Pixar’s The Good Dinosaur has roared to life. After rewriting history and wiping the mass extinction event – and the Chicxulub crater it created – from Earth’s official timeline, the studio has put the framework in place for its latest animation, and today’s international trailer offers us our first indication of how the film’s leading voice cast sound in their respective roles.
Centering around the unlikely friendship that blossoms between Arlo and Spot, a twitchy human boy who has all the mannerisms of a dog, The Good Dinosaur looks set to be a wondrous coming-of-age story set against the primordial landscape of an Earth where dinosaurs remain the apex predator.
Perhaps in an effort to smooth over the transition from one voice cast to the next, Pixar’s brand new clip introduces Raymond Ochoa as the titular Apatosaurus named Arlo, while Sam Elliot lends his vocal chords to the appropriately named Butch, a T-Rex who boasts an attitude as big as his appetite. Filling the remainder of the roles are Jeffrey Wright and Frances McDormand as Arlo’s mother Poppa and Momma, respectively, while Jack Bright will bring his aforementioned human friend to life.
Directed by Peter Sohn, The Good Dinosaur has been no stranger to internal switch-ups during development, with Sohn himself taking up the mantle in lieu of Up director Bob Peterson. Couple this with the altered voice cast and you have an animation that screams production woes, though today’s trailer effectively dispels the majority of our early concerns. Here’s hoping the final version can put them to bed for good.
Whether Pixar’s The Good Dinosaur can reach the same levels of success as Inside Out will ultimately be revealed when Peter Sohn’s animation stomps in theaters on November 25.
“The Good Dinosaur” asks the question: What if the asteroid that forever changed life on Earth missed the planet completely and giant dinosaurs never became extinct? Pixar Animation Studios takes you on an epic journey into the world of dinosaurs where an Apatosaurus named Arlo makes an unlikely human friend. While traveling through a harsh and mysterious landscape, Arlo learns the power of confronting his fears and discovers what he is truly capable of.