Dinosaur 720p - (2000 Lang: English)

Wonderful! Beautiful!

Finally Disney has created an animation that isn't sugar-sweet!

What usually bugs me about Disney's films is the constant bursting-into-song sequences that clog up the stories, and the comic side-kicks that keep making bad jokes. No such thing in Dinosaur! It's a serious movie that is very sad and partially cruel: a wonderful tale of courage and survival, told with respect for the audience, with unpresidented animations. The dionsaurs merge seemlessly into the real surroundings, and they move and look absolutely real. Finally, computer animations have reached the stage where it doesn't look animated anymore!

I was also very touched by Aladar's attempts to save the old dinos, and although I'm a grown-up, I jumped in my seat when the carnotaurs emerged. There was violence in this film: cruel battles between carnivores and herbivores. And surging through it all there is a feeling of sadness and loss, for a world that is about to fade away into the pages of history.

Thus, it's not for the smallest children, but it's a great story that treats it's audience with respect and pays homage to that great lost Earth that was buried in the dust millions of years ago.

Dinosaur is a 2000 American CGI animated adventure film produced by Walt Disney Feature Animation and The Secret Lab and released by Walt Disney Pictures. It is the 39th Disney animated feature film and Disney's The Secret Lab computer animated feature, though it is not officially labeled as one of the animated classics in the United Kingdom, where The Wild (2006) is included in the canon instead.

The film follows an orphaned Iguanodon who, as a friend of the lemurs, after surviving a devastating meteor, are moving out for their new home. Along the way, they befriend and reunite the remaining herd of dinosaurs who are being pursued by predators, such as the Carnotaurus, while on a journey to the "Nesting Grounds".

While the characters in Dinosaur are computer-animated, most of the film's backgrounds are live-action and were filmed on location. A number of backgrounds were found in Canaima National Park in Venezuela; various tepuis and Angel Falls also appear in the film. It is the second film (after Fantasia 2000) produced by Walt Disney Feature Animation to feature computer-generated three-dimensional animation. At officially $127.5 million, it was the most expensive theatrical film release of the year. The film was a financial success, grossing over $349 million worldwide in total box office revenue, becoming the fifth highest-grossing film of 2000.

A Carnotaurus ambushes an infant Parasaurolophus triggering a stampede, which forces an Iguanodon mother to abandon her nest. The one surviving egg journeys through several predicaments via the flight of a Geosternbergia, before ending up on a far away island populated by lemurs. Plio names the hatched baby Aladar and raises him. Years later, Aladar and the lemurs take part in the mating ritual, where Zini goes without a mate. Moments after the ritual ends, a giant meteor strikes and destroy the island, spreading numerous exploding fireballs. Aladar, Plio, Zini, Yar and Suri flee and jump across the sea to the mainland. They mourn for their losses before moving on.

While crossing the deserted wastelands, they are ambushed by a pack of Velociraptor. After escaping, the family comes across a remaining multi-species herd of dinosaurs led by Kron and Bruton, who are on a journey to reach the "Nesting Grounds", a valley said to be untouched by the meteor. As Aladar and the lemurs befriend a trio of elderly dinosaurs, Kron permits them to follow the herd. Together, they migrate across the desert to a lake they have relied on for past trips. Though it has seemingly dried up because of the meteor, Aladar and Baylene discover the buried water under the dry surface, saving the herd from dehydration. Impressed by Aladar's compassionate ways, Neera begins to fall in love with him.

Meanwhile, two Carnotaurus pick up the herd's trail and begin stalking them for food. Bruton, while on a scouting mission, is attacked by the predators. He escapes and warns Kron that they are being followed, putting the entire herd in grave danger. Kron picks up the pace and quickly evacuates the herd, leaving Aladar, the lemurs, the older dinosaurs, and Bruton behind, while the Carnotaurus are in pursuit some distance away. During a rainstorm, the stragglers spend the night in the cave, where Plio heals Bruton, and the Carnotaurs find and attack them. Bruton saves the others and sacrifices himself, causing a cave in to kill the female Carnotaurus in the process. As the rest of the group venture deeper through the cave, the male Carnotaurus having survived, resumes its search for the herd.

Aladar loses hope when they reach a dead end, but the others convince him to keep going, relating how he inspired them to do the same. After they knock down the dead end together and successfully find the Nesting Grounds on the other side, Eema sees a large wall of rocks blocking the original entryway to the valley. Knowing that the herd will die attempting to climb over it, Aladar rushes off alone to find them, but encounters the surviving Carnotaurus and it pursues him. As Aladar arrives to catch up with the herd and suggests the safer way to the valley, Kron furiously attacks him until Neera stops them. The herd decides to abandon Kron and takes Aladar as their new leader. As they prepare to leave, the Carnotaurus confronts them. Aladar rallies the herd to stand together, and they bellow their way past the predator, who follows Kron. Aladar and Neera fight against the Carnotaurus until he falls off the cliff to his death. Kron dies from his injuries, with Aladar and Neera mourning for him.

The herd are led back to the Nesting Grounds as their new home. A new generation of dinosaurs hatches sometime later, along with Aladar and Neera's children. The lemurs find more of their kind, and soon they begin embarking on a new life together.

This movie was shear pleasure to watch. The movie looks visually absolutely stunning and the animation is done nicely. It's true eye-candy and entertaining as well.

The movie has a typical adventurous story and feeling and is at times spectacular as well. Especially the beginning is impressively spectacular. There are some nicely done action sequences that are at times tense as well. My only true complaint of the movie are the characters. There isn't really any character development in the movie and we never really get to know the character or care much about them, this is probably mainly due to the short running time of the movie. Also of course the story itself is somewhat predictable but that doesn't take away any of the fun or entertainment value of the movie.

Dinosaur fans will enjoy this movie as well, unless you're one of those persons who complains about the accuracy of the movie. This movie is entertainment, not a documentary.

The musical score by James Newton Howard fits the movie like a glove and in my opinion he delivers one of his best and moving scores, in his career.

There is much hate for this movie but quite frankly I can't see why. If you simply take the movie for what it is, you'll have a good time watching it. It's beautiful, adventurous and at times truly spectacular.