We’re Back! A Dinosaur’s Story (1993)
Have you ever wondered what would happen if Oliver and Company and Land Before Time were morphed together? Well you get dinosaurs in New York.
Brief Backstory
One thing about the late 80s and early 90s was there was a shitload of prehistoric related material. Dink the Little Dinosaur, Jim Henson’s Dinosaurs, Land Before Time, Jurassic Park, Super Mario World 1 and 2 – hell there was even a little program called Dinopark Tycoon that came out roughly RIGHT after Jurassic Park, which was where SimCity met Theme Park. Also New York was a big part in that time period with Oliver and Company and Home Alone 2: Lost in New York. So of course, Amblin (the same studio who brought us Land Before Time and a triple threat of Tiny Toon Adventures, Animaniacs, and Pinky and the Brain), decided to make another dinosaur movie called We’re Back! A Dinosaur’s Story, based off a 1987 book.
Story
Dinosaurs from the prehistoric era end up in has-been modern day New York by Capt. Neweyes, but his evil brother, Screweyes, wants to make the dinosaurs evil and ruin Neweyes’ reputation.
Random Facts
Rex is voiced by John Goodman.
Like Oliver and Company, the Twin Towers are intact, and were not removed after September 11th, 2001.
Unlike Land Before Time, George Lucas didn’t work on this one.
Remember the Kraft t-rex guy from the 90s? Rex reminds me of him.
Yeardley Smith known for voicing Lisa Simpson voices Cecilia.
Did you know that Walter Cronkie voiced Neweyes – the very same unfortunate man who announced the death of John F. Kennedy in 1963? He was also in Liberty Kids.
Random Opinions
Spielberg must’ve had a thing for dinosaurs since this is the third movie he’s had dinosaurs in. Then again I believe he said that one of his favorite Disney moments is the Rite of Spring in Fantasia, specifically with the dinosaurs (which was an inspiration for Sharptooth in Land Before Time).
Anyone else think this was kind of a predecessor to Madagascar?
I’ve only seen this a few times as a kid and once as an adult but I haven’t really shown a lot of love for it no matter what. As a child I didn’t really care much for dinosaurs. My mind was more on nautical, snowy, or tropical worlds.
I personally thought Goodman’s career was better in the early 2000s given how he was in that crappy live action Flintstones movie and Frosty Returns. I’m only saying that because I haven’t seen much with Goodman from the 1990s.
I’ll take this over Oliver and Company any day.
Pros
- The part where Rex roars “LUNCH!!!!!!!!!!!”
- Rex is better than Barney the pedophiliac Dinosaur (No. Seriously. Barney looks like a child rapist nowadays. Creepy.)
- Roll Back the Rock is epic. That is all I can say. It sounds like a fusion of The Bare Necessities and I Wanna Be Like You from The Jungle Book. Kinda coincidental given Goodman would voice Baloo in Jungle Book 2 (for the love of god don’t waste your time with it).
Cons
- Quite dated. 30 years have not been kind to this one.
- According to Wikipedia, you can see an advertisement for Jurassic Park in the movie. Why not watch that instead?
- We’ve already gotten plenty of media involving dinosaurs in modern life.
Rating: 6/10 – Decent
Stone gargoyles in New York work way better. Just ask Disney. Nevertheless still a lot better than whatever Don Bluth was throwing out around this time. I have this a little lower on the rating because I haven’t seen it much and don’t remember too much of it.
One response to “We’re Back! A Dinosaur’s Story”
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Never watched as a kid. I heard about it from Nostalgia Critic. If you’re sick and tired of dinosaurs on the big screen, there’s other non-dinosaur movies like The Godfather 1-2, Dog Day Afternoon, Raging Bull, Once Upon a Time in America, Do the Right Thing, Goodfellas, Carlito’s Way, Leon: The Professional & 25th Hour. They’re all great movies worth your spare time.
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