Steve Pulaski I just can't see anyone over five truly enjoying Phil Nibbelink and Simon Wells' We're Back! A Dinosaur's Story simply on its own terms. It's a children's movie that works for nobody but little, little children. Even when they're five, by showing them this movie you could be pushing it. I've stood by my realization and claim that one of the contributing factors to a child's growth, development, and success is their imagination and experience to things other than what they're used to. What you find in this film could easily be substituted by a more ideal episode of PBS's Dragon Tales.The selling point (which also serves as the most surprising name on the project) is executive producer Steven Spielberg, who of course made the other dinosaur movie released in 1993 that deserves no introduction. It's baffling to the mind to think that Spielberg, whose dinosaur epic is now the quintessential motion picture about the ferocious beasts, would want his name stamped all over a kiddie flick with minimal heart and imagination. A better investment would've been to bet on Disney, whose pictures were sweeping up money at the box office like disposed trash. Hell, if he would've waited a few years, Pixar would've been on its way. And then Dreamworks.But what's done is done, and now we have a mediocre children's film on our hands, bearing the name of one of cinema's finest men. Our story revolves around an orange Tyrannosaurus Rex named Rex (voiced by John Goodman) and his dinosaur friends, who run into Louie (Joe Shea) when they are transported in time to present day New York City. Louie is a young boy, who is running away from home to join the circus and feels lonely and helpless in the world as both his parents have neglected him. He then meets Cecilia (voiced by Yeardley Smith - who voices Lisa Simpson on The Simpsons - explaining why her voice sounds like a blend of Lisa's and Cindy Brady's), another neglected soul, leaving Louie with a source of companionship and empathy. That's all well and good, until an evil circus owner (Martin Short) reveals his plans to kidnap the kids, leaving the dinosaurs as their only source of rescue.The plot alone makes this a very strange movie. Certainly not frightening to its target audience, but weird it definitely is, consistently giving us goofy situations, a laughable villain, and a repetitive strain of events before the ends credits roll. There's also a rather bleak color drawing style to the film that had me craving the likes of that polished, fluent Disney style. Certain images (like the character's themselves) seem to be over-colored, the color-palette itself is never consistent, and the cityscapes seem as lifeless as the dinosaurs themselves.And the final point of criticism is the length of the picture, further cementing the fact that We're Back! is as unsubstantial as it is. It credits itself at seventy-two minutes, when in reality, minus the credits (which are slowed down meticulously to try and pass for feature length) it's roughly sixty-five minutes, even making this an inconceivable TV special. The fact that thousands of parents had to nestle in their theater seats for a drab sixty-five minute affair makes me upset in ways just as inconceivable.We're Back! A Dinosaur's Story isn't detrimental to the intelligence of your children the way some franchise are, put it's not particularly vital either. It's a decidedly random film, featuring one modestly-catchy but forgettable song, repetitive events, lame characters, an archetypal villain, and blatantly obvious voice-acting. At least hearing Walter Cronkite will give the parents something to be entertained by.Voiced by: John Goodman, Julia Child, Jay Leno, Martin Short, Walter Cronkite, Joey Shea, and Yeardley Smith. Directed by: Phil Nibbelink and Simon Wells.

Tommy Nelson After the huge success of Jurassic Park, Amblum Entertainment knew that making an animated movie about talking dinosaurs would certainly be a smash hit. Unfortunately, this movie only took in less than 10 million dollars in the USA, and got mostly poor reviews. I can see why the reviews were bad. This is a strange cartoon, and sometimes, for little kids (who this is geared towards), this can be really scary.With the scarce running time of 72 minutes, or 65 without end credits, this flick moves at a brisk speed. It has to introduce the protagonist kids, Louie, the street wise tough kid, with a soft side just dying to get out, and Elsa, the sweet little girl who sounds oddly similar to Lisa Simpson. The dinosaurs have to be introduced, including how they became smart and nice, and what they're doing in New York city, and who brought them there. It has to scare the little kids with the evil Dr. Screweyes, a circus ringmaster who has a screw for an eye (hence the name), and fears the dark. There's much more to the plot too, including a dinosaur circus, which might scare toddlers to death, and an amusing scene where the dinosaurs walk through a parade singing a catchy tune.The animation is quite good in this film, about as good as Disney animation was at the time. The characters are likable, including the dinosaurs, all voiced by television actors, led by John Goodman as Rex, the T-Rex. The story is strange, involving rival brothers, Captain Neweyes, and Professor Screweyes. Neweyes created a cereal to make the dinosaurs less realistic and more cartoony, and Screweyes invented a potion that reverses the effect, which works on any being (including humans). Like many cartoons, this is both corny and cheesy, and parents will be looking up at the ceiling or staring blankly elsewhere to avoid the effects of the corny writing. Kids won't care.Overall, this is an okay movie, but will scare little kids. Parents won't like it, because unlike Disney, Amblum is only catering to the little kids needs, not the parents.My rating: ** 1/2 out of ****. 72 mins. G.

Lee Eisenberg I wouldn't call "We're Back! A Dinosaur's Story" simply a kiddie version of "Jurassic Park". I found it more interesting than that. Like the former, it calls into question the security of bringing beings from one era into ours. But it really opens my eyes when I see who provided the voices: John Goodman, Rhea Perlman, Jay Leno, Walter Cronkite, Julia Child, Kenneth Mars, Yeardley Smith, Martin Short and Larry King. To paraphrase that: a given actor, the "Cheers" woman, the "Tonight Show" host, the Most Trusted Name In News, a famous chef, the "Young Frankenstein" police chief, Lisa Simpson, one of the Three Amigos and the CNN guy.But I guess that I shouldn't focus only on the cast. I thought that this movie had something for both children (purely fun) and adults (natural history). True, it's escapism, but the perceptive kind. I would actually say that John Goodman doing Rex's voice here is sort of a precursor to his voice work in "Monsters Inc". Worth seeing.

JTurner82 How ironic it is that in 1993, two dinosaur pictures courtesy of Steven Spielberg would hit the theaters. One of them was a runaway box-office hit, the live-action spectacular JURASSIC PARK; the other was WE'RE BACK! A DINOSAUR'S STORY, which came and went without much fanfare. An animated film from Spielberg's London-based Amblimation Studios (AN American TAIL: FIEVEL GOES WEST and the underrated BALTO), WE'RE BACK has been dubbed as a sort of "Jurassic Park, Jr." Actually, that might be a bit inaccurate, for while there is one not so subtle reference to the Spielberg monster hit (a marquee theater advertising the movie), this film has none of the visceral, nail-biting scares of JURASSIC PARK. As it is a kid's movie, one shouldn't expect too much.Even so, this "dinosaur's story" is a bit of a curious creation. Based on a children's book by author Hudson Talbott, the movie involves a quartet of prehistoric giants who are taken aboard the spaceship of an elderly time-traveler, Captain NewEyes. The foursome is treated to some sort of cereal that transforms them from vicious but dumb monsters into talking creatures with human qualities (think Barney and his friends). Before long, the four dinosaurs--with the names of Rex, Elsa, Dweeb, and Woog--are whisked to modern day New York City where they meet two children: tough-talking (but secretly soft-hearted) Louie and a neglected cutie named Cecilia, both of who are running away from home. Together with their new pals, the dinosaurs crash the Thanksgiving Parade (which involves a very silly song-and-dance number), escape the police, and get sidetracked by the evil owner of a fright-show circus (NewEyes' brother ScrewEyes)... all before arriving at their destination, the Museum of Natural History, where the dinosaurs are to become real-life talking exhibits for many children.The plot, such as it is, is pretty wishy-washy, and the routine execution barely elevates WE'RE BACK above anything but your typical, average kids animated fare. The animation itself is mostly serviceable and includes some interesting computer-generated effects, but it's not up to Disney quality... and at times I felt that there were some frames stolen from a more superior animated film about dinosaurs, Don Bluth's THE LAND BEFORE TIME. John Patrick Shanley's screenplay has few lines to appeal to older viewers, much less a plethora of characters one are likely to remember. The four dinosaurs, for instance, are your typical talking animals that, while cuddly and likable, never develop into fully realized personalities, and their supporting co-stars don't get much to do either.Probably the only character who does show any depth is Louie, the freckle-faced street kid. When we first meet Louie he acts pretty fresh and self-centered; but as the movie develops, his more soft qualities shine through, whether he saves Rex from drowning or befriending Cecilia to cheer her up. He even admits, in a tearful sequence, how he uses his tough demeanor to hide his own fear. If anything, it's really Louie who steals the movie and makes it worthwhile. His relationship with Cecilia (who is less well-defined than Louie, but that's irrelevant) although more romantic than it has to be, is very nicely handled and is the highest point of the film. (The moments where Cecilia flirts with Louie are quite funny.) Equally pleasing is the characterization of Professor ScrewEyes, the villain of the piece. He only shows up in the second half of the picture, but commands his screen-time with devious manipulation and pure nastiness. In addition, his demeanor of tapping into people's nightmares and a hypnotic stare render him a menace to be feared. ScrewEyes may be a bizarre baddie, but he works all the same.That leads to another problem of WE'RE BACK. The first half is lighthearted (and outrageously unbelievable) silliness, but midway through the picture becomes dark--particularly the scenes involving ScrewEyes' fright-show circus, which are executed in a way that may be too intense for small fry. This unbalanced shift in tone calls the film's target audience into question. Kids in the 5-12 age group should be fine, but older viewers expecting more may find it to be too silly and uninspired. And the very young, too, could be traumatized by the aforementioned scary scenes.And yet, in spite of saying all this, there is something rather likable about WE'RE BACK--A DINOSAUR'S STORY. Its plot is outrageous, sure, and the movie is little more than just a cute, forgettable time-passer. But it has its heart in the right place, and there are some tender moments--one sequence, in which Rex and company make the ultimate sacrifice to save Louie and Cecilia from eternal life as chimps in ScrewEyes' circus, is genuinely moving, especially when Rex's gentle touch reverts the kids to normal. This is done in a very subtle, effective way that stayed with me for a long while. The voice cast includes some solid performances, too, notably John Goodman as the gruff yet gentle Rex, Walter Cronkite as Captain NewEyes (and yes, he says his trademark "that's the way it is" toward the end), and Martin Short in a cameo as a comic clown. The standouts are Joey Shea, who sizzles with attitude and likability as Louie, and Kenneth Mars (Triton in THE LITTLE MERMAID and Grandpa Longneck in the LAND BEFORE TIME sequels), chewing the scenery as the fearsome ScrewEyes. Yeardley Smith's Cecilia is the one voice I take issue with--she doesn't exactly sound like a young girl, and most of the other voices--Jay Leno, Rhea Perlman, Charles Fleischer, and Julia Child--all seem to be just in the movie for the sake of, well, being there. The musical score by James Horner is beautiful, although at times it does sound like a rehash of many of his other scores (a trait not uncommon with most of the composer's work, it seems).In short, WE'RE BACK is passable fare as a family animated film; it's cute and funny, but that's about it.