We’re Back! A Dinosaur’s Story

WE’RE BACK! A DINOSAUR’S STORY – James Horner

December 7, 2023 2 comments

THROWBACK THIRTY

One of the sillier animated films that James Horner scored in his career was the 1993 effort We’re Back! A Dinosaur’s Story, which was adapted by Moonstruck screenwriter John Patrick Shanley from a children’s book by Hudson Talbott. The story follows four dinosaurs who are transformed into sentient beings by a time-travelling scientist named Captain Neweyes; the dinosaurs are then brought by him to modern-day New York where, inevitably, they get lost, and have to rely on their new friends (a pair of runaway children) to help them – all while also trying to avoid the clutches of Professor Screweyes, Captain Neweyes’s evil twin brother, who runs a demented circus, and wants the dinosaurs to be his star attraction. The plot doesn’t really matter as the film is largely forgotten today, despite the fact that it has the most bafflingly eccentric voice cast of any animated film I have ever come across – actor John Goodman, British sitcom star Felicity Kendal, legendary newsman Walter Cronkite, chef Julia Child, and chat show host Jay Leno, among others. It was produced by Steven Spielberg – who had a slightly more successful dinosaur movie come out in 1993 – and had four directors, including animation specialist Phil Nibbelink, and his compatriot Simon Wells, who would later go on to direct movies such as Balto and The Prince of Egypt. Read more…