The Good Dinosaur

Well, it's Pixar, so I feel contractually obligated to love it. Except that, honestly, I didn't. Don't get me wrong, it's not a bad movie by any stretch. But it failed to live up to the bar set by previous Pixar films. The plot is predictable, the beats coming exactly where and how you expect. The characters are well done, but surprisingly thin. The setting seems to go to a lot of effort to support a wonderful concept (dinosaur protagonist, human pet) that is then only half-heartedly explored.

And yet, I would totally watch it again. Because, familiar and well-worn as it is, it is exploiting formulas that work. Also, this is clearly a movie where the focus landed on the technical achievements. The animation was detailed, realistic (in some instances photo-realistic), and indescribably beautiful.

Max

You might have missed the trailers for Max. I can't tell if it was under-marketed, or just heavily targeted away from me. Given the number of "kids" movies I see, I find it odd that never saw a trailer, and only caught one commercial on TV.

Short version: A fairly typical feel good kids movie, but very well done within that genre. The plot felt mostly realistic, the characters were fairly three-dimensional, and the emotions were surprisingly complex. While it's not a movie that anyone needs to see, it's also a movie that you will likely enjoy watching.

Oh, and the important bit: The dog does NOT die. I was a bit worried when the poster said "From the producer of Marly and Me".