was considered to be one of Pixar’s worst movies at this point in time, and to back up the negative criticism, it was seen to have flopped at the box office, with even Cars and Cars 2 performing better financially. The reasons why The Good Dinosaur was not good differs depending on who you talk to, however, there are some fans of the film.
So, what’s my opinion on The Good Dinosaur?
I remember watching it at the cinema with my family, and I believe we all came out of there thinking it was alright. It wasn’t what we’d expected to see but it was watchable. However, now I’ve rewatched it a couple of times, I have a different view on The Good Dinosaur. Now, I can honestly say that I really don’t like The Good Dinosaur, and I would personally rather watch Cars 2 – or WALL-E (2008), or even Turning Red (2022), these being other Pixar films I don’t like much. I would, however, rather watch The Good Dinosaur than Lightyear (2022) – but wouldn’t everybody?
Specifically, I find The Good Dinosaur too dark, lacking in humour, and overall, quite slow and boring to follow. I’ve never been interested in dinosaurs and I don’t like films about nature, as nature can be cruel and upsetting to watch. The Good Dinosaur is not a feel-good film, despite that being what we generally expect to see from Pixar. It’s just not for me.
PLOT
The Good Dinosaur begins 65 million years ago, as an asteroid rockets towards Earth. We watch as it hurtles towards the planet, seemingly going to make a direct hit. The dinosaurs that roam the Earth continue life as though nothing is happening. Suddenly, they hear a noise and look up to the sky – and see the asteroid fly right over them, not making contact.
Million of years later, having not died from an asteroid strike, the dinosaurs, and other creatures from that era, continue to roam the planet. On a patch of land, a dinosaur couple have managed to build and maintain a farm for themselves. They are waiting for their three eggs to hatch – and today is the day. First, they have their daughter Libby, closely followed by a son called Buck. Then, there is just the largest egg of the three to hatch, so the dinosaur couple, Henry and Ida, are expecting this one to be the biggest of their three children. Except, when the egg hatches, out pops a tiny, very nervous dinosaur. They call him Arlo. The parents tell their children about the family farm, located next to Clawtooth Mountain, and how, together, they will keep this farm going.
Some time later, Libby and Buck are shown to be actively involved in their farming chores, although Arlo, still quite small and weak compared to his sister and brother, is struggling to contribute his fair share of the work. His mother loads him up with some food and he is sent to go and feed their chickens. Arlo doesn’t like the chickens, and is nervous about entering the pen. Eventually he does though and befriends one of the chicks, but the mother is waiting nearby and chases Arlo out of the pen. Arlo runs so far and fast that he has to be caught by his father before he falls in the river at the edge of their farm. His father is filling a silo he’s built with crop from the farm, saying it should stop any critters from stealing their food. Henry and Ida then mark the silo with their footprints, telling their children they’ll have to earn their mark on the silo by doing something big.
The first of the three children to earn their mark is Buck, who does so by clearing a field. Libby follows shortly after by ploughing the field, whilst Arlo continues to be scared of everything. But determined to get his mark, Arlo marches into the chicken pen to feed the animals, coming across an injured Buck on the ground. Arlo tries to help him, but Buck pranks him with a chicken puppet on his tail, scaring Arlo again. Arlo’s parents tell off Buck for calling Arlo a coward and say Arlo just needs time.
That night, Arlo is woken up by his father and taken on a walk. He tells Arlo to walk into a misty field. Uncertain, Arlo begins to walk, but stops when he sees a bug on his nose. He calls to his father to get rid of it. Henry blows on the bug, and it begins to glow. It is a firefly and the field is filled with them. Arlo’s father tells Arlo sometimes you have to get through your fear to see the beauty on the other side. He says he has a new job for Arlo.
The next day, Arlo tells his father that his new job is to catch the critter that has been stealing food from their silo. They build a trap for it together, with Arlo told to kill it with a stick after it’s been caught. Arlo patrols the silo, determined to do his job right, but when he sees something actually caught in the net, he begins to panic, especially as the critter – actually a human caveboy – seems to try and attack Arlo; I think he actually just can’t breathe. Arlo frees it, but it comes too close to Arlo and his screams scare the boy off. Arlo’s father comes over, angry to see that the critter has escaped. Wanting Arlo to face his fear, he takes Arlo into the forest to follow the critter and finally kill it. A storm has started, and Arlo worries about getting lost. His father tells him as long as he can find the river, he can find his way home. The tracks of the critter begin to wash away in the rain, so Arlo’s father tells Arlo to hurry, but Arlo gets scared of the thunder and lightning and falls, hurting himself. Arlo’s father sees this was not a good idea, and says they should go home. However, as they head home, they see the river water rising, and a huge torrent of flood water coming their way. Arlo’s father gets Arlo to safety, but it is too late for Henry and he is washed away…
Back on the farm some time later, Arlo’s mother is struggling with the harvest without Henry, and tells Arlo he’ll need to do more to help. Arlo promises he will. He then sees that boy inside the silo, eating all their food. Angry, and seeing the boy as the reason for his father’s death, Arlo chases it, but the boy jumps on Arlo, scaring him and causing him to stumble into the river. His head hits a rock and Arlo is knocked unconscious.
Arlo wakes up on the riverbank, far from home. He climbs up a wall of rocks to see the boy at the top of it, but the boy runs off before Arlo can catch up to him. Arlo thinks he’s lost until he sees the river and remembers what his dad said: that if he can find the river, he can find his way back home. Arlo follows the route of the river. He then starts to get hungry and tries to eat some berries from a tree, except he falls and gets his leg trapped under a rock. Arlo has no choice but to stay there, overnight, fearing what might approach him.
In the morning, Arlo discovers that his leg is free, seeing that something dug it out for him. Arlo continues his journey, stopping to attempt to build shelter when the rain gets bad. As the rain continues, Arlo hears something in the bushes ahead of him. It is the boy again who has given Arlo a half-dead lizard. The lizard manages to run off, as does the boy. A little while later, the boy returns with a huge bug. Arlo knocks it away with a stick. The boy returns for a third time, this time with a stick full of berries. Arlo tries to tell the boy to stay away from him, but is too hungry to argue. He asks the boy to find more berries, but he runs off. Arlo follows him to a cliff. The boy bites Arlo so he can use him as a bridge between two ledges. Arlo sees tons of berries on a tree on the other side, and excitedly starts eating them, despite the boy signalling something is wrong. That “something” turns out to be a snake, which falls on Arlo, causing Arlo to slip off the cliff and fall to the ground. The snake goes to attack Arlo, but is fought off by the boy. Arlo then hears a voice from the woods. It is a dinosaur, with animals all over him. He asks Arlo why the boy protected him; Arlo can’t answer that question. The dinosaur explains that all his animal “pets” protect him in some way and now he wants the boy. The dinosaur and Arlo start naming the boy. Whoever’s name he responds to gets to keep him. Luckily, Arlo wins, by naming the boy Spot.
Arlo and Spot continue their journey together, making a brief detour to mess with some gophers, by blowing into their burrows and forcing them out of hiding. The gophers get angry and climb on top of Arlo though, spooking him and making him fall in a lake. Arlo panics, until he sees Spot swimming and joins in – although when Arlo gets out of the lake, he is covered in leeches…They continue on, where they eat decomposing berries causing them to hallucinate, and walk through a field of fireflies. That night, Arlo tries to talk to Spot about his family, using sticks to represent each member of his family, with a circle drawn around it, as Spot can’t speak. Spot then does the same, showing that both of his parents have died. Arlo shows that his father has died too.
The next day, they press on with their journey in a storm, but Arlo gets flashbacks to his father’s death and runs into the woods to hide. Spot eventually finds Arlo in the now destroyed forest, but they are not near the river anymore. Arlo goes to ask a pack of pterodactyls for help, naively believing they are searching the woods for survivors and want to help them. The leader of the pack is called Thunderclap and their motto is “the storm provides”. Thunderclap sees an animal stuck in a tree and asks Arlo for help in getting to it. Arlo gladly accepts, however, the pterodactyls then eat the animal. They have their sights set on Spot next, but Arlo runs off with Spot on his back, asking more dinosaurs for help, but these are two huge T-Rexes. The T-Rexes fight off the pterodactyls and slowly approach Arlo. Arlo thinks they want to eat him next, but they just want to help. These two T-Rexes are brother and sister Nash and Ramsey. Their father, Butch, says they can’t help Arlo find his way home as they are busy trying to round up their herd. Arlo says Spot could sniff out their herd and they follow Spot as he sniffs out the herd’s trail.
At the end of the trail, all they see is a bug that Spot is interested in. Butch is angry that this was all a waste of time, but the herd are just in the next field over. The T-Rex family discovers that rustlers have tried to steal their herd. Butch tells Arlo to get on the rock in the middle of the herd and scream to lure the rustlers out into the open. It takes Spot biting Arlo to get him to scream, but the distraction works, and the rustlers, a pack of raptors, approach Arlo. Arlo is scared, but he stands his ground as Butch told him to. Just as Arlo thinks he’s about to be attacked, Butch, Nash, and Ramsey launch their attack on the raptors. However, at one point the raptors attack Butch. Arlo shakes off his fear to get the raptors off him, headbutting them. The raptors are tossed into the air by Butch, with the others running away. The T-Rexes roar at the raptors to keep them from coming back; they encourage Arlo to join in. They continue to move the herd together.
That night, around a campfire, the T-Rex family swap stories of their great adventures and their injuries, with Butch having a great story about the scar on his face, saying he was attacked by crocodiles, and fought back against them all. Arlo says that these stories have inspired him not to be scared anymore, but Butch says that that isn’t the point. The point is that fear is always there, and you have to fight to get through it. They then see the first snow falling, and Arlo knows he needs to get home soon.
The next day, Arlo and Spot go with Butch, Ramsey, and Nash to continue moving the herd. Arlo is even tasked with ensuring a group of them don’t split off in the wrong direction – and he manages to do it. Arlo can see Clawtooth Mountain in the distance and leaves the T-Rexes to continue the journey home. Arlo starts running home, with Spot on his back. They see the mountain up ahead, but stop after hearing a howl in the distance. Spot communicates through howling, so he stops and looks around. Up ahead, they see someone who looks like a bigger version of Spot. Spot begins to walk closer to the figure, but Arlo puts Spot on his back, telling him he can live at the farm with the rest of Arlo’s family.
Another storm soon starts up again, and Arlo sees the beaks of the pterodactyl pack poking through the clouds. They attack Arlo and fly away with Spot. Arlo is pushed off the cliff and is trapped in some vines. As he tries to wrestle his way out, a rock falls on his head, knocking him out. Arlo begins to hallucinate that he sees his father. His father starts to walk Arlo home, in the opposite direction to where Spot was taken. Arlo’s father ignores Arlo’s protests to go back for Spot. Eventually, Arlo stops walking and refuses to go any further, realising that this isn’t real. Arlo says he has to go back and rescue Spot. His father says he knew Arlo had it in him because he is him and more. He is told to take care of that critter, these all being things Arlo heard his father say to him before his death.
Arlo wakes up and breaks free from the vines, racing to find Spot, despite the intense storm. Arlo howls to try and figure out where Spot is, eventually getting a response, and locates him by the river, where he is hiding in a tree whilst the pterodactyls try to get to him. Arlo headbutts the pterodactyls, with two ending up in the fast-moving river. Two others try to fly away with Arlo, as Thunderclap gets close to getting to Spot. Arlo sees the water rising, and the tree that Spot is in is almost covered. Arlo’s quick-thinking allows him to break a tree with his tail, sending the two pterodactyls into the water. Arlo roars, distracting Thunderclap, giving Spot the chance to bite a hole through his wing. Thunderclap tries to fly away, but Arlo throws a stick at him, knocking Thunderclap into the river. Arlo then sees a torrent of water heading right towards Spot in the tree. He runs towards Spot to try and save him, but he is too late and they are both hit by the wave.
Arlo tries to get to the surface in amongst all the debris, and sees Spot unconscious, still in the tree and heading for the waterfall. Arlo swims towards him and grabs him, just before they are both sent down the waterfall. At the bottom, Arlo swims to the bank with Spot still unconscious. Arlo lightly blows on Spot’s face, causing him to wake up.
Once recovered, they continue walking and Arlo sees how close to home they are. Except, they hear howling again, and see a family of cavemen heading towards Spot. Arlo sees that this is where Spot belongs, not with him and his family. Spot tries to leave with Arlo, not wanting to leave his friend, but Arlo refuses to take him, pushing him back towards his new family, and drawing a circle around them, as they did when they first bonded over their families, to show Spot this is where he should be. The two have a tearful goodbye, before Spot walks away with his new family, giving one final howl to each other as he goes.
Arlo continues the rest of his journey alone, finally making his way back to his family’s farm, where he is reunited with his mother, and his brother and sister. They go to the silo together, where Arlo is now able to put his mark on it, alongside the rest of the family.
CHARACTERS & CAST
Arlo is an Apatosaurus, and could be considered “the runt” of his family, since he is the smallest and weakest of his siblings. Arlo is terrified of the world and just generally has a nervous disposition. However much his parents try to understand Arlo’s fear, they are concerned about how he will fare in the future and how he will contribute to life on the farm. This is even more of an issue after Arlo’s father dies, something that impacts Arlo specifically as it makes him more afraid of everything, especially storms. Arlo wants to avenge his father by killing the “critter”, Spot, however, Arlo soon learns that he needs Spot’s bravery to get him through his journey home. Arlo also learns from others he meets on his adventures about how to cope with fear and move past it. Rescuing Spot is Arlo’s biggest test of his bravery, but he is tested once again when a human family comes to look after Spot. Arlo knows that Spot helps him be better, but Spot belongs with them, and Arlo must let him go, finishing his journey alone, with a much better understanding and appreciation of the world.
Arlo was voiced by child actor Raymond Ochoa, who had previously provided additional voices for another Pixar film, Monsters University (2013), and also voiced the character Dash Parr from The Incredibles (2004) in some Disney video games, like Disney Infinity, where he also reprised his voice role as Arlo.
Spot is the “critter” and caveboy that is causing Arlo’s family all kinds of problems by eating their crop, no matter how much they try and protect it. Spot is supposed to be killed by Arlo after he is caught, but Arlo can’t bring himself to do it, freeing Spot and allowing him to run away. This causes Arlo’s father to become incredibly angry with Arlo and drags him into the forest to “kill the critter” – but we all know how that ends. Spot doesn’t understand Arlo’s anger with him, as he can’t speak dinosaur, but does try to make amends by finding Arlo three different kinds of food, eventually realising Arlo is a herbivore and eats berries. Spot accompanies Arlo on his journey home, since he doesn’t have any family left and quite likes having someone to spend time with. Arlo needs Spot to be his protector initially, although Arlo has to protect Spot at times too, like from the pterodactyls. Spot can mostly take care of himself though, but shouldn’t have to, given he is so young, so it’s nice to see him being adopted by a family at the end of the film, even if he did mean saying goodbye to Arlo.
Spot was voiced by Jack Bright, who also provided additional voices for Monsters University, reprising his role as Spot in games like Disney Infinity too.
Henry is Arlo’s father, who Arlo calls “Poppa”. Henry is very patient with his son’s anxiety and fears, knowing that he will come into his own given some time. Henry tries to give Arlo advice during his life, taking him to see a field of fireflies to tell Arlo that sometimes it is worth pushing through the fear, before giving Arlo the job of catching the critter stealing their food. Henry shows a rare moment of anger towards his son after he sees Arlo did not do his job, making Arlo follow the critter’s tracks with him so they can kill it once and for all. After Arlo falls and gets hurt, Henry comes to his senses and decides this isn’t the time to use tough love on Arlo, heading home shortly after. However, it is too late for Henry and the storm waters wash him away. Henry later reappears as a vision that Arlo is having whilst unconscious, and he shows within that vision that he is encouraging and proud of his son for doing the right thing and going back for Spot, despite the fear he is obviously feeling.
Jeffrey Wright was cast as Henry. Wright has had a successful career in both film and television. In film, Wright played Felix Leiter in the Bond films Casino Royale (2006), Quantum of Solace (2008) and No Time to Die (2021). He also played Beetee in The Hunger Games film franchise, first appearing in The Hunger Games: Catching Fire (2013). He had also previously portrayed Howard Bingham in Ali (2001), which starred Will Smith. More recently, Wright appeared as Roebuck Wright in Wes Anderson’s film The French Dispatch (2021), and later as General Grif Gibson in another Wes Anderson film, Asteroid City (2023). He was cast as Jim Gordon in The Batman (2022) and is set to reprise his role for the 2027 sequel. Wright also had much success with his role as Dr. Thelonious “Monk” Ellison in American Fiction (2023), being nominated for Best Actor at the Oscars, Golden Globes, SAG Awards, and Critics’ Choice awards. In television, Wright played Dr. Valentin Narcisse in Seasons 4 and 5 of Boardwalk Empire (2010-14), going on to play Bernard Lowe / Arnold Weber in Westworld (2016-22) and narrate the Marvel series What If…? (2021-24) for Disney+. He also played Isaac Dixon in Season 2 and 3 of The Last of Us (2023-present).
Arlo’s mother is called Ida. “Momma” is also caring and supportive of Arlo, finding it quite amusing that her son is scared to feed the chickens! She seems slightly more bothered that Arlo isn’t able to pull his weight around the farm, leaving Henry to speak to Arlo to encourage him to be braver. After Henry’s death, Ida must ensure that the farm continues to run, carrying the weight of the responsibility on her own, leading her to ask Arlo to contribute more than he has been. Her work on the farm no doubt got harder after Arlo disappeared, but that won’t have mattered in the end, as she was relieved to be reunited with her son.
Ida was voiced by Frances McDormand, who had previously voiced Captain Chantel DuBois in DreamWorks’ Madagascar 3: Europe’s Most Wanted (2012) prior to The Good Dinosaur. Outside of that, McDormand has won three Academy Awards for Best Actress, one for her role as Marge Gunderson in Fargo (1996); another for playing Mildred Hayes in Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri (2017), and then as Fern in Nomadland (2020). She also won the Critics’ Choice for her performance in all three of these films, as well as BAFTA and Golden Globe wins for Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri and Nomadland. She voiced Interpreter Miranda Nelson in Isle of Dogs (2018) and played Lucinda Krementz in The French Dispatch, both for Wes Anderson. McDormand also won an Emmy for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Limited series or Movie for her title role in HBO miniseries Olive Kitteridge (2014). On stage, McDormand won a Tony award for her role as Margie in play Good People on Broadway in 2011, having earlier received a nomination in 1988 for her role as Stella Kowalski in a revival of A Streetcar Named Desire.
Rounding out Arlo’s family are his brother Buck and sister Libby. They are both bigger and stronger than Arlo so they contribute more to the farm. They both have quite a lot of energy so they are able to tease each other as siblings do, whereas Arlo being the quieter one seems to be left out a lot of the time. Buck even goes so far as to torment his little brother by using a chicken puppet on his tail to scare Arlo, after he tries to be brave and feed the chickens on his own without running away. Buck and Libby are both happy to be reunited with their brother on his return though, as they can work together as a family now to keep the farm going in honour of their father.
Libby was voiced by Maleah Padilla. Buck was voiced by Marcus Scribner, who had much success in his role as Andre “Junior” Johnson Jr. in Black-ish (2014-22) on ABC, later returning to the character for the spin-off series Grown-ish (2018-24). Scribner won two NAACP Image Awards for his performance in Black-ish. Recently, Scribner has been playing Jonah Silver in the police drama series Boston Blue (2025-present) on CBS.
The pterodactyl flock are the first real villains that Arlo and Spot find themselves facing. They make it seem like they are some sort of rescue squad who save trapped animals after storms, but in actual fact, they only want to rescue creatures so they can eat them afterwards, something Arlo witnesses and is horrified by. The flock want to go after Spot next, but Arlo fights to protect Spot on two separate occasions. They are quite scary villains to see in a Pixar film. Thunderclap is the flock’s leader, and the one who thinks he gets first pick of the creatures they find, muscling everyone else off anything they get. He is the last one that Arlo faces as he saves Spot.
Thunderclap was voiced by Steve Zahn. Zahn had previously voiced Runt in Chicken Little (2005) for Disney, and cat Monty in the Stuart Little films. He has also acted in various movies and television series, such as playing Marvin in Daddy Day Care (2003), Tucker in Dallas Buyers Club (2013), and Mark Mossbacher in Season 1 of The White Lotus (2021-present). Zahn is set to reprise his role as Jimmy Conroy / Solo in Season 3 of the Apple TV series Silo (2023-present), after first appearing in Season 2. He also plays Jake Hudson in the Disney+ series Chad Powers (2025-present).
The rest of the flock consist of Downpour and Coldfront, voiced by two Pixar employees, Mandy Freund and Steven Clay Hunter, and Frostbite and Windgust, voiced by Hank Azaria and Alan Tudyk respectively. Azaria has had a long history with voice acting, voicing characters such as Chief Wiggum and Moe in The Simpsons (1989-present), as well as Bartok in Anastasia (1997) and Phil in Hop (2011). Azaria has also acted in films like Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian (2009), where he played Kahmunrah; Run Fatboy Run (2007), playing Whit Bloom; and The Smurfs (2011), where he was cast as Gargamel. Alan Tudyk has had voice roles in various Disney films over the years, including King Candy in Wreck-It Ralph (2012), Duke of Weselton in Frozen (2013), Alistair Krei in Big Hero 6 (2014), and Valentino in Wish (2023). Outside of voice acting, Tudyk was the voice for Sonny the robot in I, Robot (2004), and also appeared in Dodgeball: A True Underdog Story (2004), as Steve the Pirate, and Trumbo (2015), as Ian McLellan Hunter.
The T-Rex family of Butch, his daughter Ramsey, and son Nash are ranchers, with this seemingly fitting well with Pixar’s ideas for how dinosaurs would have lived on the land, since Arlo’s family, as herbivores, became farmers, so it makes sense that carnivores would have been ranchers. Ramsey and Nash are only too happy to fight off pterodactyls to help Arlo, but their father isn’t quite so pleased to have such a little dinosaur bothering them whilst they are looking for their stolen herd. Butch would rather Arlo went on his way, but Arlo actually manages to help them, thanks to Spot’s tracking abilities, and using himself as a distraction with the rustlers. Butch comes to like Arlo in the end, telling Arlo not to try to erase his fear since everyone gets scared at times, even him, and together, the T-Rexes help guide Arlo and Spot in the direction of Arlo’s home near Clawtooth Mountain.
Butch was voiced by Sam Elliott. Recently, Elliott was cast as Shea Brennan in the Paramount+ series 1883 (2021-22), a prequel to Yellowstone (2018-24), winning the SAG award for Male Actor in a TV Movie or Limited series. He also plays Thomas “T.L.” Norris in the Paramount+ series Landman (2024-present). Elliott may also be known for such roles as Wade Garrett in Road House (1989); as Wild Bill Hickok in the miniseries Buffalo Girls (1995), which starred Anjelica Huston and Melanie Griffith; and as Thaddeus Ross in Hulk (2003). He also voiced Chupadogra in Marmaduke (2010), and Trusty in Disney’s live-action remake of Lady and the Tramp (2019). Elliott also played Beau Roosevelt Bennett in the Netflix series The Ranch (2016-20), and received an Academy Award nomination for Best Supporting Actor for his role as Bobby Maine in A Star is Born (2018).
Butch’s son Nash was voiced by A.J. Buckley, who was cast as Adam Ross in CSI: NY (2004-13) from Season 2, and went on to play Percival “Sonny” Quinn in the series SEAL Team (2017-24). Buckley also played Jimmy Bottles in the Disney Channel Original Movie Motocrossed (2001). Butch’s daughter Ramsey was voiced by Anna Paquin, who was perhaps known for her roles Marie / Rogue in the X-Men film franchise, and Sookie Stackhouse in the HBO series True Blood (2008-14), winning the Golden Globe for Best Actress in a Television Series in 2009, around the time of The Good Dinosaur. Paquin had also won the Best Supporting Actress Oscar for her role as Flora McGrath in The Piano (1993) early on in her career. More recently, Paquin was cast as Peggy Sheeran in The Irishman (2019), as well as playing Joanie Lockhart in Season 5 of The Affair (2014-19).
The raptor rustlers are another group of villains in The Good Dinosaur. Having stolen the T-Rexes herd, they then proceed to attack them and Arlo and Spot after they attempt to get their herd back. The raptors are quick, and aren’t easy to deal with, however, by working together, and with Arlo having the nerve to fight back against them, they manage to scare the raptors away, and the T-Rexes retrieve their herd.
There are four raptors in the pack. Bubbha was voiced by Dave Boat, who voiced characters in Frozen (2013) and Frozen II (2019) for Disney. He also voiced Jim Hall in the English dub of the animated film White Fang (2018). Lurleane was voiced by Carrie Paff, who went on to provide additional voices for Pixar’s Finding Dory (2016), with Pervis being voiced by Calum Mackenzie Grant, who went on to have a voice role in Pixar’s Soul (2020). Earl was voiced by John Ratzenberger, known for voicing characters in various Pixar films. Having previously starred as Cliff Clavin in the long-running sitcom Cheers (1982-93) early in his career, Ratzenberger went on to become a regular cast member in Pixar’s movies, beginning with his character Hamm in the Toy Story franchise, lending his voice to other characters such as the Abominable Snowman in the Monsters, Inc. films, and Mack in the Cars series. Ratzenberger has since voiced the parts of Rootie in Luck (2022) and Milo the Monster Handler in Spellbound (2024) for Skydance Animation.
Finally, one other character to mention is the Styracosaurus that collects pets. His name is Forrest Woodbush, also known as the Pet Collector. He has so many fears that each animal he has “collected” and that lives on his body has a role to play in protecting him from something, such as a salamander that protects him from creatures that crawl in the night, and a now-extinct opossum who stops him from having unrealistic goals… His favourite pet is a red bird called Debbie, although she flies away from him at one point. Forrest Woodbush is not in The Good Dinosaur for long, and is seemingly only there for comic relief. I personally don’t find this character funny, and just find him creepy. Apparently, Pixar had toyed with the idea of cutting Forrest Woodbush out of the film, but had such a strong reaction to him due to the comedy aspect of the character that they felt they had to keep him[1]. Director of The Good Dinosaur, Peter Sohn, voiced this character.
MUSIC
There are no songs in The Good Dinosaur at all, not even an End Credits song, so the film is entirely reliant on its score.
The score was composed by Mychael Danna and Jeff Danna, with The Good Dinosaur being the first Pixar film they had worked on, although the brothers did return to the studio to work on the score for Onward (2020). They went on to compose the music for The Addams Family (2019) and its 2021 sequel. Mychael Danna also won multiple awards, including the Oscar for Best Original Score, for his music in Life of Pi (2012).
I did like some of the music within The Good Dinosaur, as it had a folk-music sound to it, especially at the beginning of the film, which reminded me of the music in Brave (2012).
Within the score, one track I liked was “Homestead”, from the opening sequence of the film. It introduces the family farm, making it seem like an idyllic place to be, out in nature, living with the land. It is also accompanied by the beautiful landscapes that the audience see much more of as the story progresses. I also like “Hello Arlo”, “Chores”, and “Make Your Mark”, all from the first few minutes of The Good Dinosaur, as they continue to set up Arlo’s family’s farming lifestyle and adds a country element to the music too. “Fireflies” is a pretty piece of music, which accompanies the scene of Arlo’s father showing Arlo the field of fireflies. Other musical moments like this reappear in the last few minutes of the film, such as through “Goodbye Spot”, as Arlo encourages Spot to go with the family of humans instead of back to the farm with him; “Homecoming”, when Arlo is reunited with his family back home; and “Arlo Makes His Mark”, showing Arlo getting to put his mark on the silo with the other members of his family. All three pieces make up the ending of The Good Dinosaur.
There are also plenty of pieces within the score that accompany the perilous moments of the story, like “Swept Away”, which sees Arlo watch his father be washed away by a torrent of floodwater; “Sky Sharks”, signalling the return of the pterodactyls as they finally get their hands on Spot; and “Rescue”, as Arlo fights to rescue Spot.
The music in The Good Dinosaur was nominated at the Annie Awards for Outstanding Achievement in Music in an Animated Feature Production, but it was won by Michael Giacchino’s score for Inside Out. Mychael Danna and Jeff Danna did, however, appear to win a BMI Film Music Award to recognise their work on The Good Dinosaur.
PRODUCTION
It is well-known that animated movies can take years to make, not even just from animating the action, but adding in story development discussions as well.
The Good Dinosaur originally had a different story to what we were presented with in 2015. It was meant to be directed by someone different as well, and its release date was meant to be about eighteen months earlier than it ended up being.
The Good Dinosaur was initially set to be directed by Bob Peterson. Peterson had previously co-written Up (2009), voicing the character Dug for it as well; having worked on the earliest Pixar movie, Toy Story (1995), within the animation department, and later co-wrote the screenplays for Finding Nemo (2003) and Cars 3 (2017). He also voiced other Pixar characters, including Roz in Monsters, Inc. (2001) and its spin-offs, and Mr. Ray in Finding Nemo. Peterson also wrote, created, and directed the animated short series Dug Days (2021-23), as well as reprising his voice role of Dug.
The release date for The Good Dinosaur was set to be 30th May 2014, so it would have been Pixar’s only 2014 feature film release of the year, with Monsters University as the 2013 release and Inside Out as their 2015 release. Having one film release a year had been standard practice for Pixar from the 2000s, with only 2005 a notable omission up to this point. Further details of The Good Dinosaur were revealed at the D23 Expo in 2013, which showed concept art of Arlo and his family working as farmers, and that the other main character would be a human called Spot, who would not talk. The voice cast was also announced at this stage, with Lucas Neff, known for his role as Jimmy Chance in the sitcom Raising Hope (2010-14), voicing Arlo. Arlo’s father was set to be voiced by John Lithgow; Arlo’s siblings by Bill Hader, Neil Patrick Harris, and Judy Greer; and Frances McDormand would voice Arlo’s mother. They even had the Pixar short film that would play before it in theatres lined up, Party Central (2013), which was set after the events of Monsters University and premiered at the 2013 D23 Expo[2]. It was later added to the theatrical release of Muppets Most Wanted (2014) because there were many changes afoot at Pixar.
By the end of August 2013, it was being reported that Bob Peterson had been removed from The Good Dinosaur, with a new director not immediately announced. This was not a rarity for Pixar at the time either, as they had replaced the original director of Ratatouille (2007), Jan Pinkava, with Brad Bird. Just a couple of years later, the same thing happened on Brave (2012), with Brenda Chapman being removed partway through production, and Mark Andrews was the one to replace her. Chapman was said to be devastated by this decision. In this case, there does not appear to have been any animosity caused by the removal of Peterson as he continued to work at Pixar after this.
But it did mean there would be changes to the story of The Good Dinosaur, as clearly, something was not right with it, with story problems and an approaching deadline being the apparent reason for Peterson’s removal. It is not clear exactly what Peterson’s original concept was, although we do know that Arlo and Spot did remain in the story, as did Arlo’s family being farmers. From an introduction to a deleted scene, which would’ve seen the character of Butch being attacked by raptors, and Arlo and Spot making a trap to save him, it would appear that The Good Dinosaur was meant to be an outright parody of Western movies early on. This did not end up being the case in the final version of the film[3].
It would also appear that Bob Peterson wanted the character of Arlo to be older in his version of the film. When Peter Sohn was named as the new director, although he kept the species of dinosaur the same – that Arlo and his family are Apatosaurs – he decided to age down Arlo to be about eleven years old, and chose to focus on the “boy and his dog” concept, with Arlo being the innocent boy and Spot being the dog. This meant that many of the casting choices that had been put in place needed to be changed, as the rest of Arlo’s family were being aged down as well. This is why Frances McDormand ended up being the only original member of the voice cast to remain in the final film[4].
Given all these story changes, to streamline it and make it less complicated to the original version of the film that Sohn had been tasked with fixing, it was decided that the best option was to delay The Good Dinosaur, to give the new team a real chance to make the new film a hit. It was delayed until 25th November 2015, which was meant to be the date that Finding Dory would be released; Finding Dory was moved to Summer 2016. This meant that, for the first time, Pixar would be releasing two films in one year, as Inside Out was still sticking with its release date of 19th June 2015[5]. Pixar have released two films in the same year various times since, including in 2017, 2020, and 2026.
The Good Dinosaur was Peter Sohn’s directorial debut for Pixar, and he said it was quite a steep learning curve for him, so he relied on advice from anyone and everyone working on the film. Sohn had worked as a story artist on Finding Nemo, The Incredibles, and Up prior to The Good Dinosaur, and had voiced characters such as Emile in Ratatouille and Squishy in Monsters University as well. He had also directed and written the short film Partly Cloudy (2009). After The Good Dinosaur, Sohn went on to direct Elemental (2023) and is set to direct Incredibles 3.
The screenplay for The Good Dinosaur was written by Meg LeFauve. LeFauve also co-wrote the screenplay for Inside Out, with Pete Docter and Josh Cooley, receiving an Oscar nomination for Best Animated Screenplay for it, going on to write the sequel Inside Out 2 (2024) with Dave Holstein. Other story credits went to Peter Sohn and Bob Peterson, as well as Kelsey Mann and Erik Benson. Mann had previously written and directed the short film Party Central, and went on to contribute in the story department for Onward, before directing Inside Out 2. Benson had previously worked as a storyboard artist on Cars 2 and worked on the story for the short film Toy Story Toons: Hawaiian Vacation (2011).
There were still a few scenes that were cut from the final version of the film, mostly because they didn’t help explain Arlo’s nervousness and anxiety in quite the right away. One thing was that they had initially planned to have Arlo become so scared of the world because he was attacked by a dinosaur when he was younger. His parents would’ve been too distracted by Arlo’s siblings that they didn’t notice Arlo being attacked, and his father eventually had to fight the dinosaur off and come to Arlo’s rescue, but it was too late to stop Arlo from being traumatised for life. It was decided that they needed Arlo to have a deep-rooted fear that didn’t come from one specific incident though, so this was cut. Another scene would’ve seen Arlo, his mother, brother and sister waiting in their hut for Arlo’s father to return home, however, a nasty storm had brewed and they were waiting anxiously for him. Arlo thinks he can see his father coming but he is told by his mother to wait inside. He watches from the window as a group of dinosaurs tell his mother that her husband was killed after the floodwater took them all by surprise…Wow, I already thought The Good Dinosaur was dark. It looks like it could’ve been a whole lot worse!
It would seem that a new crew had been assembled for The Good Dinosaur around March 2014. Their objective was to turn the movie around and have it ready by November 2015. That’s not much time in the world of animation, so they had to get started. And what’s the best way to start any animated film? Go on a research trip for inspiration.
Director Peter Sohn grew up in New York so he didn’t have much experience of seeing the open plains that exist within the US, and these would be integral to the look of The Good Dinosaur because it is set in the American Northwest. Sohn loved the experience of going to places like Wyoming and Idaho to get a real idea of how expansive and stark, but beautiful, these areas could be[6]. Some specific areas that were said to be of inspiration were Salmon River in Idaho; and the Grand Tetons and Yellowstone National Park in Wyoming. The Pixar crew learnt a lot from their guides in these areas, about living with the land, learning from it, and understanding how it behaves. This was also the case when the team went to meet a ranching family in Oregon to get some inspiration for their T-Rex characters. Here, the team experienced cattle herding firsthand, as they rode horses with the McKay family to move their herd from one meadow to another. They also were further inspired by what happened after the day’s work had been done, as they listened to the family tell stories about their lives. This moment was used to help create the campfire scene with Butch, Ramsey, Nash, Arlo and Spot, where Arlo and Spot hear about the T-Rexes adventures[7].
To get the backdrops of The Good Dinosaur just right, the crew actually used United States Geological Survey data from real-life locations to then build a 3D surface over the top of it, customising the area to work for each sequence, to make photorealistic environments for their animated characters to navigate and walk through. They added in hundreds of types of vegetation, and used volumetric geometry to add clouds to the film, which basically involved building a library of different types of cloud, and picking and choosing which ones to put together for the scene. The Good Dinosaur involves lots of different weather systems, like storms, mist, and mixtures of cloud and sun, so there were many opportunities to make the weather different in every scene.
With all this nature in The Good Dinosaur, it meant a busy time for those who worked in Effects, as there are various elements within this department that had to be created for the film. One was the amount of water that exists in The Good Dinosaur, be that from the large amount of rain that features, or from the river, which is in over a hundred shots of the film, and ranges from being a calm, gentle body of water, to being a cascading, raging river. Some of the crew went white water rafting to get an idea of just how Arlo would feel falling in the river, understanding that just because the river doesn’t look forceful doesn’t mean it isn’t still powerful. There were also weather effects, like lightning, as well as wind, to be added in, to create atmosphere and movement in the scenes[8].
Because dinosaurs aren’t able to be studied up close, in order to help animate the dinosaur characters in The Good Dinosaur, the animators went to Oakland Zoo to observe elephants, as they were roughly the same size as they decided Arlo would’ve been. It was also important to see such a large, heavy creature move around and carry itself. They also looked at giraffes and camels to see how Arlo’s neck could move. For the T-Rexes, as well as using inspiration from the CGI dinosaurs in Jurassic Park (1993), the animators wanted the characters to behave like cowboys, and had their characters be inspired by those from Western movies, portrayed by actors like Clint Eastwood and Jack Palance. For Spot, the team studied wolves, raccoons, and of course, dogs, as they wanted Spot to vaguely resemble a human, a prehistoric one, but move and act like a dog[9].
Pixar love to add Easter eggs to their films, and some of them appear in every film they’ve made. The A113, referencing the number of the CalArts classroom that some of the original Pixar animators studied in, is slightly easier to spot, as it was made in the fence posts that make up Arlo’s family’s chicken pen. However, the Pizza Planet Truck’s location seems to be in two different areas, and I don’t think either particularly resembles the truck! The truck is said to be in the opening shot of the asteroids as a truck-shaped asteroid, whilst it is also made up of the rocks on the silo, with the footprinted ones marking the outline of the shape. Pixar also like to reference their next film in some way, and in this case, you can see Hank the “septapus” from Finding Dory in the water that Arlo falls into following his gopher encounter. With this in mind, you can see a structure that resembles Forrest Woodbush in one of Riley’s memories from her car journey to San Francisco with her family towards the beginning of Inside Out, as the nod to the film that followed it.
After all that work, Pixar debuted some clips of The Good Dinosaur at the D23 Expo in 2015, meaning they could get some real audience reaction to their new film. They apparently showed the scene of Arlo and Spot talking about their families, and they showed a sequence with the T-Rexes as well. Many in the audience felt hopeful that The Good Dinosaur would do well on its release even with its production issues[10]. Yeah, about that…
RECEPTION
After years of production difficulties, The Good Dinosaur finally premiered in the US on 25th November 2015, just in time for Thanksgiving Weekend, typically a good time for movie studios to release their films, especially ones aimed at children and families. It reached many international markets within a few days of its premiere date, if not at the same time.
Many had anticipated that The Good Dinosaur would not have a problem either financially or critically, based on clips of the film that had been released. After all, this was a new Pixar film, and Inside Out had only been released a few months before and had done exceptionally well in both areas. Pixar don’t have box-office disappointments – do they?
Well, in this case, they did. In fact, The Good Dinosaur is considered to be Pixar’s first box-office bomb. Ouch. If it helps, it wasn’t their last box-office bomb though. Actually, that’s not very helpful, is it? But it happens to everyone, so all it did was prove that Pixar wasn’t infallible and could make mistakes just like any other studio.
The Good Dinosaur did not have a strong opening weekend from the outset. On its opening weekend, it made $39 million in the US. Since this was a Pixar film, it was assumed that their figures would still improve in the weeks after. That turned out not to be the case as the film suffered a steep drop in takings, to just $15.5 million on its second week. There was hope that the festive period and global markets opening up might have been able to save the movie from becoming a flop, but that was not the case either. It was reported that Pixar needed $500 million to break even[11]. The Good Dinosaur did not make close to that.
By the end of its run, The Good Dinosaur had made $332 million worldwide, the lowest box office takings for a Pixar movie since A Bug’s Life in 1998, which took around $363 million. The Good Dinosaur was easily overtaken by Pixar’s own Inside Out, which finished 2015 at No. 7 in the Worldwide Box Office with $858 million, although both Pixar films were beaten by Minions, which took $1.1 billion, and sat at No. 5 in the list, showing what a strong year 2015 was for movies. The best-performing film of 2015 was Star Wars: Episode VII – The Force Awakens, with $2.07 billion, so that meant Disney had done well at the box office, despite The Good Dinosaur’s disappointing results. They also did well with Avengers: Age of Ultron, making $1.4 billion, and even the live-action Cinderella, with around $543 million. To compare The Good Dinosaur to other animated films, Hotel Transylvania 2 also did better financially, with just under $475 million, as did Home with $386 million.
It could be argued that perhaps had The Good Dinosaur not been delayed for 18 months and stuck with its 30th May 2014 original release date, then it wouldn’t have faced such difficult competition, because there wasn’t a good chance of putting up a fight against the revival of the Star Wars franchise, the final part of The Hunger Games series, or the newest Bond film, Spectre, in 2015, and there was a lack of “decent” animated films released in 2014, with Pixar’s biggest competition being Mr. Peabody and Sherman and Rio 2. But everything looks better in hindsight, and who knows what state the film was in in 2014, as it was almost completely rewritten from its original concept to what we got in 2015.
The Good Dinosaur did fare better in audience and critic reviews, although these were both less impressive than those of Inside Out and other Pixar films before it.
Some felt that the film was very episodic and lacked any cohesion, as it was just Arlo and Spot having different interactions with numerous new characters. Although other films have had a similar story, in terms of following our hero on an adventure, the episodic nature of these types of films was not noticed so much in films like Finding Nemo (2003) or The Jungle Book (1967). It was also thought that The Good Dinosaur was not original enough when compared to those two examples, or to The Lion King (1994), or The Land Before Time (1988), or even How to Train Your Dragon (2010), which uses the “boy and his pet” concept too. Others said the characters were simply uninteresting and that the film was boring, slow, and forgettable, which was a shame since many could see that the initial concept, of dinosaurs not being wiped out from an asteroid and seeing how they might’ve evolved, was interesting. The biggest issue for most with negative opinions of The Good Dinosaur seems to be that it was just a disappointing film to get from Pixar, and had it been released by another studio, it maybe wouldn’t have had as many negative critiques.
For me personally, I am not a fan of The Good Dinosaur, partly because I find it quite slow and boring as well, and I am not that interested in dinosaurs – I only like the Jurassic Park films to see them eat people, not because I’m fascinated by dinosaurs – so that does not help. But my problem with the film is that it is not pleasant to watch; it doesn’t make me feel brighter about the world, and it doesn’t make me forget about how horrible the world is, because it constantly shows a scared young dinosaur and his friend being attacked by various predators. I hated the pterodactyls, and it was horrible to see them trying to eat a little boy. And I know that’s nature and that’s what could’ve happened, but I don’t watch Pixar films to see that sort of thing. I want something feel-good and escapist, not something that only reinforces my hatred of nature documentaries and their prey vs. predator storylines.
However, I will also say that I did enjoy the music in The Good Dinosaur; I did like the first ten or so minutes of the family on the farm; and the final couple scenes did make me well up a bit, so I am happy to admit The Good Dinosaur is not all bad, even for me, and that it simply isn’t to my taste. But I can’t say it is a “bad” film.
The Good Dinosaur has plenty of fans who feel duty-bound to fight against the sea of criticism and negativity about the movie. They appreciate its great visuals, with the photorealistic backgrounds, and the animated effects, as well as focusing on the film’s heartwarming story. They also liked Arlo as a character, as did I, which is why I couldn’t deal with him being attacked by predators. Fans also point out that at least Pixar had released an original film again after too many sequels coming out before and after it, but this is something that “purists” seem bothered by, not the average family, because, as we continue to see, it is Pixar’s sequels that do well financially and the original movies end up struggling.
Due to its mediocre response, The Good Dinosaur struggled in awards season. The most obvious failure is that The Good Dinosaur was not nominated for Best Animated Feature Film at the Academy Awards, which is quite rare for a Pixar original film. Unsurprisingly, Inside Out won the award. Elsewhere, although The Good Dinosaur was nominated for Best Animated Film at various ceremonies, such as the Critics’ Choice Awards, the Golden Globes, the Satellite Awards, and the Saturn Awards, it lost to Inside Out each time. It lost out on this award to Disney’s Zootopia (2016) at the Children’s BAFTAs too.
The Good Dinosaur was also nominated for a selection of Annie Awards, but Inside Out was once again tough competition as Inside Out won in the categories of Character Animation, Character Design, Production Design, Storyboarding and the all-important Best Animated Feature. The Good Dinosaur did, however, win the Annie Award for Outstanding Achievement in Animated Effects in an Animated Production. It also won three Visual Effects Society Awards, for Outstanding Visual Effects in an Animated Feature, Outstanding Effects Simulations in an Animated Feature, and Outstanding Created Environment in an Animated Feature. The film was also nominated here for Outstanding Animated Performance in an Animated Feature, for Spot, but was won by Joy in Inside Out.
LEGACY
To promote The Good Dinosaur, the US Disney Parks put on an event for it.
Disney launched something called Dino Week, which ran from 14th November 2015, in the run up to The Good Dinosaur’s release date on 25th November 2015, as part of their marketing campaign. During that first weekend, Disney Stores across the US had dino-themed crafts for children to take part in, as well as selling the obvious merchandise. The merchandise consisted of things like themed clothing, play sets, and plush toys.
At Disney Springs at Walt Disney World Resort in Florida, and at Downtown Disney at Disneyland in California, there was a Dinosaur Dance Party held between 21st November and 22nd November 2015, which had a live DJ set and lighting effects, with even the Rainforest Café and T-REX restaurants getting in on the action.
Inside the parks, specifically at One Man’s Dream in Disney’s Hollywood Studios at Walt Disney World, and at the now-defunct Bug’s Life Theater at Disney California Adventure at Disneyland, a sneak peek of The Good Dinosaur was being shown from around October 2015 until partway through December 2015 to encourage guests to see the film[12].
After that campaign though, very little reference to The Good Dinosaur has been seen at the Disney Parks across the world in recent years. This will be because it simply was not popular enough, with a fair proportion of Disney Park guests probably not even knowing this film exists. It is a shame too, because had The Good Dinosaur been successful, then it perhaps could’ve found a home within Dinoland, U.S.A. at Disney’s Animal Kingdom at Walt Disney World. However, that area has since closed and is now being rethemed to Tropical Americas, so the ship has really sailed on that idea. You can, however, see a few glimpses of the film during sections of the nighttime show Wonderful World of Animation at Disney’s Hollywood Studios. This is the show where unloved and underrated films come to be remembered, even if only by a select few watching.
The Good Dinosaur was even left out of much of the celebrations for Pixar Fest at Disneyland in 2024, but you may be able to spot artwork from, or small nods to, the film at the Pixar Place Hotel at the resort, as this hotel revolves around Pixar and its films.
Outside of that, there doesn’t seem to be much merchandise still available to purchase on the Disney Store, but you might have more luck in the shops at a Disney Park, or it might be best to wait for a milestone anniversary.
FINAL THOUGHTS
The Good Dinosaur is now remembered for all the wrong reasons. For not being one of Pixar’s best, and for failing them financially. It has become one of many unsuccessful films that Disney and Pixar don’t reference often, in order to highlight their more popular films instead. Either that or they’re hoping that if they don’t reference them, we’ll forget they exist!
The Good Dinosaur had a tumultuous production process, leaving the team to basically start from scratch again with an even shorter timeframe. You can’t fault them for trying something different, especially given the fact the movie has just as many good points as it does bad ones. It just sadly did not resonate with the majority of viewers.
But that does not mean The Good Dinosaur does not have its fans. Some absolutely love this film, and find it touching and heartwarming. Just because something has been deemed a “flop” does not mean it has nothing to contribute.
REFERENCES
[1] Credit: Ryan Lambie, ‘The Good Dinosaur and Its Five-Year Path to the Big Screen’, DenOfGeek.com, 4th November 2015.
[2] Credit: T.J., ‘The Good Dinosaur Sneak Peek Details From the D23 Expo’, PixarPost.com, 9th August 2013.
[3] Credit: Pixar, “Deleted Scenes: Raptor Trap”, from The Good Dinosaur (2015), Disney+.
[4] Credit: Devan Coggan, ‘The evolution of ‘The Good Dinosaur’, Pixar’s long-in-the-works next film’, EW.com, 14th August 2015.
[5] Credit: Jennifer Wolfe, ‘Pixar Feature ‘The Good Dinosaur’ Moved to 2015’, AWN.com, 18th September 2013.
[6] Credit: Pixar, “The Filmmakers’ Journey”, from The Good Dinosaur (2015) UK Blu-Ray (2015).
[7] Credit: Pixar, “Following the T-Rex Trail”, from The Good Dinosaur (2015) UK Blu-Ray (2015).
[8] Credit: Pixar, “The World of The Good Dinosaur”, from The Good Dinosaur (2015) UK Blu-Ray (2015).
[9] Credit: Peter Scieretta, ‘How The Making Of ‘The Good Dinosaur’ Was Different From Other Pixar Movies’, SlashFilm.com, 8th October 2015.
[10] Credit: Eric Goldman, ‘D23 2015: The Good Dinosaur Looks to Be Another Pixar Tearjerker’, IGN.com, 15th July 2016.
[11] Credit: Brent Lang, ‘‘The Good Dinosaur’: Pixar May Suffer First Loss at Box Office’, Variety.com, 7th December 2015.
[12] Credit: Kristin Ford, ‘Disney celebrates Dino Week with events at Disney Parks in advance of ‘The Good Dinosaur’ Movie’, AllEars.net, 17th November 2015.