The Good Dinosaur

What’s it about?

Arlo is a young dinosaur who lives with his Mum and Dad and his brother and sister. One day Arlo falls into a river and is washed far away from his family. All alone, Arlo meets a young human boy called Spot who has also lost his family. Spot teaches Arlo how to look after himself in the wild and to not be afraid. Spot and Arlo set out on a journey to find Arlo’s family and meet lots of dangerous creatures and places along the way.

What to look out for

There are quite a lot of scary scenes in this movie that would frighten younger kids such as:

• Arlo’s dad dies while trying to save Arlo from the flood.
• Arlo keeps falling off things and crashing into objects, hurting himself.
• Arlo and Spot both tell each other that they miss their families and that Arlo’s dad and Spot’s parents are dead.
• Arlo and Spot get trapped in a river and fall down a waterfall.

There is also some violence in this movie:

• Arlo’s brother Buck hits his dad and Arlo and his sister with a stick. He also teases them and pushes them to the ground.
• Arlo is told to kill the creature (Spot) who has been stealing their food but he doesn’t want to.
• Several times birds chase Spot and Arlo and try to eat them.

Moral of the Story

The message of the story is to do something you’re afraid of and that you will feel very proud when you achieve it.