DINOSAUR (2000) in Classic Disney Scares Forum

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DINOSAUR (2000)

Author	Comment
BijouBob8mm	DINOSAUR (2000)	Lead	[-]
Apr 17 09 9:38 AM Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	A great-looking, but somewhat unusual, offering from Walt Disney Feature Animation. Not traditional cell animation, and not done in conjunction with Pixar, we have CGI prehistoric life interwoven into live action footage from Hawaii and Tahiti. (I've always wondered if this might have inspired ICE AGE...or was that project already in the planning stages?)
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M F Berry		#1	[-]
Apr 22 09 5:37 PM Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	Bob, I've always looked on Dinosaur as a massive "missed opportunity" -- the greatest missed opportunity in dinomovie history since Irwin Allen elected to use lizards in The Lost World even though he had Obie on the payroll. Had Disney maintained the original concept for the film -- keeping it naturalistic, with no comic shtick and no [sigh] talking -- it could've been glorious. As it stands, all we have left of the initial concept is the prologue segment, which is absolutely beautiful. Paleoartist extraordinaire William Stout, who put a lot of dino-design work into the picture yet had to rattle some cages just to get a small screen credit, related a very telling anecdote about Dinosaur when I interviewed him in HorrorShow (#6): Bill Stout: It was funny. I did a bunch of promotion for the film all over the country prior to its release, and it didn't matter if I was in Kansas, in Louisiana, in Washington state, anywhere I went, people said the same thing: 'They're not gonna talk, are they?' I'd show that first trailer and you could hear a pin drop afterwards, and a lot of people just started applauding, they were just so blown away. And then I would show them the second trailer, with the wisecracking lemurs, and you could see the disappointment in their faces. How Disney could've missed that, I don't know. I don't know either, Bill!
SparkieGojira		#2	[-]
Apr 22 09 10:42 PM Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	BijouBob8mm wrote: A great-looking, but somewhat unusual, offering from Walt Disney Feature Animation. Not traditional cell animation, and not done in conjunction with Pixar, we have CGI prehistoric life interwoven into live action footage from Hawaii and Tahiti. (I've always wondered if this might have inspired ICE AGE...or was that project already in the planning stages?) I was exposed to both movies thanks to baby sitting duties back in the day. And even without the back ground knowledge of the original concept I had, I don't think I would have liked it. ICE AGE did even less for me, and I thought it a pretty blatant steal of MONSTER INC. I would not be at all surprised if anticipation of the long in the making DINOSAURS influenced ICE AGE as well. -Clark
Belle Dee Bilbrey		#3	[-]
Apr 23 09 1:39 PM Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	I had totally forgotten about Dinosaur, until recently. Probably because at the time, I was not a fan of computer animation. I'm still not a huge fan but with 'The Incredibles', Pixar really showed how they could take great character design that looks great in 2-D, and make it look beautiful in 3-D. I'm getting off the subject. I was kind of curious to watch Dinosaur, but I thought that it would be like the computer animated 'Land Before Time'. I don't want my dinosaurs to be anthropomorphic. Although, I may have to give Dinosaur a one time go. Live action backgrounds & CG Dinosaurs? Sounds like one of my favorite DVD's Walking with Dinosaurs. www.doowackadoodles.blogspot.com
BijouBob8mm		#4	[-]
Apr 24 09 10:53 AM Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	As it stands, all we have left of the initial concept is the prologue segment, which is absolutely beautiful. And which Disney was wise enough to use as a teaser/trailer. (Hmm, didn't those lads do the same thing with the opening of THE LION KING?) the original concept for the film -- keeping it naturalistic, with no comic shtick and no [sigh] talking I do give Disney some credit for not having the dinosaurs break into song throughout the film. Which reminds me: Remember a four issue comic book mini-series from Epic called Dinosaurs: A Celebration (1992)? Around that same time, there was another series (can't recall the publisher or title...maybe simply T-Rex or Tyrannosaurus Rex) being done by a single artist in between other assignments that was going to follow the life of one thunder lizard from her birth to her death. Fantastic work, but it didn't always appear on a regular basis because of how the guy had to work on it. (I'm drawing a complete blank on his name.) I had the first few issues...don't know if it was ever completed, or ulitmately got shelved.
M F Berry		#5	[-]
Apr 24 09 1:10 PM Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	Bob, I believe you're referring to Tyrant, created by the prodigiously talented Stephen Bissette. There are only four issues.
BijouBob8mm		#6	[-]
Apr 24 09 2:20 PM Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	That's it!!! I know I have three issues (boxed away), but can't recall if I got the fourth or not. I don't recall the last issue I read actually concluding the tale...did Bissette get to finish his dream project? (Tyrant would make for a good animation project.)
M F Berry		#7	[-]
Apr 26 09 1:49 PM Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	Bob, regarding Tyrant, Steve had a full story arc in mind for the series, much more than four issues, but to date I believe that only the first four have been done. Here's a link to a massive interview with Steve published on The Comics Journal website, in which he discusses Tyrant at length: http://www.tcj.com/index....&id=35&Itemid=48 Hopefully he will still have the chance in the future to complete his story. Last Edited By: M F Berry Apr 26 09 1:53 PM. Edited 2 times.
BijouBob8mm		#8	[-]
Apr 27 09 8:22 AM Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	Thanks for the link!!!
delgadosaur		#9	[-]
Dec 16 10 4:27 PM Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	I spent two years of my life on this POS. What a horrible film.
bobzilla		#10	[-]
Jan 17 11 5:29 PM Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	I watched all the extras more than I watched the movie? It was beautifully rendered. I love the opening scene and the carnotaurus running down the little dino. But, oh, the talking! Eeesh! Lot of talented folks worked on that film (I'm sure you're one of them, delgadosaur). I saw some pre-release renders and was getting pretty excited, then I saw it...
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delgadosaur		#11	[-]
Jan 25 11 12:33 PM Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	Nope, I knew after a few months that they were interested in a very commercial product. But more importantly, I made a few good friends on that show.
Monster Jungle Xray		#12	[-]
Mar 23 11 11:50 PM Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	When the first trailer for DINOSAUR first came out being a lover of anything prehistoric I was really excited by the lush landscapes and the elegant animation. Then came the realization after the main iguanodon becomes a part of the lemur family, and the asteroid hit that the next hour would be lots of walking in barren deserts and warmed over bits of story cobbled from THE LAND BEFORE TIME, THE JUNGLE BOOK, and THE LION KING. Another thing that really bothered me about this film besides the cutesy lemurs is if they are going to have a film with talking dinosaurs why not go all out and have the carnivorous species talk as well? I've seen this elsewhere with anthropomorphic heroes being able to reason and speak while the villains behave more like their real life counterparts. They could have even explained it away as the herbivores and carnivores speak different languages and used subtitles for the carnotaurs, but that would have been too smart for this dull by-the-numbers film.
bobzilla		#13	[-]
Mar 24 11 7:21 AM Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	I think that's a Disney thing not having the villains speak even though the other characters do. They don't do it all the time, but I think they have in other shows.
hermanthegerm		#14	[-]
Mar 24 11 6:25 PM Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	Well in Lion King the carnivores speak, but then Kimba goes and eats grubs and not a wildebeest. "There is a lot of money tied up in this film and people expect to hear a boom when something blows up, so I'll give them a boom." George Lucas as quoted by Harlan Ellison's WATCHING
BijouBob8mm		#15	[-]
Feb 1 12 5:34 PM Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	Stumbled across this interesting article on some of the behind-the-scenes activity at Disney that led up to DINOSAUR, and the resulting aftermath. http://jimhillmedia.com/editor_in_chief1/b/jim_hill/archive/2003/01/15/224.aspx
bobzilla		#16	[-]
Feb 1 12 7:20 PM Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	Thanks for the link, Bob. DINOSAUR was in pre-production for quite some time, too. A lot of talent went into that ill-fated project. Framestore was the shop that did the VFX for Walking With Dinosaurs. And they did an awesome job that I think still holds up well. I think Tim Haines from Walking With Dinosaurs said they approached ILM to do the animation and he said it would have cost something like $10,000 a second.
gorgozilla		#17	[-]
Feb 2 12 10:25 PM Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	bobzilla wrote: Framestore was the shop that did the VFX for Walking With Dinosaurs. And they did an awesome job that I think still holds up well. I think Tim Haines from Walking With Dinosaurs said they approached ILM to do the animation and he said it would have cost something like $10,000 a second. I saw DINOSAUR on TV when there was absolutely nothing else on. Nice CGI- it could have been great. Instead Disney decided to rip off THE LAND BEFORE TIME. "Stupi! Stupid! Stupid!", says the alien from PLAN NINE FROM OUTER SPACE. WALKING WITH DINOSAURS is my favorite CGI dinosaur show along with KING KONG and the JURASSIC PARK movies. In some ways, Framestore's work surpasses that of ILM's: the pterodactyls and dromeosaurs of WALKING look more natural and less melodramatic than those of JURASSIC PARK III. The charging allosaurus scenes were just as impressive as the running raptors in the 3rd JP film. But the BBC Tyrannosaurs were not as memorable as Spielburg's or Jackson's. I've seen clips of DINOSAUR REVOLUTION, and it looks good, aside from the "Goth" tyrannosauruses. When is the DVD (reportedly all dinosaur footage, with the "talking heads" scenes removed) coming out?
BijouBob8mm		#18	[-]
Feb 4 12 9:37 AM Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	the "talking heads" scenes removed David Byrne was in this? Awesome!!!
hermanthegerm	Disneyland dinosaurs	#19	[-]
May 21 12 3:42 PM Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	The train stopped in front of the dinos and it allowed me to take this photo. It's low light and kinda blurry, but it's the best I could do in short notice. "There is a lot of money tied up in this film and people expect to hear a boom when something blows up, so I'll give them a boom." George Lucas as quoted by Harlan Ellison's WATCHING
Aupperle		#20	[-]
May 22 12 5:28 PM Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	gorgozilla wrote: I saw DINOSAUR on TV when there was absolutely nothing else on. Nice CGI- it could have been great. Instead Disney decided to rip off THE LAND BEFORE TIME. "Stupi! Stupid! Stupid!", says the alien from PLAN NINE FROM OUTER SPACE. WALKING WITH DINOSAURS is my favorite CGI dinosaur show along with KING KONG and the JURASSIC PARK movies. I'm afraid I might have posted this somewhere earlier but back while we were working at Disney on the CG for DINOSAUR a number of us on the crew referred to our little epic as TALKING WITH DINOSAURS. The insipid dialogue ruined what could have been a good film. I first saw LAND BEFORE TIME while working on DINOSAUR and I was shocked at how close we were going to the earlier film. EDIT: I think I want to add that even though the film didn't turn out to be as good as I hoped I do feel very lucky indeed to have worked on it. To have a big job at Disney working on dinosaurs come along just at the exact moment when I needed to get into CG if I was going to continue to earn my living working on movies was just wonderful. Many of the people I knew from the stop motion days also ended up working on DINOSAUR so overall it was a very good time from my perspective. Jim A. Last Edited By: Aupperle May 23 12 10:17 AM. Edited 2 times.
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DINOSAUR (2000)

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