Off the Shelf Media

Not everyone enjoys watching a film more than once or twice. I, on the other hand, will watch my favorite movies until I can recite the lines back in real time. As a kid, this meant renting the same DVDs week after week from our local Hollywood Video. As an adult, it means having a rather impressive Blu-ray collection.   

One of those revolving classics on family movie night used to be the 1993 animated film, We’re Back! A Dinosaur’s Story. Were you expecting something else?

I wasn’t a ‘dinosaur kid’ per se growing up, but the movie’s colorful cover drew me in while the humorous caricatures kept me coming back again and again. 

We’re Back! is one of those childhood films that sears itself into your memory. Yet, as I got older and would describe the movie to others, no one ever knew what I was talking about. It never helped that, as a kid, I remembered the movie poster more than I did the actual name of the movie. After a while, I started to believe that I had made the entire thing up. Like a Berenstain v. Berenstein mandela effect. Eventually, I came to accept that the movie never existed and that my memories had played a trick on me. 

A few months ago, I was perusing the DVD section of McKay’s in Nashville, a used bookstore that sells DVDs, CDs, records, games, and more. Imagine my surprise when I found this gem, on Blu-ray no less, sitting on the shelf for $2. It was in my cart instantaneously. 

Excited to share my discovery with my fiancé, one of the many people who had no idea what movie I was talking about, I noticed something peculiar on the front cover. Sitting very predominantly at the top of the title was a name I had never expected to read. It was none other than Steven Spielberg himself. Yes, THE Steven Spielberg. 

Kids rarely pay attention to producers, directors, and even the actors themselves on most occasions. But how could an animated dinosaur movie tied to the name Spielberg go so unnoticed? 

I had to know more. After falling down the Google rabbit hole, I learned that this childhood classic was produced under Spielberg’s short-lived animation studio, Amblimation, a leg of his Amblin Entertainment company. If you’re a millennial, you may be familiar with the studio’s only other classics of Balto and An American Tail: Fievel Goes West. I say ‘only’ because the studio only ever made these three films, lasting between 1989 to 1997. Helluva run, huh? 

In an even more shocking turn of events, many of the staff at Amblimation would go on to have illustrious careers at DreamWorks Animation, also co-founded by Spielberg. Now that is legacy. 

Another shocking discovery from my research? Apparently, We’re Back! bombed at the box office, unable to capitalize on the name recognition of Spielberg nor the recent success of Jurassic Park (which receives its own Easter egg in the film). Critics and fans alike were also not overly impressed, according to Rotten Tomatoes. 

Did my memory serve me wrong after all? Was this movie not as incredible as I remembered it being?

To be certain I wasn’t falling for nostalgia’s siren song, I watched the film again in 2024. Here’s my take. 

Starting with the plot

We have to start with the weakest points. I hate to admit it, but the film’s plot is a bit lackluster and loose. 

Like many other family films of the era, the plot is the result of well-intentioned adults being comically irresponsible. Think Home Alone but instead of parents leaving their son behind during holiday travel, it’s an eccentric scientist and the child is a group of artificially intellectualized dinosaurs in the middle of Manhattan on Thanksgiving Day. See, it’s basically the same plot. 

In all seriousness, the overall plot seems to lack direction. Watching it through the eyes of an adult, it feels as though the key components, i.e. the beginning, the middle, and the end, were all written by different staffers and sandwiched together by an unrelated introduction and conclusion. 

The complete irrationality of the characters is also a bit too much to be believed. I know, I know. It’s a movie about talking dinosaurs who return to modern-day New York to fulfill children’s wishes. How believable do I want it to be? Yet, at nearly every turn, each character is making a dumb decision. When combined, it comes off as though there was little thought put into the story from start to finish. 

When broken down, each component of the movie has a sense of whimsy, fun, heart, and humor. Despite the positive qualities of each, it’s hard to ignore how disjointed the film feels throughout. 

Keeping up the pace

At a runtime of 1 hour and 12 minutes, you don’t need to commit too much of your day to watching this movie. And that’s a good thing. 

While that sounds like a critique, I truly do mean it as a compliment. This movie was marketed and made for kids. It’s important not to forget that fact when looking at it objectively. And most children are notoriously bad at giving their attention to one thing for too long. 

Though the plot moves rather quickly, perhaps a bit too quickly, it’s certainly not a drag. 

Standing the test of time

One concern I had before beginning my rewatch was whether the movie was going to age well or not. Many streamable children’s classics, including Disney’s Peter Pan (1953), The Aristocats (1970), and Aladdin (1992) now feature a content warning before beginning the movie. Even Lady and the Tramp (1955), known for its cutesy love story, has a few scenes done in poor taste that get flagged today by Disney. 

Watching this on a secondhand Blu-ray, I can’t be certain whether a big corporation like Disney would flag the film for distastefulness. Save for a few off-putting one-liners, the film seemed to age all right, at least to me in the year 2024. One line that did catch my attention came from the human protagonist, Louie – a street tough runaway – nonchalantly asking his new friend, Cecilia – an Upper East Side debutante – whether the reason for her poor parental relationship stemmed from abused by her parents. The scene itself is fleeting and the topic doesn’t receive more attention than that. 

As for the animation, it’s hard to judge whether it was good or bad for the early 90s. Older animated movies on modern streaming platforms like Amazon Prime, Netflix, or Disney+ especially have likely been remastered once or twice. I can still recall the Disney Vault commercials that would announce which VHS classic was receiving a DVD remaster.  

In full transparency, this Blu-ray copy was originally released in 2015 and flaunts its “HD PICTURE and THEATER QUALITY SOUND,” on the back cover. I can’t say for certain whether this film received a Disney-quality remaster, and I’m hesitant to judge its animation too harshly. 

I will admit, however, that the same aspects of this animation that caught my attention as a kid still sit favorably with me today. Each scene is packed with colors, movement, and flare that is reminiscent of other animated features of the age like All Dogs Go To Heaven (1989), Oliver & Company (1988), and FernGully: The Last Rainforest (1992). 

Not to mention, the children-friendly dinosaurs also look exactly as they should. Cute, cuddly, and colorful. 

Spielberg wasn’t the only big name involved 

Again, as a kid, I wasn’t following the careers of my favorite voice actors at the time. In fact, I’m not even sure I understood the concept of a voice actor. So, as I continued my research of this film, I continued to be surprised by all the names involved. 

Rex, the loveable and aptly named Tyrannosaurus Rex, was voiced by none other than John Goodman. As a young millennial/older Gen Zer, it’s impossible today to not recognize Goodman’s voice as he was a staple for many other kids’ films of the day, including Monsters Inc. (2001) and The Flintstones (1994).  

The list of names doesn’t end there. The eccentric but well-intentioned scientist, Captain Neweyes, is voiced by CBS News Anchorman and “Most Trusted Man in America” Walter Cronkite while his villainous twin brother, Professor Screweyes, is voiced by Kenneth Mars, also credited as Triton in The Little Mermaid (1989). 

Other recognizable names include actor and comedian Martin Short as Stubbs the Clown, Julia Child as Dr. Beebs, the Museum of Natural History curator, and former The Tonight Show Host Jay Leno as the quirky, and perhaps alien, assistant to Captain Neweyes.  

Even the film’s catchy original song, “Roll Back The Rock (To The Dawn Of Time)” was performed by Little Richard and produced by Thomas Dolby. While catchy, it certainly doesn’t carry the same level of recognition as world-renowned composter John Williams’ “Theme From Jurassic Park.” 

Though the plot is lacking, much of the dialogue and delivery throughout the film feels natural and sincere. It’s the performances of the actors and actresses that help give the movie its heart, which is its most redeeming quality. 

At its core, it’s a fun movie with a lot of heart 

In trying to describe the movie to others before rewatching it now, I couldn’t have told you much about the plot. What I would have told you though, is that it’s a kids’ film with a lot of heart. This stood out to me when I was young, and I was happy to see the memories I held of it then still hold true today. 

Despite a poor plot, one of the movie’s standout scenes is the climax. Without revealing any spoilers, this scene truly highlights the film’s core tenets of friendship, sacrifice, and above all, compassion. 

Even with such grandiose lessons for children, the film also has plenty of childlike humor that gives it a certain type of charm. 

Final thoughts

We’re Back! A Dinosaur’s Story and Jurassic Park offer vastly different takes on the idea of what would happen if we brought dinosaurs back into a modern-day setting. Aside from Spielberg’s name on each poster, the two films couldn’t be more different. The only common denominator is Spielberg’s likely obsession with dinosaurs. 

I can’t discount the quality of acting, writing, and special effects that encapsulate an iconic film like Jurassic Park. Nor can I ignore its cultural impact. Jurassic Park is truly a masterpiece. But, anxiety-inducing thrillers aren’t for everyone.  

To compare the two directly as competitors is unfair. After all, one was marketed as a thriller while the other was meant to be fun for the whole family. And it is. 

In all honesty, I can’t say We’re Back! is the better movie overall. In the late 90s and early 2000s, this film was a movie night staple, and it still can be for a lot of families whose kids have the age-old dinosaur infatuation like Spielberg himself. 

We’re Back! is a classic comfort movie that will entertain kids and parents alike. Jurassic Park is a right-of-passage film for when you’re finally old enough to understand that a T-Rex won’t chase you down the road late at night. 

Though I can’t ignore nostalgia’s sweet song, I can say that this film does accomplish what it sets out to achieve.