Dinosaur (2000)

If you ever wondered what the adult dinosaurs were doing during The Land Before Time, here’s your answer. A massive and expensive undertaking that features real backgrounds and CGI dinosaurs, this film aimed to be something of an industry game changer. It may have hit pay dirt, but this film understandably lands with something between a thud and a flop on Disney’s all-time best list.

A family of Cretaceous-era lemurs adopt an Iguanodon hatchling abandoned during a Carnotaurus attack. As an adult, Aladar and his adopted family flee extinction when an asteroid collides with the Earth, causing widespread devastation. Herbivores of all species band together in a quest to find the Nesting Place, a valley unscathed by the recent cataclysm. Romance and conflict arises between the different personalities in the make-shift herd as they struggle for survival against the elements as well as roaming carnivores.

Survival, a mix of dinosaurs, and a rumored safe haven- that is the exact same framework as The Land Before Time, leaving Dinosaur with quite the uphill climb. The folks at Disney also don’t do themselves any favors by cramming this film full of cuteness, cheesy jokes, and a whole lot of clichéd ‘together we can do this’ rhetoric. Predictable as the film may be, it is not a total lost cause.

At times, the visuals in this film blew me away. After doing some digging, I found out that Disney filmed many exotic real world locales for backgrounds and superimposed their CGI dinosaurs into it. That explains why some sequences looked so impressive for a CGI film- it wasn’t all CGI. The blending of the two works very well for long shots (aka wide shots) with not a lot of action. When there is a lot going on or a shot is framed pretty tight, the visuals really show their age. I think Disney was onto something pretty cutting edge and it is a shame that it still had some kinks.

There are some curiosities with this film that make me wonder how much better it could have been. Only the herbivores have voices and personalities. The carnivores are just angry monsters on a rampage. Could the film be more effective if the carnivores talked as well, or if the herbivores also lacked voices? Also, the dinosaur nerd in me can’t help but wonder if different species of herbivorous dinosaurs really lived in tandem as the pre-cataclysm scenes depict. The dino-geek in me does, however, commend the film for keeping non-Cretaceous animals out of the film. An Iguanodon makes for a very vanilla protagonist, but at least he is surrounded by era-accurate dinosaurs.

Dinosaur is a difficult film to place amongst Disney’s other animated features because it is so very different. It completely splits away from any of the Disney formulas, which should make it refreshing. All of Disney’s other PG-rated films have suffered for one reason or another but Dinosaur feels like its biggest flaw is that it came too soon. With all the advancements in CGI imagery even within the five years following its release, Dinosaur could have been the spectacle its filmmakers were hoping for. It would take a few re-writes and tweaks, but the potential is in there for something great.

RATING: 3.25 out of 5

Snakes on a Plane (2006)

Shut up and watch this movie.

The hype surrounding this film turned out to be just a whole bunch of jerks online making fun of it, few of whom put their money where their mouths were. But had they gone to see Snakes on a Plane, they’d have been pleasantly surprised.

This film is the ultimate example of truth in advertising- It says it has snakes on a plane, and it delivers snakes on a plane. It doesn’t promise viewers a rousing drama filled with tension and believable characters. It doesn’t promise viewers side-splitting comedy. All it promises is snakes… on a plane. And it keeps that promise.

Everything else is purely extra, and these extra attributes actually take this ridiculous sounding concept and turn it into a heck of a decent movie. Sure, the visual effects are at times quite hokey. Sure the snakes behave in unrealistic and improbable ways. Sure, the characters are culled up from a mixture of clichés guaranteed to draw laughs and gasps. But Snakes on a Plane doesn’t turn out to be the disaster many expected it to be. It’s got its share of legitimately tense moments and authentic scares. It's also got its share of witty jokes and scenes. Snakes on a Plane is also full of memorable (albeit silly) lines of dialogue, giving it potential to be the next big cult film.

If you go into Snakes on a Plane expecting anything more than snakes on a plane, you’ll be disappointed. Don’t hope for a masterpiece or a disaster- this is the kind of movie you need to take at face value and you’ll thank yourself later for doing so. Snakes on a Plane is a fun movie to experience. And that’s what it is, an experience. Just sit back and enjoy your time watching Samuel L. Jackson, in all his vulgar glory, battle it out with snakes… on a plane.

RATING: 3.25 out of 5