The latest film from Disney and Pixar isn’t exactly a bastion of scientific accuracy: in The Good Dinosaur dinosaurs and early humans co-exist. But dinosaurs are dinosaurs — even when they’re animated — so we asked a paleontologist to review the film. Below is a Q&A with Vincent Santucci, a geologist and paleontologist with the National Park Service.
Q: First things first: as a paleontologist and a dad, how did you like the film?
A: First, I really was drawn to how the film adopted qualities of an old, classic western movie. The story, characters, landscapes, and especially the music, were very reminiscent of a John Ford western film. I do not think the young children viewing The Good Dinosaur will have this same connection, but certainly Disney movies know how to connect with people of all ages.
The other aspect of the film that captivated me was the beautiful and detailed landscapes, which were clearly inspired by locations in Yellowstone and Grand Teton national parks in Wyoming.
As a National Park Service geologist who worked and studied at Yellowstone, the scenes of the geysers, hot springs, canyons, mountains, and even columnar jointing stirred my geologic passion to race my heart a few beats faster.
Q: The plot of the movie hinges on dinosaurs being saved from extinction — and then meeting up with early humans millions of years later. What did you think of that?
A: There are some paleontologists who argue that dinosaurs are still around in the form of birds, their descendants.
But if (big) dinosaurs survived, would the Great Apes have evolved to live alongside them — or did we need the ecological niche they left behind?
The fossil record reveals many extraordinary changes in life over geologic time. Along with the extinction events, we observe periods which reveal the appearances of new groups of organisms. One of the best examples of this adaptive radiation of new life involves the evolution of flowering trees and plants we can think of as a Cretaceous Bloom. The new deciduous flora yielded seasonal changes from springtime flowers and fruit to colourful leaves in the autumn. Along with the flowering plants, pollinating insects appeared in a biologically essential partnership which spread across the landscapes and the globe.