MOVIE REVIEWS

<em>'Dinosaur'</em> is pretty impressive in parts. I felt entertained watching it. The animation, twenty years on, is still admirable. The environments remain beautiful, the living creatures may not look quite as superb but are still nice in my opinion. The voice cast are understated yet suitable, much like everything else from the music to the plot. D. B. Sweeney plays the lead role, portraying a character called Aladar. His voice isn't as strong as I'd want but he does a good job nevertheless. Alfre Woodard stands out slightly as Plio, I recognised her voice instantly having seen her years back on TV's <em>'Desperate Housewives'</em>. Heftier voices and a more dramatic score would've taken this further in my estimations, though there's no doubting this is a film that has many elements to enjoy.

This is quite an enjoyable, if light-weight, Disney adventure clearly designed to capitalise on the Jurassic Park themes that drove all of us dino-mad in the 1990s! Here, a dinosaur egg ends up being hatched amidst a colony of lemurs. "Aladar" is an iguanodon, who settles with his new family until a giant meteorite hits the ocean and they must skedaddle inland before the tsunami hits. What now ensues is a fairly standard series of adventures as they all try to find a new home. The visual effects are great, and the characterisations are also quite fun. The story, though, is really pretty derivative and plays very much second fiddle to the innovative standard of the animation. Pity, as over time that animation becomes less remarkable, and so does the film. Now, some 20-odd years after, the film has little to make it stand out. Still, it's good fun and quite endearing for 80 minutes.