Themes Explored in Pixar's THE GOOD DINOSAUR
Thanks to the wonderful team over at Pixar Animation we're going to get a great new movie that revolves around dinosaurs, and what life would be like if they weren't wiped out of existence. The movie is called The Good Dinosaur, and it's being directed by UP writer Bob Peterson. He recently told The LA Times,
It's time to do a movie where you get to know the dinosaur, what it's really like to be a dinosaur and to be with a dinosaur.
He went on to explain that the inspiration for the movie "came from a childhood visit to the World's Fair where he was awed by some dinosaur animatronics." There's not much known about the story, but basically an asteroid never hit the earth, so dinosaurs are still around possibly co-existing with a human population. The concept art revealed a dino and a small child. No one involved with the film is really talking about what the story will entail, but they did talk about some of the themes being explored.
The film's coordinator Peter Sohn said they are playing around with the idea of what dinosaurs would be like in today's world, "something anachronistic or resistant to change. If there's a 'good' dinosaur, after all, there have to be bad ones. The title is deceptively simple. It has more meaning than it seems."
Of course for research the art and animation crew visited several natural history and science museums where they were able to examine dinosaur fossils and bones to help inspire their style and create the characters for the film. This is the kind of research all animators do to get the creative juices flowing.
Peterson is still in the process of writing the script. Apparently he's taking his laptop around where ever he goes, and "stopping at various spots in Northern California as inspiration strikes." Producer John Walker teasingly adds,
So if there's a bunch of dinosaurs in a Whole Foods parking lot in this movie, you'll understand why.
The movie doesn't come out until May 30th, 2014, but with Pixar behind it, I'm sure it will be worth the wait.
