Steven Spielberg might not be the first thing that comes to mind whenever animation is brought up but, believe it or not, he's actually made a big impact to the industry. He has collaborated on two of Don Bluth's movies, directed The Adventures of Tintin, and produced some of Warner Bros. most famous cartoon shows. He has also formed two animation studios which include the studio Amblimation and its more famous successor, DreamWorks Animation. The former studio only produced three animated movies before closing its doors in 1997 though sadly its films don't really live up to the ones from its successor. I think 'We're Back! A Dinosaur's Story" is a good example of why. I originally watched the film when I was about seven or eight years old and had forgotten about it over the years. Upon rewatching it, I realized how bizarre and strange this movie was. It's one of the weirdest animated movies ever made and that's saying a lot given the kind of movies coming out now.The movie follows four dinosaurs in prehistoric times named Rex, Elsa, Dweeb and Woog (John Goodman, Felicity Kendal, Charles Fleischer and Rene LeVant), who have been living ordinary dinosaur lives until a futuristic ship arrives and gives them a breakfast cereal that makes them very intelligent as well as giving them the ability to talk and think. They are then met by the pilot of the ship named Captain Neweyes (Walter Cronkite), who informs them that he is planning on putting them in a live exhibit at the American Museum of Natural History to entertain children. However, before they are zapped into a present day New York City, Neweyes warns the dinosaurs to beware of his crazy evil brother Professor Screweyes (Kenneth Mars). Once they arrive in the Big Apple, the dinosaurs run into two runaway children named Louie and Cecilia (Joey Shea and Yeardley Smith), who plan on joining a circus. From there on out, the dinosaurs are in a crazy journey around the city with bizarre adventures to follow.The film is based off of a children's book written and illustrated by Hudson Talbott. I feel that the source material was just too bizarre and too short for a full-length animated movie. In general, it's a strange somewhat circuitous story to explain, which becomes less about the dinosaurs and more about those two runaway children. It also has too many bizarre moments to even count; notable examples include the films opening scene where Rex is playing golf, and the scene where the dinosaurs are discovered resulting in the police being called in to arrest them. Some of the casting choices also seemed off. Both Walter Cronkite and Julia Child were cast in this movie, but neither seem to fit the roles properly. Although they didn't have lead roles, it felt odd hearing their voices coming out of animated characters. As for the animation, I had some mixed feelings. The scenes were colorful and bouncy, and the character designs are unique and, thankfully, were not an attempt to copy Disney's designs. However, I feel that the digital clean-up could have been better. While watching this movie, it became very clear that the animation was scanned into a computer as I saw pixels around the characters quite a few times. I don't know if this was a home video problem or not, but it was distracting either way. I also felt like they could have spent more time on the character development. The dinosaurs are likable characters and have some quirky charm to them, but they're not as much of the focus as those two children, who are mainly just there to be cute. Louis is your typical 'tough guy' and Cecelia is the stereo-typical girl that is able to melt his heart with her cute looks and nice attitude. Professor Screweyes is also your run-of-the-mill villain; he's just some random evil old guy with no good in him whatsoever. The story would have been much better with an interesting villain. The one thing that was well done was the music composed by the late James Horner. The score is beautiful to listen to and has a sweeping feel to it but it's sadly not enough to hold this movie up."We're Back! A Dinosaur's Story" is probably one of the poorest examples of an animated movie with Steven Spielberg's involvement. The film is not horrible per say, but I don't feel it's as strong as any other animated movies he's worked on. The story is very bizarre and strange, the animation looks a little too pixelated, and, in general, the characters are just underdeveloped. I feel that for those that want a stronger animated dinosaur movie with Spielberg's involvement, they should instead look at The Land Before Time and leave this film as a fossil.Note: This review was originally written and published May 7, 2017 for Rotoscopers "Indie-Mation Club".

I saw this when it first came to video, my little sister got it as a gift and I was probably 12 at the time... What stood out for me was the lack of mid-movie conflict that so many movies have, where the main characters get mad at each other because when it comes time to explain themselves they just don't say the one thing that you're shouting at the screen that would make sense of the whole deal, that any person of reasonable intellect would know to say. This is what I like the most about the movie I guess, that the main characters don't do mean things to each other halfway through... they don't break up and make up, they just grow to like each other more as the movie goes on.These two kids team up and though they seem at first to be from opposite sides of the track, they're not that different. Loui is actually just some middle class kid that needed to realize how lucky he was to have a loving family, and Cecelia was an upper class kid that just needed to prove to her family that she existed and they would miss her if she was gone. Anyway, I saw this movie posted on Hulu and had to watch it again... sure there's plot holes if you analyze the script and no, Woog and Dweeb shouldn't be eating hot dogs since they would have been herbivores in reality.Now, what detracts from the film is it's unexpected scariness. Little kids under the age of 5 would probably be frightened by the scenes with Dr. Screweyes. And, the addition of him halfway through the movie (though it's blatantly obvious in the first scene that he will make an appearance) is too abrupt... there should be a glimpse of him doing his show earlier in the movie, perhaps to show that it's not that scary without the the dinosaurs. I guess it just lacked any real present danger for the entire first half of the movie, so that it lacks a little continuity when he appears for the second half.Considering the target audience, who I'm sure can overlook the not so mind blowing animation and dialog issues... I think I'll give it a pass on those factors too, and just enjoy the story. It's a great flick for kid and it does stick in your mind... makes you kinda think about how you treat people and it should be revisited every 10 years I think.

I love the Movie We're back!a dinosaur's story! My favorite character is Rex. Don't mess with him, he got the groove. I'm a child at heart, so I enjoy this movie every time I watch it, even now when I'm a teenager. Rex is just one of my childhood heroes and I'm still watching them all. It is a great children's movie. I would definitely recommended it for parents to let their kids watch it. It teaches children that there are stronger feelings than fear, like friendship and love. Also the movie critics don't know a good movie or story when they see one. I can tell if a movie is good or not. I'll tell you this movie is one where kids will want to watch it over and over again!

I disagree with Anyone who done't like this movie. I used to LOVE this movie when I was little and I still do. It's sweet, funny and warms your heart. And It proves that love and friendship can never be destroyed. And even though it didn't have much of a story, it was still excellent I give it a 10 and two thumbs up. Oh yeah and it proves that your deepest wish's and dreams can come true. (Tear, tear)I love this movie, personally if anyone says it sucked than I will say "Shame on you." Because it was a delightful little movie and I'm glad that at least SOME people liked it.