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Aladar
(D.B. Sweeney) is no ordinary young iguanodon. No, this young dinosaur
was hatched and raised by lemurs, giving him something of a different
perspective on reptile life. Unfortunately for our hero and the
rest of his dinosaur brethren, trouble is brewing, in the form of
a meteor shower that is rendering the earth unlivable. As the dinosaurs
journey to a safer land, our hero finds himself at odds with the
group's leader, Kron, when Aladar elects to help out some slow-paced
misfits.
DISNEY'S DINOSAUR
REVIEW
BY DAVID BRUCE
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This
page was created on May 25, 2000
and was updated on
January 9, 2005
Directed
by Eric Leighton and Ralph Zondag
Writing credits (in credits order): Walon Green (earlier screenplay),
Thom Enriquez (story), and John Harrison (story),Robert Nelson Jacobs
(story), & Ralph Zondag (story) & John Harrison (screenplay) & Robert
Nelson Jacobs (screenplay), Shirley Pierce (additional story material)
Rhett Reese (additional story material)
D.B.
Sweeney .... Aladar (voice)
Julianna Margulies .... Neera (voice)
Joan Plowright .... Baylene (voice)
Ossie Davis .... Yar (voice)
Max Casella .... Zini (voice)
Alfre Woodard .... Plio (voice)
Samuel E. Wright .... Kron (voice)
Peter Siragusa .... Bruton (voice)
Della Reese .... Eema (voice)
Produced by Baker Bloodworth (co-producer), Pam Marsden
Original music by James Newton Howard
Cinematography by David R. Hardberger, S. Douglas Smith
Film Editing by H. Lee Peterson
OFFICIAL
SITE
Dinosaur © 2000 Walt Disney. All Rights
Reserved.
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 PARADISE
"In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth...and
God saw that it was good." -Genesis 1
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A
pteranodon soars through a field of grazing dinosaurs in this impressive
shot from the opening sequence.
Cultural Significance: Our
ideas of origins are changing. We now envision the earth as a former
botanical paradise that has been ruined. Earlier artists portrayed dinosaurs
living in a wasteland. Culture is more in tune with the Biblical Genesis. |
 BEAUTY
OF CREATION
"And Lord God planted a garden in Eden..." -Genesis 2 |
Two
lemurs cautiously watch as a baby dinosaur hatches from its egg. Separated
from his own species as a hatchling and raised on an island paradise
by a clan of lemurs, a young iguanodon named Aladar learns to see things
from a different perspective.
Cultural Significance: Our
families are broken and mixed. Message in film --Let's make the most
of it. Family is important. |
 PARADISE
LOST
"The sun will be darkened, the moon will not give light, the
stars will fall from the sky, and the powers of heaven will be shaken."
-Jesus |
Aladar,
carrying several members of his lemur family, races for safety as a
meteor shower wreaks havoc on his island home.
Cultural Significance: There
has been a major shift in the thinking about earth's origins. Sudden
catastrophic changes are more in vogue over former slow evolutionary
change theories. |
 THE
JOURNEY TO THE PROMISED LAND. In search of the new world following
the apocalypse. Here is the the Biblical
Exodus, and even Ward Bond's Wagon Train, and Kevin Kosner's Waterworld. |
A
brachiosaur named Baylene (top right) and her styrachosaur pal, Eema
(bottom left), join iguanodon Aladar (bottom right) and little Url (center)
during their trek across a devastated landscape.
Cultural Significance: Catastrophy
brings solidarity and community. Also, the personal spiritual journey
is a big cultural theme these days. Life as journey. |
 SURVIVAL
OF THE FITTEST?
For the proud will be humbled, but the humble will be honored."
-Jesus, Luke 14:11
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The
mean Kron (left) and his loyal lieutenant Bruton are the hard-driving
leaders of a herd of migrating dinosaurs.
Cultural Significance: Ideas
of good leadership have changed. The "servant leader" model
is the current ideal. Kron and Bruton just 20 years ago would have been
considered ideal management types (e.g. Roger and Me). |
 HELPING
THE WEAK
God does not let the wicked live but gives justice to the afflicted.
-Job 36:6
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Aladar,
a compassionate iguanodon, gives a boost to his ailing travel-mate,
a styrachosaur named Eema, as they trek across the arid desert.
Cultural Significance: Good
example of "servant leader." Aladar is compassionate, self
sacrificing and motivated. |
LOVE IN THE MIDST OF CHAOS
Love is as powerful as death; passion is as strong as death itself.
It bursts into flame and burns like a raging fire. -Song of Solomon
8:6b |
Iguanodons
Aladar (left) and Neera discover a mutual attraction as they face
the hardships of the trek.
Cultural Significance: Romance!
We are great lovers of romantic
themes in our hardship stories.
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 SEEKING
JUSTICE FOR OTHERS
Speak up for those who cannot speak for themselves; ensure justice
for those who are perishing. Yes, speak up for the poor and helpless,
and see that they get justice. -Proverbs 31:8-9 |
Aladar
confronts the herd's leader, Kron (right), and his lieutenant, Bruton,
as they push the herd relentlessly to their nesting ground.
Cultural Significance: Confrontation!
Now here is a major seminar topic for business and family relationships.
Confronting those we value with tough love! |
 THE
ENEMY.
Be careful! Watch out for attacks from the Devil, your great enemy.
He prowls around like a roaring lion, looking for some victim to devour.
-1 Peter 5:8 |
A
pair of bloodthirsty carnotaurs provide a constant threat to a herd
of migrating dinosaurs.
Cultural Significance: Fears
of the big enemy still exist, but it's the pack of little meat-eating
dinosaurs that provide the threat, as in Jurassic Park. It's the little
things that get us. We fear the small details of life. |
 THE
POWER OF COMMUNITY.
Two people can accomplish more than twice as much as one; they get
a better return for their labor. -Solomon, Eccles. 4:9 |
Aladar
and Neera are joined by members of a migrating dinosaur herd in confronting
an attacking carnotaur.
Cultural Significance: The
power of community. Here is a lesson that was presented powerfully in
Bug's Life. The secret of "the power
of one" is in that one's ability to form solidarity and community.
Consider Martin Luther King Jr. |
 THE
NEW WORLD.
"God's promise of entering this place of rest still stands, so
we ought to tremble with fear that some of you might fail to get there." |
After
being left behind by the herd, a group of "misfit" dinosaurs finds an
alternate route to the lush green nesting grounds.
Cultural Significance:
We love backup plans. We love it when servant leaders win the day. 'Survival
of the fittest' has waned in cultural significance. |
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 NEW
BIRTH.
"Look I make all things new! ...All who are thirsty I will give
the springs of the water of life without charge. All who are victorious
will inherit all these blessings." -God in Revelation.
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Iguanodons
Aladar (left) and Neera (right) and their lemur companions find abundance,
hope, and a new beginning in the safety of their nesting ground.
Cultural Significance: A
hope of better tomorrows always drives us. I believe this is a God-given
hope and drive. To have this hope destroyed can have disastrous consequences. |
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COMMENTS AND REVIEWS
APPLYING
SCRIPTURE
Subject: Good work!
Date: Sun, 16 Jul 2000
From: Jim Black
David,
I want to encourage you as you apply Scripture to our culture. I am
a pastor of a church-plant and if we continue to be afraid of the
people who inhabit our culture (the very people Jesus spent most of
his time with in his day, and for whom He died and rose!) we will
not reach them. Thanks for your "bridge-building ministry. Whether
or not the creators of Dinosaur intended it, they have told a modern
day parable we can use to communicate the eternal truths of God to
people. Keep up the good work!
Jim Black
Response: Thank you. -David
GOD'S
WORD IS FOR MEN!!!
Subject: God's word is for men, and
not for dinosaurs.
Date: Sat, 10 Jun 2000
From: John
That
we henceforth be no more children, tossed to and fro, and carried
about with every wind of doctrine, by the sleight of men, and cunning
craftiness, whereby they lie in wait to deceive. [Ephesians 4:14]
God's word is for men, and not for dinosaurs.
My
response: For men? Is God's word also for boys, girls and women? I
am curious, what do you think of the parables? Should I snip them
out of my King James Bible? Also, Ephesians has something against
dinosurs? --I guess I missed the link? -David
DAVID
IS A FALSE PROPHET AND HELPLESS
Subject: Helpless
Date: Thu, 15 Jun 2000
From: John
This
is what we speak, not in words taught us by human wisdom but in words
taught by the Spirit, expressing spiritual truths in spiritual words.
[1 Corinthians 2:13] You're a false prophet. And you're helpless.
Response:
WOW! Ya hit me upside the head again with yer King Jimmie Bible. Thanks,
I needed that. BTW, do you always use yer 1611 Bible in this fashion
with those you don't know? How about those you do know?
REVIEW
Date: Sun, 4 Jun 2000
From: Robin
Simmons
DINOSAUR
My two boys, ages 6 and 12, and I were dazzled by the big screen trailer
of Disney's DINOSAUR a month or so ago. We even downloaded the long
version of the trailer on the internet. Our anticipation was high
when we finally went to see the movie this weekend. The opening was
eye-popping and almost surrealistic in its photo-realism. The meteor
storm was thrilling and loud. We looked at eachother and figured we
were the first to be in on something really cool. And then the creatures
start talking. And talking and talking. In English, no less! And what
they have to say is hardly worth listening to. Insipid really. And
then the family of dinos and hangers on, weird little annoying lemurs,
start on their trek to a safe place -- their much talked-about nesting
grounds. Don't read further if you plan to see this movie because
I'm going to give away the plot. Here goes: the dinos walk and walk
and walk and and talk and talk and talk and finally get to where they
want to go. That's it. Seriously. I heard no laughs or gasps fom the
audience we were with. Dead silence. No emotion, no metaphor and no
meaning. "The Lion King" this is not. Along the way, a baby dino raised
by the lemurs grows up and fights a very nasty carnasaur, who, by
the way, only speaks in screeches and growls and comes off as the
most interesting and believable of all the creatures (although we've
seen the same basic attack scenario in "Jurassic Park"). By this time
I was kind of rooting for the nasty meateaters with the bad underbite.
My youngest son spent the better part of the movie with my glow in
the dark wrist watch held up to his eye watching the time SLOWWWWWWLLLLY
pass. Yes, the technology behind this movie pushes the envelope for
computer graphic creations and creatures meleded into a naturalistic
setting. It looks real. The ads say something like, "You've never
seen anything like this." It's true -- and that's not necessarily
a good thing. This behemoth will no doubt make tons of moola for Disney
no matter what the reviews. However, it looks like a movie created
in committee by genius techies and a roomfull of still wet-behind-the-ears
suits who pasted together a storyline that welled up from their (conveniently
forgotten?) first viewing of "Land Before Time."
NEW
AGE?
Subject:
You're kidding, right? Dinosaur
Date: Sun, 04 Jun 2000
From: David Bump
I'm just amazed at how far people can stretch to rationalize that
some schlocky Hollywood production is a really good thing. If Christianity
means some sort of vague idea of being nice to people, you might have
a reason, but there is more of the New Age than the Bible in the "good"
points you try to make for "Dinosaur". David Bump -- Philippians 3:
13 Brethren, I count not myself to have apprehended: but [this] one
thing [I do], forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching
forth unto those things which are before, 14 I press toward the mark
for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus.
Response:
God's thumbprint is on all of creation. May God give you eyes to see
it. -David
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