What is your favorite dinosaur?

Today (May 17th) is National Dinosaur Day.  (Don't worry if you are not prepared.  You will have another chance on June 1st.  Which is also National Dinosaur Day.)

It is hard to pick a favorite dinosaur.  They are all cool in their own ways.  I have an affinity for sea creatures so I have always liked the Plesiosaur.  But I have recently found out that he is not actually a dinosaur.  So I guess I would have to go with the Ankylosaurus.  I like his armor plating and club tail. 

There were no Ankylosaurus or Plesiosaurs in The Good Dinosaur, but I watched it anyway.

The Good Dinosaur starring Raymond Ochoa

A young Apatosaurus ends up far from home and befriends a young human on his quest to find the way home.

I was entertained.  And that's what it all comes down to in the end.  But this isn't going to be one of my all time favorites.  Arlo, the young, lost Apatosaurus is trying to prove himself to his family but he is afraid of everything.  When he finds himself alone and lost he doesn't even know how to feed himself.  It seems a little unlikely to me that Arlo can live in such a time period and still be so afraid all the time.  I know that in this world dinosaurs live in houses and plant crops and are highly civilized and all that but still.  And I think they missed a chance here with the concept that the asteroid missed the Earth and the dinosaurs did not go extinct.  It could have been a cool concept but it was established in the beginning and then was not really a part of the story after that.  And the story is very predictable.  You know where this is going right from the beginning.  There are really no surprises here.  Another issue I had was that the human, named Spot, acted too much like a dog.  I understand the point that dinosaurs are more advanced than humans at this point but it made Spot look like more of a pet to Arlo than a friend.  I know that is a lot of negative things to say about a movie that I found entertaining.  But it was still a cute, if not too original, story.  Arlo has to overcome his fear while learning that doesn't mean he won't be afraid.  And the importance of family and friendship is stressed here as well.  There are a few slow moments and a couple of scenes that might be scary for young children but as an adult I was entertained and would watch this with my nieces and nephews.