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Dinosaur-Single Disc Edition  Hot
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Written by Staff Writer   
Friday, 21 January 2005


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Grade

Content Grade: B
Sound Grade: A+
Picture Grade: A

Specs

Disney Home Video-MSRP$24.95 Anamorphic widescreen (1.85:1), Standard format (1.33:1) Dolby 5.1, DTS, French soundtrack, THX Certified 82 minutes, color, 2000 Rated PG

Review

Disney uses state of the art technology to bring you a story of dinosaurs as only Disney can. While being rated PG, which is unusual for a Disney film, the savage world of the dinosaur is left pretty much bloodless. With the vocal talents of Ossie Davis and Della Reese among others, the dinos are humanized as only Disney can do. The graphics are truly spectacular in this showcase of computer generated characters and vistas.
A carnivore attack at the beginning of the digitally transferred film seals the fate of the story's hero, a likable iguanodon named Aladar. His egg is stolen from his mother's nest during the attack and through one of several compelling scenes in the film, eventually arrives to be raised by a lemur family, led by patriarch Ossie Davis. As he grows, he is entirely accepted by the clan, but obviously he doesn't quite fit in. Following a massive meteor shower (another spectacular scene), the family is forced to follow a herd of other dinosaurs, who are migrating to the the "nesting grounds". Sound familiar? Anyone with kids who has seen the original "Land Before Time" cartoon films will recognize the plot. The herd is being followed by the carnotaurs, who are big, fierce, and always hungry. The herd is led by Kron, who drives the creatures onward. His basic philosophy is "if you are weak, you die!". Of course, Aladar has a better idea and starts to prove it impressing another iguanodon, Neera, who also happens to be Kron's sister. In this march the dinosaurs face food and water shortages, as well as the carnotaur attacks. Interestingly, the carnotaurs are the only ones who don't talk in the film, or have any personalities. They are simple hungry brutes.

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Picture and Sound

Picture-The DVD was created directly from the digital source and is truly a wonder to watch. While I thought the lemurs and Aladar were a little too "clean looking" and at times a bit plastic, other scenes show incredible work by the artists that rendered and painted the skin textures for this characters. The science in creating these critters was impressive, with moving muscle and skin responding to weight and gravity. Sound-Equally impressive, if not more so, is the DTS soundtrack included with the widescreen version of the film. Dolby 5.1 is also a choice with a widescreen presentation. A fullscreen presentation with Dolby is also an option. The thundering created by the dinosaurs feet will give your system's subwoofer a workout. It drives home the point that these were gigantic creatures. The channels all get the full treatment as rocks fall and water flows all around you. This is a great demo disc for your system.

Extras

The extras on this one disc include four short featurettes on making the digital dinosaurs, sound design, the monster cloud created when the giant meteorite hits the ocean, and creating the highly detailed world of the dinosaur. Also, a Dinopedia-an animated facts section, Dinosearch-a search and assemble game, and Aladar's Adventure, a virtual reality game. The single DVD also contains DVD-ROM features and Web links.

Summary

While truly a Disney film in story, the technical quality of the DVD is a wonder to behold. The digital transfer from the digital source put this up there with A Bug's Life, another showcase disc. While some of the scenes may be too scary for small ones, anyone over 8 will be captivated. For those of you really into the animation or technical aspect of the film, a two disc set is also available, much like the special editions for Tarzan, Bug's Life, Toy Story and Fantasia. While Disney may have been a late starter in DVD, they have proven they are taking real advantage of the format now and this is another good title to show off your home theater. BTW, in the previews, they are already plugging the release of Snow White on DVD, which is scheduled for release in the fall. I'm sure there will be a special edition when that film finally arrives.

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