#aladar

[artist-issues]

there’s something you guys don’t know about me, but you should.

I love Aladar. And I love Dinosaur (2000) and it’s time everyone knows.

[retrosaurus]

Dinosaur (2000) themed popcorn bucket 🦖

[snip-stein]

mmmm early 2000s dinos

[charlat-anne]

So just then I was re-watching Disney's underrated "Dinosaur" (2000), and there happened to be this scene where they've reached the watering hole just to find out it dried up, shortly after, Aladar found a way to get them water with Baylene's help.

Without hesitation, he called out to the rest of the herd.

and unfortunately, had to deal with a pretty rough, unexpected backlash when he tried containing their reaction, and basically got flooded.

That was when someone called him "stupid"..? I couldn't get where that came from so, I asked, and was answered with:

" He should've waited for the older ones to be done drinking first before calling others, to avoid this kind of situation."

So, what makes him stupid is basically lacking your knowledge ..?

If we shall take a look back on his life ..

Aladar was the unchallengeable creature on his island, meaning that he never really had to experience opposition, that along with the way he was raised, never fed the "potential threat" he could've become.

° °

Though it's also obvious that before the catastrophic meteor shower, he never went through scarcity of resources, which would lead us to remember that even when he did, it'd only shown his true nature;

(He was the last one digging, though he wasn't any less thirsty than the rest, but look at his proud smile! and him stepping back for them to start drinking first)

He'd proven to be an altruist..

time and time again.

Hence, clashing against self-seeking behavior was rather perplexing to him.. (not like he knows what that even is..)

° °

Knowing that already should naturally interpret that he wasn't "stupid", but inexperienced..

If we'll be setting that way of ignorant thinking, we'd easily ignore his motives & assume that Aladar staying behind with the "weak" was because he's an idiot. (Deliberately ignoring that it was out of benevolence)

And Bruton's death was an illogicality.. not at all sacrificial or noble

° °

The issue with setting that behavior irl is ignoring facts & passing judgment without taking the other side's morals, characteristics, knowledge, and motives into account. which wouldn't only make them feel misunderstood, but makes you terribly misinformed!

You managed to know everything but somehow ended up knowing nothing. How unfortunate.

[disneyparksattractionstournament]

Disney Parks Animatronic Tournament: Bracket B/Tier 2 Round 2

RX-24/REX: Star Tours - Disneyland, Hollywood Studios Disney World, Tokyo Disneyland, Disneyland Paris

Propaganda:

"He's just a little guy! He's so sweet! It's his first flight!!! He's voiced by peewee herman you can't get better than him and i think Disney should not have replaced him :(""Even though he's not the most advanced animatronic, and is "simply" just a robot, he has a fn design is super expressive and a great character for the original version of Star Tours. I think his eye visor and three arms give him a better range of emotion compared to C-3PO (no shade to him, of course)."

(go to 5:30 for animatronic)

Aladar: Discovery River Boats - Animal Kingdom Disney World(formerly)

https://x.com/Yester_World/status/1305375321173233665?s=20

[rhinowalker]

Happy 100 years of Disney!

(Nessie is my new favorite Disney character)

[everyonesonthespectrum]

Today’s Autistic character of the day is:

Aladar from Dinosaur (2000 movie)

[iguanadonis]

ok so hear me out...they r pretty..

[ps2dinosaur]

T H E M

[picturebookshelf]

Dinosaur: Two of a Kind (2000)

Story: Judy Katschke -- Art: Justin Wyatt, Lori Tyminski, Ken Becker, Sam Corea, Adrienne Brown & Brent Ford

[violethowler]

As someone who did SO MUCH hyperfixated on Dinosaur and the elephants in The Jungle Book as a child, Once Upon A Studio almost made me cry tears of joy.

[balanceoflightanddark]

So, here's a fun little factoid about me: I'm a fan of the 2000 film Dinosaur by Disney.

...surprise!

For the ones who have no idea what the hell I'm talking about, Disney's Dinosaur was a film released during their Experimental Era that followed shortly after the success of the Renaissance. It was a time when Disney took some risks and ventured out of their comfort zone in order to explore other possibilities when it comes to animation.

The results were...mixed. The Experimental Era is widely regarded as a bit of a black period for avid animation fans. While I can definitely say there is some truth to it (Disney still used some tropes like comic relief characters and played safe in some areas which prevented them from being spectacular), I still believe that even the weaker films in this era had a lot of strong moments and elements that warrant at least one watch.

Which brings us to Dinosaur. It started out life as a film idea by Paul Verhoeven of RoboCop fame, and our old friend Phil Tippett.

Naturally, the original idea for Dinosaur was...significantly different from the end product. While some basic ideas made it through to the end (the basic plot about an asteroid hitting the earth, lemurs, and a marauding predator stalking the heroes), a lot of stuff was left out on the cutting table.

For example, this was an idea:

The original idea was to focus on a Styracosaurus named Woot, who's plot involved surviving the asteroid that ended the Cretaceous Period (and the era of the dinosaur as a whole) while having to contend with a Tyrannosaurus stalking him down. It was to feature a lot of explicit material including gory battles and dinosaurs having sex.

Naturally when the film idea winded up at Disney's doorstep, a lot of elements were changed including toning down the blood, removing the sex, and replacing Woot with an Iguanodon named Aladar (though a Styracosaurus named Eema did play a major role in the final product).

In the film proper, Aladar (D.B. Sweeney) is the sole survivor of his nest being crushed in an attack by a Carnotaurus before winding up on an isolated island populated by lemurs. After being taken in by one of the lemurs called Plio (Alfre Woodard), Aladar grows up into a young adult where his world is shattered when an asteroid (not the big one in this case) completely destroys his island, leaving himself and his most immediate family as the sole survivors. After escaping an attack by a pack of starving Velociraptors, they come across a herd of Iguanodons and other dinosaurs led by Kron (Samuel E. Wright) who are heading to the supposedly untouched Nesting Grounds in a desperate bid to survive.

Naturally, things start going downhill as Aladar and the herd march across a scorching desert. Thirst and exhaustion are real dangers, not helped by the fact that Kron's leadership starts to deteoriate and he starts making decisions that threatens them all. And complicating things even further, a pair of massive Carnotaurs begin stalking the herd. In a hostile world with odds ever increasing, Aladar begins to emerge as a leader amongst the weaker members of the herd and may be the one who can save them all.

As you can tell, the story is...formulaic. It's the basic "journey to the promised land" as the hero learns what it means to lead. It...doesn't exactly help that there was another movie with this exact same premise that also featured dinosaurs.

And…yeah. No arguments here. It’s one of those things I was talking about earlier. The story is pretty basic and doesn’t really do a whole lot to venture out from that. And the majority of the characters reflects that. Aladar is your basic sarcastic nice guy hero. Kron’s the stern but flawed leader. Neera (Julianna Marguiles), Kron’s sister, is the love interest. And Zini (Max Casella), Aladar’s childhood lemur friend is the comic relief.

…not really good comic relief that wears out his welcome once we get to the desert mind you. Yeah, can’t win them all.

So, we have a pretty basic story with fairly basic characters. That’s…not a good look for our movie so far. But if the execution is good, then some of the aforementioned issues will be mitigated, right?

Actually…yes.

To begin, the animation used to bring the dinosaurs to life is beautiful. Similar to The Lion King remake, Dinosaur employs a photorealistic style, focusing on CGI and realistic animation. Unlike The Lion King remake though, the dinosaurs actually feel…real. There’s a real weight to them that makes it though they’re actually there in those real environments instead of just being an effect. Their movements are incredibly fluid and they show an impressive range of emoting for non anthropomorphized animals (with the exception being the Iguanodons who were given full lips and fleshy snouts as opposed to the hard beaks they had in real life).

Even with the non speaking dinosaurs, you can easily tell just what they’re thinking. Which becomes pretty apparent with the big predators as we’ll discuss a little later. The animation really compliments the story and elevates it to something a little beyond its basic premise.

Another thing that goes in favor of the movie are, ironically, the characters. While the main cast are a little bland as I mentioned, the supporting cast is actually a lot of fun and brings a lot to the table. In particular are Eema the Styracosaurus (Della Reese) and Baylene the Brachiosaurus (Joan Plowright), the two elderly dinosaurs lagging behind the rest of the herd along with an Euoplocephalus called Url (Frank Welker). Despite knowing that they’re lagging behind, neither of them are willing to give up and try to keep a stiff upper lip in the middle of all their hardships. Eema in particular provides a bit more appropriate dry humor compared to Zini’s zaniness and has a lot of good chemistry with Yar (Ossie Davis), Aladar’s adoptive lemur father. Baylene in comparison actually has one of the more dramatic character arcs going from timid to willing to stand for what she believes in, even kicking off arguably one of the most strongest moments in the entire film.

Baylene’s a favorite of mine actually.

Another favorite of mine happens to be Bruton (Peter Siragusa), Kron’s second in command. Like Baylene, Bruton has one of the most dramatic arcs in the film. He starts out as essentially Kron 2.0, rough around the edges and a bit of a thug. There are hints that there’s more to him though since he does try to appeal to Kron’s better nature and offers some advice whenever he’s stuck, but over all he’s not the nicest one around.

Then he gets mauled by a Carnotaur and comes limping back to Kron, who coldly leaves him behind while he musters the herd in a mad dash to get away. Wounded and exhausted, Bruton was essentially left behind to die. And in a surprising show of empathy towards somebody that he never got along with, Aladar offers to help him get back on his feet and leads the hurt dinosaur to a cave to get out of the rain. Bruton later comes around after being shown kindness and being healed by Plio, managing to fend off the Carnotaur pair and even sacrificing himself to stop them while dragging one of them to the afterlife with him.

For someone who was Kron's number two, that's a surprising amount of compassion and bravery on his part.

Speaking of Carnotaurs, they are another pair of characters I actually really like.

As mentioned before, these guys are essentially our T.rex stand in (they were originally meant to be Tyrannosaurs actually). They certainly fit the bill of big predatory dinosaur well since there's almost always an aura of dread and menace about them. Almost every encounter usually results in somebody dead. Even their design is menacing with a bloodred hide and horns giving them a demonic look.

The odd thing is though...they aren't really portrayed as monsters.

While the pair is portrayed as a legitimate threat, they're more content with following the herd and go after isolated stragglers like most predators. Plus the animation is so good that despite not speaking a single line of dialogue, they often have as much character as the protagonists.

One moment in particular sort of highlights what I'm talking about. When Bruton causes that cave in that kills one of them, the other one drags itself out of the rocks. But rather go back on the attack, they immediately wheel around to check up on its partner, only to see that they're dead. They then stagger out of the cave before wheeling around and delivering a rather menacing snarl that sounds less like a hungry predator and more a declaration of vengeance.

And little wonder either. It’s implied that the two were a mated pair and likely the only companionship they had in a new harsh world. So when one dies, the other loses it. And with it comes a radical new behavior. The survivor seems to deliberately go after Aladar and outright charges the herd instead of holding back like before. Doesn’t even try to save themselves when they go over a cliff, instead trying to drag Aladar down with them. It comes off less like the Carnotaurs are monsters and more animals doing their best to survive.

Which does work in the context of the film and works to its strengths. Even antagonistic characters like Kron are given moments to flesh them out and portray them as less evil and more being ground down by bad circumstance after bad circumstance. Hell, Kron doesn’t start out bad even if he is a little callous. Aladar certainly doesn’t try to defy him until he starts making rash decisions that threatens the entirety of the herd. Kron is less of a monster and more cracking under immeasurable pressure and is given a fair share of sympathy even at his worst moments.

That's another strength to this film. It feels...human. One of the core messages is about how empathy and compassion win out over cruelty and hardship. Which is demonstrated beautifully by Aladar who wants everybody to get to the Nesting Grounds to the point he doesn't directly challenge Kron's authority until it's clear he's gonna get them all killed. And even he has his limits since he has a breakdown and gives up all hope of survival in a cave in. Which...is actually pretty emotional. Not gonna lie.

Just because I said Aladar is kind of vanilla doesn't mean he can't stand on his own and have his moments.

That's a good way to sum up this film. It has flaws, but the flaws don't bring down the film all that much and detract from the experience. Even some of the weakness are mitigated in the film itself. Hell, Neera, the other fairly simplistic character I mentioned, does come into her own as her relationship with Aladar develops right up to trying to physically stop Kron from a fight with him and even takes Kron down to save Aladar.

It's a good way of summarizing this film, flawed but they're not enough to detract from the overall experience. Combine that with the beautiful animation and you get a pretty underrated film in my opinion.

Course, there's also the score by James Newton Howard, who was basically allowed to be creative in composing a score for the Mesozoic era. The result? An epic and almost timeless soundtrack which has almost transcended the film itself. And no wonder. "The Egg Travels" is probably one of my favorite scores from any piece of media. It's this score that helps deliver more power to many of the film's scenes.

Is this film perfect? No. But I do think there's a lot that helps this film stand as a movie and a piece of paleomedia. Which is sad since it's effect on popular culture is almost minimal. I say almost since the soundtrack is widely beloved and it made Carnotaurus into a household name. Plus we got a pretty kickass ride at Animal Kingdom out of it.

So, yeah. I'd recommend this one. And with Disney+ being a thing and more love being shown to the Experimental Era, I do think this film is worth a look.

[rufinator]

The End of Our Island

[sarahg170194]

Dinosaur

April 30 2022

sarahg170194

[charlat-anne]

One of the major attributes I admire about this character

is being "Peaceful" way far from "harmless", even though I've seen some claims that Aladar's fight with Kron ended the way it did because he was the weaker, actually..

Aladar never went on the offensive with Kron. Each move he made was merely defensive.

Albeit the size difference

+ the combat experience Aladar lacked ( which should've made it more likely for him to seize any given opportunity to attack)

Kron took the initiative & went to the ground

Something which Aladar didn't take advantage of.

He blinded him

Slashed his chest..

That wasn't enough

He smacked him down

.. And still wasn't done until he'd finish him off completely if it wasn't for Neera's intervention.

You see that difference. Because Aladar wasn't primarily after leadership, but only wanted everybody to reach the valley safely.

He was never in for a fight. He had to defend himself against Kron who's mentality offered only obliteration for any objection to his methods or rules.

[disneyparksattractionstournament]

Disney Parks Animatronic Tournament: Bracket B/Tier 2 Round 1

Aladar: Discovery River Boats - Animal Kingdom Disney World(formerly)

(Click "view on Twitter" to watch the video!)

Zazu: Enchanted Tiki Room: Under New Management - Magic Kingdom Disney World(formerly)

Propaganda:

"They mastered his sass. I don’t know how but they did it. Look at that attitude. He’s perfect. Such a wonderfully executed animatronic <;3"

(the auto ‘start at specific point’ is acting weird, so go to 9:27 for animatronic )