THE GOOD DINOSAUR

Peter Sohn directs this visually lustrous

animated feature written by Meg LeFauve.
It came out in November 2015 and the cast
includes Arlo, Spot, Henry (Arlo's dad), Buck
(Arlo's brother). In 2015 I won the S&P.
Arlo (voiced by Raymond Ochoa) is born as
the dinosaur runt in a litter consisting of his
wild and spunky siblings (Marcus Scribner
and Maleah Padilla). His father (Jeffrey
Wright) and mother (Frances McDormand)
work hard in the fields, but they are always
worried that they might run out of food in
the winter.

Arlo is constantly teased by his stronger siblings. But his greatest character
flaw is that he is frightened by almost everything. The family wonders if he
will ever be able to add his own mark to their grain silo to indicate he has
done something big.

After discovering that a pesky feral human child (Jack Bright) has been eating
their corn, Arlo is given the assignment of killing him. When he can't do that,
his father takes him on an outing to firm up his resolve to be a hunter. But
then tragedy strikes. During a storm, his father is drowned in a flooding river.
Alone with no idea how to get home, Arlo meets up again with the human
child. He names him Spot and they become friends.

The film takes place in rivers, valleys and mountains. My favorite scene is
when his father shows Arlo a field of fireflies who light up the night and when
Arlo and Spot realize what they have in common by drawing circles in the
ground to represent their families.

Is a charming story of a dinosaur with a good heart who learns the meaning
of courage on his way home after many adventures.