What if the asteroid that forever changed life on Earth missed the planet and giant dinosaurs never became extinct? In Pixar’s The Good Dinosaur, we follow an Apatosaurus named Arlo, who after losing his father in a tragic accident, falls into a river and finds himself far from home. After meeting an unlikely human companion named Spot, the duo travels through a harsh and mysterious landscape where the story is bound to twist, turn and tug at our heartstrings as Arlo journeys home.
During the Cannes Film Festival, John Lasseter presented the first look into the film and discussed new plot synopsis details as well as a few character renderings. Included in the reveal were exclusive clips which highlighted the new environment, “It’s unlike anything we’ve had before,” Lasseter said. “The level of believability we’re striving for in this film is going to be breathtaking.”
In terms of that believably, the first teaser trailer released today (via Yahoo Movies & Disney UK) contains a few brief looks at the environment, some characters and even includes a bit of humor as the asteroid zips past Earth.
Even from this brief clip, you can already pick up the realism that Pixar was striving for. In addition to the trailer’s release, Yahoo Movies included a short interview with director Peter Sohn who discussed how the environment became the main antagonist in the film, “We’ve been trying to find physical obstacles and emotional obstacles for our main character, and nature can represent both.”
Sohn on the film’s timeline.
“The studio was liberal when it came to the timeline of human evolution — modern humans are thought to have first appeared 200,000 years ago, while the earliest ancestors to use stone tools began breaking things less than 3 million years ago. The film happens sometime after the asteroid missed the Earth, but Sohn says they avoided pinpointing any exact era: “It’s kind of an unknown, and it’s been fun to let go of what has happened. It’s given us some space in terms of the logic of the rules.”
With the film’s release date less than six months away (November 25, 2015), there is no doubt that more details will be coming soon. What are your thoughts on the new teaser? Leave a comment below or chat about it with other Pixar fans in the Pixar Post Forum. If you’ve been watching the forums for a while, now’s the time to register and start chatting with other fans.
YOUTUBE LIVE
Join us this evening, June 2 at 10:00 PM EST / 7:00 PM PST to chat about the news of the day. We’ll discuss all the details from the first official teaser trailer for The Good Dinosaur – along with your thoughts. You can watch our discussion on YouTube, or embedded in our post below. Be sure to follow the hashtag #GoodDinoPP