Oh yes, it's that time again. Time to rip into a film from my childhood and point out ALL the problems I have with it today.
Here we go!
1. I saw no reason to drop the dinosaurs from like 50,000 feet above New York. Why didn't the good Professor (I know his name, I just hate it) just land in the middle of central park... If it was a secrecy issue, then why does he land in central park at the end, because they were in trouble? I'd say being plunged into a completely foreign civilization full of people who are frightened of you and want you dead is trouble too. So the good professor is just a douchebag. End of story.
2. The constantly shifting sizes of the dinosaurs. One minute they're bigger than a deli. The next, one can fit comfortably in a subway car.
3. I love how quick the parents are at crushing their children's dreams, like when the dinosaurs are in the parade. All of the kids are so psyched and the one girl's mother just blatantly tells her "They're not dinosaurs, they're robots." Was there any reason for that poor girl's mother to be that blunt with her. Why not just smack her upside the head and say "THEY'RE NOT REAL! EVERYTHING YOU LOVE IS DEAD!"
4. The good professor grants the wish that wins the popular vote! There was one girl who wished her sister was nice to her. Did the good professor just say "I won't get involved in their sibling rivalry. Instead I'll screw with history and grant some nonsensical wish that ultimately won't solve anything."
5. Why is "the present" referred to as "the middle future" on the spaceship's dial? Does the future have an end? If so, then how is 1995 the middle? What's the early future like? Is it the 1700's? And if that's the case, then what's the future called... the upcoming future. EVERY FUTURE IS THE UPCOMING FUTURE! God, and I thought Donnie Darko was a mind-*beep*.
6. How does Louie construct a fully functioning toaster on a raft with no power source. Moreso, how come the toaster and the stereo falling into the water didn't immediately kill him from electrical shock?
I'll post more later.
"Like every child who has ever been adopted, you are destined to kill!"
7. The whole films seems to be "against" horror in any fashion. I understand that it's a lighthearted little movie intended to give children the idea that the outside world is chock full of rainbows and lollipops and rainbows that dispense lollipops when hugged properly, but COME ON! Saying there's something "wrong" with a person because they want to be scared. Didn't Steven Spielberg have something to do with this? And correct me if I'm mistaken, but isn't this the same person who gave us Jaws and Jurassic Park. Yeah, Jurassic Park, remember the movie where the only wishes the dinosaurs fulfilled were death wishes and the only glee anyone ever had was when Newman got viscous dinosaur puke shot at his naked eyeballs from an alarming velocity. (or should I say veloci-raptor-ty... KILL ME!!) But anyway, where was I? Oh yes... We're Back! My whole point being why would a director make a certain type of film catering to a certain type of consumer and then make a completely different film, cater it to a completely different consumer, and spit on his earlier outings by calling fans of them "weirdos". I know... I'm being REEEAAAALLLLLLYYYY overly critical now, but *beep* it! I'll complain about whatever I damn well please. I don't like when something ferocious and fearsome is downgraded into something warm and lovable all for the sake of something schmutzy, which is a word I just made up, but given its context I'm sure you'll understand what it means. Screw it, I'll explain it anyway! By schmutzy, I mean something that's annoyingly goodwilled. Not like The Land Before Time, where all the dinosaurs are cutesy talking retarded children right from the get go, but in We're Back! we're shown the process of "prettifying" firsthand! It's like if someone were to show you footage of a lion savagly attacking a film crew and feasting on the cameraman's regurgitated anal tract right before magic pixie dust is sprinkled all over the screen and transformed into The Lion King. Showing ferocity and savagery in the dinosaurs (at least John Goodman's) and then immediately altering his brain cells so that he's a mouth-breathing mongoloid with laughably short arms and a talent for sodomizing his nostrils with hot dogs is stupid! At least it's stupid from an... older person's perspective, because I half-want (NAY) all-want the T-Rex to just be dropped into the middle of New York as is and just cause a bloodthirsty rampage from which no living thing shall arise... except for maybe zombies... but zombies aren't actually "living" are they... but before I go off on another tangent, let me tell you that when all is said and done We're Back is a mediocre film (even by children's standards), I would sooner show a child a marathon of Speedy Gonzales cartoons and drill into his head every negative stereotype that oozes out of Speedy's exaggerated mouth, not because I'm a bad person but because it's more entertaining. Watching We're Back now just makes me wish I was watching Jurassic Park or Lost World: Jurassic Park (whose title made me ponder when it became cool to shove the subtitle in front of the film's main title) whereas The Land Before Time (also brought to you by the cinematic (ahem) genius of Steven Speilberg and George (ahem) Lucas) makes me get a warm fuzzy feeling that's like nostalgia, but not! Anyway, I guess it's just me and rest of you all could go hump a woodchipper. The *beep* End THANK GOD!
She's probably the type that prefers softer material and doesn't want to criticize a kids movie that she probably has a devoted love to.
I will give her and the second poster some props though, seeing the OP's other activity elsewhere, this guy seems like he has some serious issues especially with the recent transformers film so I would have to agree he is a strange little man, but he's spot on here nonetheless.
"I'm not welcomed here or there, but I'm here anyways..."
The reason I agreed with the second poster and laughed at his comment was because I really don't care for people picking apart a fictional movie like this where dinosaurs are brought to the present with a time machine by a professor and his little green alien friend because children wished to see them and the professor picked it up on his fancy radio. After that being said, who cares if the dinosaurs are dropped out of the time machine/UFO thing? What does it matter if the dinosaurs shift sizes? That happens in animations that are hand drawn, by the way. Excuse the extremely talented artists for their terrible mistakes in life. These little details are mostly unimportant to the plot.
If it helps, I figure that the dinosaurs were dropped out of the UFO because, seeing as the professor can time travel he probably went to the future and saw that the dinosaurs would meet Louie if he dropped them where he did and that would eventually lead to fulfilling his wish of having friends. That is my take on why they were dropped.
Simple? It was a simple plot done in the wrong way as possible. You want a simple plot for a kids movie done right? Watch Spike Jonze's Where The Wild Things Are, it's beautiful than this movie, man.
"While guys hold on to their toys forever, girls soon throw out their playthings."
3. the mother's response was ironic for the viewer since they are real dinosaurs. adult humor that i guess went over your head.
5. usually the middle space is reserved for everything from the beginning to the very end point when it stops, so on a time line "middle future" refers to any time between those points. you should be critical about that ambiguity instead of your i'm not sure