With the family friendly dinosaurs and story, it is hard to not see the connection between this film and the classic film, "The Land Before Time". The difference between the two is that this film has no good qualities, the characters are stupid and boring, and the premise that lacks all logic--and I'm not talking about the cereal that makes the dinosaurs smart, the fact that there is time travel, or the fact that there is a circus dedicated to scaring people.The film opens up with a bird who is being picked on by his siblings and decides to leave the nest. As he flies away, he is picked up by Rex, a Tyrannosaurus Rex that was one of four dinosaurs brought from the past to the present. The bird tells Rex his plans to join the circus, leaving Rex to tell the bird the story of a boy he knew who joined the circus. We flashback to when Rex was a monster and is given the cereal that makes him smart. With that, he is brought aboard a space ship where he meets a Triceratops, a Pterodactyl, and a Parasaurolophus, three other dinosaurs who have been given the cereal and become smart. They learn that Professor New Eyes has chosen them to go to the future so they can make children's wishes come true.With this, the film starts it decline. The first thing to go in the movie are the logistics. There are herbivores eating hot dogs and when we get to New York, it just gets worse. The dinosaurs are in a parade and to show the children that they are real, Rex breaks into song and dance, singing one of the worst and most awkward songs I have ever heard. So, instead of this making everyone believe that they are fake, suddenly everyone realizes they are real and run away. What...? Later on, Professor New Eye's brother, Professor Screweyes, is eaten by his crows somehow. Now, I know in films you need to push your imagination but the film should still be logical in its own universe.Next, every character in this film is either stupid, unlikable, or both. In fact, the only character who is even remotely likable is the main antagonist, Dr. Screweyes. This is bad as the writers have spent tons of time basically throwing at the audience that you should like the dinosaurs and the kids and hate Screweyes and the complete opposite sort of happens.The film has two elements to it, dumb and awkward. Everything dealing with Cecilia is awkward, complete with terrible acting (a real shame as she is played by Yeardley Smith (Lisa Simpson)). Then, everything else is dumb from the characters, to the premise, to the story, to the minor elements of the story.This family film is awful. Completely awful. Boring characters, a dumb story and premise, character motivations that are cliché, awkward dialog, and it forces the audience to have to throw away all logic to enjoy this film. That is, to me, one of the worst things a film can do and I find it no surprise I find the film to be this bad.

Okay, so as many of you have so eloquently stated, this is no The Land Before Time. You know why? The Land Before Time is a classic, it's my all-time favorite animated movie that still brings tears to my eyes. It's... legendary.This is a totally different movie with a totally different premise, so no, it's not like The Land Before Time because it's not supposed to be. The only thing that links the two is they both have animated dinosaurs that talk. This movie takes you on a fantastic ride through the wishes of children. This movie is all about seeing childhood wishes come true. And being so, yes, it's ridiculous and a bit beyond the realm of reason, but hey, what childhood fantasy IS logical? Good points about the movie: The voice acting was wonderful and believable. I absolutely fell in love with Louie's character. He is adorable and the deepest character in the film. I love how he progresses in his character with the help of the dinosaurs (especially Rex) to not only get his wish for a friend but also find there is more to life than being a "tough guy" because the "original tough guy" chose the life of love and heart instead of teeth and claws. The sacrifice the dinosaurs made for the children was very heartwarming. Imagine basically giving up your sanity for a friend. Having a mental illness myself I can imagine that as someone forcing me to give up my medicine to save a friend and I can tell you it'd be a tough decision, a terrible one, but I'd do it in a heartbeat. Thinking of it that way, one cannot belittle that moment in the plot by saying this movie doesn't have a lot of heart. The animation was great but I would have preferred they kept the dinosaurs slightly more realistic when they entered the human world. They looked a lot like mushy balloons to me and as an artist and fan of animation I would have loved to see a film with a more realistic and anatomically substantial set of lovable, cuddly dinosaurs. I immensely enjoyed the scene where Rex shows how he started life as a "monster". That part of the movie and that alone reminded me of the animation in The Land Before Time. It was excellently pulled off. And the other animation was great too but as I said, it had a "saturday morning cartoon" sort of feel rather than an animated movie. The dinosaurs were goofy in comparison to the animation given to the humans. And we can't talk about good things without mentioning Professor Screweyes. I love this villain very much. I wish his character had more development and that they had kept the deleted scene explaining his past. There were some issues I had with the parts of the movie with him in it but I'll get to that later. But I will say this, I will never forget the fear I had as a young child watching this villain. It was wonderful. Negative: As mentioned earlier the friendly forms the dinosaurs took looked more like the goofy form to me. They could have been friendly and more anatomically correct. I would have loved to see Rex looking more like a friendly version of Sharptooth because I've always found these animals beautiful just the way they are. They took Rex's beauty.Also I do have a bone to pick with Screweyes and the whole premise of him being a villain. Captian Neweyes told the dinosaurs that Sreweyes was insane and evil right from the beginning. As a child I didn't understand Screweyes was a villain because he manipulated the kids and the dinosaurs. The moment I saw him, before he made the children sign the contract, I thought he was a villain just because he dealt with fear and that he scared people. That is the way a lot of people teach their children. Horror is evil. Exploring fear is evil. When it is not. I love horror, good creepypasta, and even write my own. This movie displays anyone who enjoys fear or dresses in a darker more alternative style as "evil". Yes I know he IS evil and shows this later in the film but the first thing you get from the movie as proof of his evilness is that he runs a scary circus and prefers horror to comedy. There's nothing wrong with a good scare when it's under control. If he hadn't had his backstory deleted it would have made more sense as to why his scaring people is evil. It shows that he scares and manipulates people to feel in control of fear so that he isn't afraid of things himself. A very selfish reason for doing what he does. Without it he just seems like a horror buff for a while until the real "bad" things happen. Even Rex as a monster couldn't find a reason to eat the poor guy.Overall I love this movie. It will always be one of my childhood favorites and a great memory. It has heart, fear, childlike wonder, and even a tiny smidge of romance. It is short and yes, Screweyes will be horrifying to younger children but I watched it at 2, got a wonderful scare out of it and turned out fine. Sometimes watching the darker animated films from that time is good for kids. A more realistic take on the world than all the bubbly, happy nonsense our kids watch today. If your kids haven't seen it yet I say give it a try.

I'm 17 and I am a fan of animated films. Today, I decided to watch We're Back! A Dinosaur's Story just for fun. I wasn't expecting much from this, but I enjoyed it.Four dinosaurs named Rex, Elsa, Dweeb and Woog are taken inside a time machine where they are feed Brain Cereal. This turns these ferocious reptiles into friendly, cuddly chaps and gives them the ability to talk. The time machine operator Captain Neweyes (wisely voiced by Walter Cronkite) informs the dinos that he has chosen them to be sent to the present day to fulfill kids wishes. Thats when they are dropped off in New York City.Yes, I found this plot a bit strange (it's based on a children's book) but it was fun enough to enjoy. This film has nicely done animation, the character drawings are good and James Horner's score is pleasant to listen to. I also liked the voices in the film. The dinosaurs were well casted with likings of John Goodman (Rex), Charles Fleischer (Dweeb), Rene LeVant (Woog) and Felicity Kendal (Elsa). They weren't too annoying either, which is a good thing.Still, I have to report a few negatives for We're Back!. About half way through the film, the theme suddenly changes from happy and colorful to a scary, dark perspective. I think kids might get a fright or two from this. Another minor problem is that I found it somewhat too short (72 minutes at most). It should have been a bit longer, but it's appropriate enough for a kids flick.With all that said, We're Back! is colorful, silly and has friendly dinosaurs, things children like. It may not be a masterpiece, but kids are going to enjoy this movie a lot if they can forgive the few scary scenes. "B-"

Genre: Dinosaur, animation, New York, time travel, circus.?Main characters: Rex the Tyrannosaurus rex, Elsa the pterodactyl, Dweeb the Parasarolophus, Ooo the Triceratops, a boy called Louis, a girl called Cecilia and Captain New-eyes. ? Actors: John Goodman (Rex), Yeardley Smith (Cecilia), Martin Short (Stubbs the clown), Felicity Kendal (Elsa) etc.?What happens: Four dinosaurs (see above) are fed some "brain grain cereal" and are now cuddly, friendly dinosaurs who are going to be nice to children. They go into New York, with big plans…My thoughts: This is a cute animated film. The animation of the dinosaurs when they go cuddly and friendly is a bit floppy and not-so-good, but they look pleasant all the same that way. I like the dinosaurs when they are cuddly and friendly, they are nice, friendly and good. I like (almost) all the characters featured, especially Elsa and Cecilia, but of course I like the others as well. Overall, I like this film a lot! :-)Recommended to: People who like good children's animated films, people who like dinosaurs, John Goodman and people who think that circuses aren't always what they seem… Enjoy! :-)