In DINOSAUR: Aladar is an orphaned dino whose siblings are killed when a flesh-eating dino steps on their nest while he's still an egg. The last remaining egg with baby Aladar inside is stolen by several different dinos and floats down a river, etc. until it ends up on an island and hatches in a forest where a family of lemur-like (monkey) creatures live. The family takes baby Aladar in and he grows up with their children never seeing any other dinosaurs. When a giant meteor crashes into the sea near the island, everything is destroyed in the firestorm that follows. Only young Aladar and the lemur family manage to survive and make it to the mainland. On the mainland, they find a herd of all kinds of dinosaurs..all that remain after the disaster. With some mean little flesh eaters snipping at their heels, Aladar and the family join the dinosaur herd which is headed for "the nesting grounds" across a desolate wasteland caused by the meteor. The leader of the herd is a nasty, bossy dino named Kron who happens to have a cute sister (Neera) that Aladar falls for. When Kron wants to leave behind all the elderly or weak dinos that fall behind in the great trek, Aladar stands up for them. Aladar and the lemur family help the old ones (Baylene and Eema) keep up.

During the long trek to the nesting grounds, Aladar, the lemur family and the old dinos have many adventures and close calls, including meeting a scout dinosaur who has been attacked by horrible, flesh-eating carnotaurs (ugly big dinos with huge teeth who look sort of like T-Rexes). The carnotaurs are after Aladar and pals and when rains come, follow them into a cave. Using teamwork, Aladar and his friends manage to push their way out of the back of the cave and realize they've found a short-cut to the still green and lush nesting grounds! The rest of the movie involves Aladar going back for the herd, facing leader Kron and the carnotaurs and, eventually getting the "girl" he loves and ending up with all his friends in the beautiful nesting ground valley.

I loved this movie! The story is great. Many scientists think that a huge meteor that crashed on earth (now probably under the sea off the coast of South America) was the beginning of the end for the dinosaurs. This movie follows this belief but offers a happier ending. At the end, the narrator says that the dinosaurs just hope they will be remembered! They are hard to forget. All the computer-animated creatures look REAL! You can see every line in the dinos' skin and the fur on the lemurs looks as real as my cat's!! The backgrounds actually ARE real and the computer-animated dinosaurs and lemurs are laid on top of the backgrounds in a process called "compositing". This film teaches great lessons in teamwork, respect for elders (who might just have some good ideas) and the fact that one, lone dino (or person) CAN make a huge difference!! There isn't one boring moment in the film. It has jokes, a love story, drama, tragedy, lots of action, good music and INCREDIBLE visuals! Go see it and take the whole family!

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