The Good Dinosaur

Pixar's latest feature wonders what life would be like if the asteroid that killed the dinosaurs hadn't hit Earth. According to writers Peter Sohn (who also directed), Erik Benson, Meg LeFauve, Kelsey Mann and Bob Peterson, it would be like a western movie, with dinosaurs as farmers, cowboys and outlaws. That's not a story, it's an idea, and a half-baked one at that. Sohn and company, whose prior credits consist mainly of grunt work for Pixar (animator, storyboard artist, “additional voices,” etc.), were pathetically unready for prime time, and the result of their blown opportunity is an unrelieved disaster. First and foremost, it's an excruciating bore, a nonstory inhabited by dull noncharacters. The only variety comes when it's even worse than boring, with nasty flashes of cruelty, sadism and ugliness. J.L.