The Good Dinosaur (2015)
A Pixar original story by Peter Sohn.
In an alternate history, the asteroid that would have caused the extinction of the dinosaurs 65 million years ago passes safely over Earth (“Homestead”).
Millions of years later, Apatosaurus corn farmers Henry and Ida have 3 children: Libby, Buck, and Arlo. They live near Clawtooth Mountain, a 3 pointed mountain range. While his successful siblings are allowed to "make their mark" (a mud-print on the family's corn silo), Arlo's timid nature makes tasks difficult for him. Henry attempts to give Arlo a sense of purpose by putting him in charge of guarding their silo, and helps him set a trap. Henry also encourages Arlo stating to Arlo: “You’ll be me and more”. It captures a feral caveboy, but Arlo cannot bring himself to kill him, and sets him free. Disappointed, Henry takes Arlo to track the caveboy into a ravine. Henry then saves Arlo from a flash flood before being killed by debris.
Without his father, Arlo shoulders more of the workload. He spots the same caveboy inside the silo; blaming the caveboy for his father's death, Arlo chases him into a river, where both are swept miles downstream. Arlo is knocked unconscious by a rock, and awakens to find himself deep in the wilderness. He remembers his father’s words, “As long as you can find the river, you can find your way home”. As he tries to return, his leg is caught by a boulder. The next day, Arlo wakes to find his leg has been freed. The caveboy appears with food, and leads Arlo to a berry tree. The caveboy then fends off a large snake, amazing Arlo, and impressing the Pet Collector Shaman Forrest Woodbush, a nearby eccentric Styracosaurus who wants to keep the boy to protect him. He forces Arlo to compete with him to give the boy a name he will respond to, and Arlo wins when he calls the boy "Spot". Arlo and Spot bond as Arlo laments his lost family, and Spot reveals that his own parents are both dead.
Later, when a storm strikes, Arlo runs away in fear and loses the riverbank he has been following home. The next morning, Arlo wakes to find Spot at his side. They are noticed by a band of pterodactyls which consists of Coldfront, Downpour, and Thunderclap. Thunderclap reveals that due to being caught up in the storm and seeing the eye of the storm has brought him to a higher “relevation” and now the group follows the motto: “the storm provides”. They appear to be conducting a rescue operation but turn out to be savagely carnivorous, preying on the wounded in the aftermath of the storm. When the pterodactyls try to eat Spot, Arlo and Spot flee; they encounter a Tyrannosaurus named Nash and his sister Ramsey, who both drive off the pterodactyls. Nash, Ramsey, and their father Butch have lost their herd of longhorns, so Arlo offers Spot's help in sniffing them out. The group locates the herd, but Butch recognizes the work of cattle rustlers. Arlo and Spot lure the 4 rustler Velociraptors (Bubbha, Lurleane, Earl, Pervis) into the open, allowing Butch and his family to attack. After the rustlers have been driven off, Arlo joins the Tyrannosaurus in driving the cattle south. Later, he sees the familiar mountain peaks of his homeland in the distance, and leaves with Spot to return home (“Run With the Herd”).
Along the way, they encounter an adult feral caveman in the distance. Spot is intrigued, but Arlo dissuades him and they continue on. As another storm approaches, the pterodactyls return, attack, and carry Spot away. Arlo gets pushed off a cliff by one of the pterodactyls and becomes entangled in vines, being knocked unconscious as a rock strikes his head. Arlo has a vision of his father freeing him and leading him home. Arlo instead resolves to save Spot, making the vision of Henry proud of his son before it fades away. The vision invigorates Arlo with refound strength, as he frees himself from the vines and finds and attacks the pterodactyls, who have cornered Spot in the river. Arlo and Spot together plunge the pterodactyls into the water, where they are swept helplessly downstream. When a landslide causes a giant wave, Arlo leaps into the water to rescue Spot, and the two are swept away toward a waterfall. Arlo protects Spot as they go over the falls, and carries him to shore.
As they near Arlo's home, the two are approached by the caveman and his entire family, who show great interest in Spot. With great reluctance, Arlo pushes Spot to join this new adoptive family, and the two of them share a tearful goodbye. Arlo finally arrives home to his mother and siblings, and makes his mark on the silo between those of his mother and father.
TRIVIA
Visual Style
The setting of the film is set in the American Northwest. The team went on a research trip to Wyoming and Idaho. The area has a fantastic variety of landscapes, ranging from the Jackson Valley and the Tetons to the amazing geysers and waterfalls in Yellowstone. They also studied the grasslands of Montana and the mesas in Wyoming’s Red Desert, then incorporated all of it in Arlo’s journey.
The filmmakers did a deep dive into what’s known about the size of a real Apatosaurus in an effort to add authenticity to Arlo and his family. They created a life-size printout of Arlo to help imagine his gigantic scale. Arlo is 18 feet tall and weighs about 6 tons, and Poppa, at 46 feet, is taller than the Steve Jobs Building on Pixar’s campus. They exaggerated the size of the T-Rexes who range from 38 to 50 feet tall, with Butch weighing in at about 45 tons.
In terms of animating Arlo, the team went to a zoo and shot video of elephants in motion. A system where Arlo's head goes up and his chest goes down when his hips goes up, was therefore created.
Because they are meant to be reminiscent of cowboys, when the T. rex run, their lower bodies mimic a galloping horse, while their upper bodies have the feel of a riding cowboy. To help inspire Butch's physical look and performance, the filmmakers looked at classic film cowboys such as characters portrayed by Clint Eastwood and Jack Palance.
Technology
To create the settings at appropriate scales relative to the large dinosaurs and allow free movement of the camera, the team would extract USGS (US Geological Survey) data in 100x100 mile chunks and build a 3D surface over top of it. This allowed director Peter Sohn the freedom to shoot in any direction he wanted to make the world feel big and real.
Clouds were created using volumetric geometry as opposed to matte paintings (as had been done on all previous Pixar films). Additionally, based on Arlo’s mood, the clouds would reflect that, tonally.