Tonight with the family: no one ever talks about this Disney released 24 years ago, but it marked an essential date in the history of the studio

65 million years ago, in a tropical clearing, a herd of dinosaurs was attacked by a formidable predator. The only survivor of its brood, an iguanodon egg will then make a long journey and hatch on an island, in the middle of a colony of lemurs who decide to adopt it.

Having reached adulthood, the dinosaur named Aladar became the mascot and protector of the little gang. One evening, while the lemurs are celebrating the new mating season and their giant friend is feeling a little lonely, a shower of strange meteors begins to fall on the horizon.

Disney studios enter a new era

Here we are at the beginning of the 2000s, and after the flamboyant golden age of the 90s, a new era (more complicated but just as interesting) is opening in front of the Disney studios. The world is shifting into another millennium, and it is now towards computer-generated images and CGI that the eyes of all animators are turning.

While the young artists of Pixar are already prance at the head of this new race, and the beginners of Dreamworks have quickly started to follow in their footsteps, the venerable institution Disney, which has monopolized the animation sector for more than 60 years , must defend its reputation. There’s no question of missing this new turn, so it’s time to get started!

However, contrary to what one might think, Dinosaur is not the first feature film from enchanted studios entirely produced by computer: it is in fact a mixture of settings filmed in live shots and characters animated in CGI.

A visual demonstration of force

The fact remains that the visual result is light years away from what Disney used to offer until now. Even though the years have passed and Dinosaur is far from providing the same impression today, when it was released 20 years ago, the film amazed critics around the world.

But beyond its demonstration of visual force, Dinosaur unfortunately struggles to convince narratively speaking, and offers a rather banal story, close to patterns that the public already knows.

The 39th classic from Disney studios, in addition to having written the first lines of a brand new chapter for the company, remains especially in our memories for its breathtaking introductory sequence (for the moment, even 24 years later, it passes still very good) and for its masterful soundtrack, composed by the great James Newton Howard.

Walt Disney Animation Studios

What they will like…

• The main and secondary characters of the film, quite endearing, and served by a first-class voice casting in French version.

• The spirit of adventure and travel that emanates throughout the film.

What might worry them…

• The terrible carnotaurs and their formidable jaws.

• The scavengers who follow the horde, hoping to devour the stragglers in the group.

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