New Trailer: Pixar's The Good Dinosaur

We waited through having no Pixar films for two years, but this year we're rewarded with two in the same year! Inside Out has already proved to be a bittersweet delight, will The Good Dinosaur finish off the year of the dinosaur with a flair?

This new full trailer shows in detail the mysterious yet awe-inspiring world that was the planet Earth millions of years ago. Of course, The Good Dinosaur would also like you to imagine a world where the dinosaurs weren't wiped out by a massive asteroid. The trailer gives us the first proper introduction to Arlo, the young Apatosaurus whose loses his way only to make a new friend who happens to be human on his way to an adventure.

The Good Dinosaur which had a major upheaval in production also recently revealed that the voice cast underwent a change. Pixar must have obviously had massive character changes as child actor Raymond Ochoa will be voicing Arlo, Jeffrey Wright voices Arlo's father Poppa, while Frances McDormand is the only cast member who remains and will voice Arlo's mother Momma. Marcus Scribner voices Arlo's brother Buck while Steve Zahn voices Thunderclap, a pterodactyl.  AJ Buckley is T-Rex called Nash, Anna Paquin voices another T-Rex Ramsey and Sam Elliott voices the third T-Rex Butch. Finally, Arlo’s new friend, Spot, is voiced by another child actor Jack Bright.

The Good Dinosaur, directed by Peter Sohn, releases this Thanksgiving November 25, 2015. What did you think of the first full trailer of the animated film? Yay or nay?

New Teaser Trailer: The Good Dinosaur

The new teaser for Pixar's The Good Dinosaur wants you to envision a world where dinosaurs where never wiped out by an asteroid. What would the world be like then? What indeed... sorry, I'm just lost in my imagination here. I'm a big fan of Pixar and I think I've made my love of dinosaurs quite evident on this blog. Between Jurassic World and now The Good Dinosaur, it's going to be a good year at the movies for us dinosaur fans.

Directed by debutant Peter Sohn, who's voiced several Pixar characters over the years, namely Emile from Ratatouille and helmed the short Partly Cloudy, this animated feature is finally making its way to theatres. Sohn took over from previous director Bob Peterson who was removed from the project midway causing the film to have a delayed release amidst restructuring. The Good Dinosaur will also be coming on the heels of Inside Out which received rave reviews at the Cannes film festival and both films look to restore Pixar as the number one animation studio after its self-imposed hiatus.

The trailer shows us the first look of some of the dinosaurs featured in the movie, namely our lead character Arlo who goes on an epic encounter and makes a human friend along the way. With the voice talents of Lucas Neff as Arlo, John Lithgow, Judy Greer, Neil Patrick Harris, Bill Hader (his second Pixar film after Inside Out) and Frances McDormand, The Good Dinosaur releases this Thanksgiving. As long as Pixar continues to pursue unique and original stories, we, the audience is always eager to see more. I can't wait to see The Good Dinosaur.

Pixar Delays The Good Dinosaur and Finding Dory to 2015 and 2016

Since 2006, Pixar Animation Studios has been churning out film after film after film. Some have been sublimely good (see: Ratatouille, Up, Wall E) and some may have slightly missed the mark for some (see: Cars 2) but whatever the case was, it was treat to see a Pixar film on the release calendar.

Next year however, there will be no Pixar film out in theaters due to two developments this summer.  The Good Dinosaur was supposed to release on May 30, 2014 but as director Bob Peterson has stepped down from the project, the film will now release on November 25, 2015. No new director has been named yet and co-director Peter Sohn, Mark Andrews, Lee Unkrich and John Lasseter will oversee things until then.  

This has happened before in the studio’s history, most recently with 2012’s Brave when original director Brenda Chapman was replaced with Mark Andrews.  Story is king at Pixar and they will leave no stone unturned to make sure the film they want to release is up to their standards.  Toy Story 2 (1999) was scrapped in totality and it still remains (in my opinion, the best animated sequel ever).  This is not worrying at all. I’d be worried if Peterson had left and the film still released next May.

But what happens to the film that was supposed to release on November 25, 2015? That would be a big little film called Finding Dory.  The anticipated sequel of Finding Nemo might be facing a few script changes. In early August, there were stories that Blackfish director Gabriela Cowperthwaite had shown the film at Pixar and the documentary's content caused the heads at Pixar to rethink their ending that involved the fish ending a marine park similar to Sea World, which is featured in Blackfish.  This too would push production back a bit. Now the film will release on June 17, 2016.

At the D23 expo in early August, Disney unveiled the voice cast for Finding Dory with actors Diane Keaton and Eugene Levy as Dory’s parents, Ty Burrell as a whale (remember Dory can speak whale) along with returning cast Ellen DeGeneres and Albert Brooks as Dory and Marlin.  Meanwhile, The Good Dinosaur voice cast features John Lithgow and Frances McDormand as Poppa and Momma, Bill Hader, Neil Patrick Harris and Judy Greer as their kids and Lucas Neff as the lead Arlo.

While it will be strange not to see a Pixar film at your theaters next year, it leaves the door wide open for other animation studios to step up their games in an open field.  As for the two films themselves, despite this delay, I'm sure they'll bounce back quickly.