| We're Back! A Dinosaur's Story | |
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Theatrical poster by Drew Struzan |
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| Directed by | Dick Zondag Ralph Zondag Phil Nibbelink Simon Wells |
| Produced by | Stephen Hickner Thad Weinlein (co-producer) |
| Written by | John Patrick Shanley (Screenplay) Hudson Talbott (book) |
| Narrated by | John Goodman |
| Starring | John Goodman Blaze Berdahl Rhea Perlman Jay Leno Rene LeVant Felicity Kendal Charles Fleischer Walter Cronkite Joey Shea Julia Child Kenneth Mars Yeardley Smith Martin Short |
| Music by | James Horner |
| Editing by | Nick Fletcher Sim Evan-Jones |
| Studio | Amblimation |
| Distributed by | Universal Pictures (North America) United International Pictures (Outside North America) Shochiku (Japan) |
| Release date(s) | November 24, 1993 |
| Running time | 72 minutes |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Box office | $9,315,576 (USA) |
We're Back! A Dinosaur's Story (Also known as:Dinosaur's March in Japan) is a 1993 American animated film, produced by Steven Spielberg's Amblimation animation studio, distributed by Universal Pictures, and originally released to theaters on November 24, 1993 for the United States. It was rated G by the MPAA. Starring the voice talents of John Goodman, Jay Leno, Walter Cronkite, Julia Child, and Martin Short.
It was based on the 1987 Hudson Talbott children's book We're Back! A Dinosaur's Story, which was narrated from the perspective of the main character, a Tyrannosaurus rex named Rex.
Contents |
The film opens with a trio of arrogant young bluebirds harassing their youngest sibling Buster (Blaze Berdahl). As Buster leaves his family, he meets an intelligent golf-playing orange Tyrannosaurus Rex named Rex (John Goodman). Rex explains to Buster that he was once a "violent and stupid" dinosaur, and proceeds to tell the story of how he came to become what he is today.
Millions of years in the past, Rex was a savage and frightening creature who terrorized smaller dinosaurs—he is seen giving chase to a deinonychosaur. His rampage is interrupted when a futuristic aircraft arrives, and he is then greeted by a small green alien-like creature named Vorb (Jay Leno) who feeds him "Brain Grain", a cereal that increases a dinosaur's intelligence. Rex is given his name and introduced to other dinosaurs that have been fed Brain Grain: Dweeb the green Parasaurolophus (Charles Fleischer), Woog the blue Triceratops (Rene LeVant) and Elsa the lavender Pteranodon (Felicity Kendal) and later they meet Captain Neweyes (Walter Cronkite), the inventor of the cereal and pilot of the aircraft. Neweyes then reveals his goal of allowing the children of the present time to see real dinosaurs, fulfilling their biggest wishes. He informs them that there are two people to watch for: Doctor Juliet Bleeb (Julia Child), a scientist from the Museum of Natural History who will aid the dinosaurs, and Professor Screweyes (Kenneth Mars), Neweyes' insane twin brother. He instructs them to find Doctor Bleeb and avoid Professor Screweyes.
Neweyes drops the dinosaurs off at the Hudson River in 1993 where they meet a young raft-sailing boy named Louie (Joey Shea), who plans on literally running away to join the circus. Upon reaching New York City, Louie realizes that the citizens would panic if they saw live dinosaurs and, with the help of Elsa, flies over the city in search of a good hiding place. During the flight, Louie comes across a girl named Cecilia Nuthatch (Yeardley Smith). Cecilia explains that her parents are hardly around (saying that her father is into business, and her mother is interested in sociality). Louie convinces Cecilia to abandon her home and introduces her to the dinosaurs (Louie and Cecilia then quickly develop an infatuation on each other).
When the dinosaurs explain their goal of getting to the Museum of Natural History, Louie decides to disguise them as floats in the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade. During the parade, Rex hears all the children wishing to see real dinosaurs, so he starts to sing "Roll Back the Rock (To the Dawn of Time)" (the movie's theme song). When the audience realizes that live dinosaurs are among them, they fly into a panic. The local authorities are called in to stop the dinosaurs, resulting in a slapstick-filled chase scene. As the dinosaurs lose the police, Louie and Cecilia venture to Central Park, where Professor Screweyes is running his "Eccentric Circus". Louie and Cecilia meet Professor Screweyes and cite their desire to join his circus. As they literally sign a contract in blood, the dinosaurs arrive and try to save them. Screweyes, upon meeting the dinosaurs, explains that he delights in scaring people and believes that the dinosaurs would make a great addition to his circus. He then reveals his very own "Brain Drain", the polar opposite of his brother's Brain Grain. He demonstrates the Brain Drain on Louie and Cecilia, devolving them into chimpanzees as he makes the dinosaurs a deal: if the dinosaurs consume the Brain Drain and join his circus, he'd destroy the contract and release Louie and Cecilia; the dinosaurs reluctantly and sadly accept the offer. Believing that his friendship with Louie would be lost, Rex tells him and Cecilia to remember him.
As Louie and Cecilia return to their human forms and awake the next morning, they are greeted by a circus clown named Stubbs (Martin Short). Upon seeing the dinosaurs returned to their natural vicious states, Louie and Cecilia, with the help of Stubbs, plan to sneak into that night's show and save the dinosaurs. Everyone watching the show gets frightened during the performance,making the audience even more scared that they run away, and after a crow turns on a highlight, causing the hypnotic effect to end, Rex becomes enraged as he realizes he's been tricked and tries to attack the evil fear lord. However, Louie steps in and desperately tells the devolved Rex that it wouldn't be right to kill Screweyes. These impassioned pleas serve to return the dinosaurs to their friendly natures. Just then, Captain Neweyes arrives in his aircraft and congratulates Louie and Cecilia, who proceed to kiss in front of a whole crowd of people; simultaneously, Elsa tells Rex her true feelings towards him. After Stubbs arrives to resign from Professor Screweyes's employ, Captain Neweyes, Louie, Cecilia and the dinosaurs board the aircraft, leaving Screweyes to be devoured by the crows that have been present throughout the movie. The dinosaurs spend the rest of their days in the Museum of Natural History, allowing children to see live dinosaurs. Meanwhile, Louie and Cecilia reconcile with their respective parents, and the two become a couple. Rex returns Buster to his family before returning to the Museum of National History.
Additional Voices by Nigel Pegram, Jessica Angelson, Zachary Ball, Barbara Barnes, Bendar Bashir, Catherine Battistone, Michael Benz, Jamie Bolio, Cory Bonder, Dan Borek, Bill Capizzi, Jim Carter, David Clark, Gillian Chat, Dixie Crespi, J. D. Daniels, Sandra Dickinson, Peter Elliott, Lou Hirsch, David Holt, Justin Isfeld, Marilyn Leubner, Jonathan McCracken, Jennifer Regan, Rick Richards, Liza Ross, Lindsay Schmidt, Jana Shelden, Aaron Teich, Matthew Teich, Shelley Thompson, Dick Vosburgh, Jessica Waite, James Watt, Jessica Wray, Eliza Yoder, Sarah Zilinski, Desiree Zondag, and Shannon Zondag.
To promote the film's release, a giant helium balloon of Rex the T. Rex was included in the real-life 1993 Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade in New York. Unfortunately, as the parade moved through Columbus Circle, high winds caught the Rex balloon and caused it to lift over the nearby sidewalk. The head of the Rex balloon struck a protruding street light and popped, but the rest of the dinosaur's body remained inflated until the end of the parade. There is also a time in which during the parade the dinosaurs passed a movie theater where the famous science fiction film Jurassic Park is displayed on a sign above the theater.[1]
There was also a video game adaptation of the movie released for the SNES, Sega Genesis and Game Boy.[2]
The movie got mixed to negative reviews. It scored a 30% on Rotten Tomatoes[3], and currently a 5.4/10 on IMDb.[4]
The laserdisc release was presented in its original widescreen aspect ratio. When the film was released on DVD in some international countries, it was presented in the pan and scan format. However, the widescreen version of the film was once available at Hulu, but was removed. When the film was finally released for the first time ever on DVD on May 26, 2009, it was presented in anamorphic widescreen, being Universal/Amblin's first (and so far, only) animated film to be presented in widescreen on a Region 1 DVD (although international DVD releases of An American Tail: Fievel Goes West and Balto were presented in widescreen and some international DVD releases of An American Tail were presented in widescreen), and also Universal's second animated film from the 1990s to be presented in widescreen on a Region 1 DVD (the first being Jetsons: The Movie).
This soundtrack included the song "Roll Back the Rock (to the Dawn of Time)" by James Horner and Thomas Dolby.
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