a review of 恐龙当家

The Good Dinosaur is the second Pixar production in a row that left me with mixed feelings. I wasn't very enthusiastic about Inside Out (see my review of that for details), and The Good Dinosaur also suffered from some flaws, in my humble opinion. First of all, I couldn't get used to the strong contrast between the very impressive but overly realistic scenery and the simplistic cartoony characters. It felt like an aesthetic mismatch throughout the movie. Advancements in realistic rendering techniques are tempting creators into too much realism, while stylization often has more charm and distracts less. Continuing my grumbling, I thought the dinosaur characters lacked appeal. Their design didn't match the top quality I'm used to from Pixar (thinking of The Incredibles). The dinos could have been 3D character designs for a mediocre cereal commercial. The lack of dino appeal was fortified by some characteristics that annoyed me, such as the main character's squeaky voice and never-ending clumsiness. The story followed a lot of safe animation storytelling conventions, which made the film a bit too predictable to my liking. Almost none of the situations managed to be a big surprise to me. Having said all this, I really liked the boy character. Appealing design and great character. And despite the cliches, the touching human reunion scene made me wipe away a tear. It seems as if the realm of 3D animation is reaching the end of its golden years. The novelty is wearing off, and commerce seems to overshadow inspiration. It's time for Pixar's head honchos to get off their lazy chairs and revive the inspired magic that lifted animation to a new level from the mid-1990s to the late 2000s.