“Life is what happens when you’re busy making other plans.” – A lot of people, including John Lennon.

I have found the above statement to be pristinely true. Whether it’s planning for your next job, planning the future of your relationship or even planning to catch a movie, “Life” is the stuff that happens between plan inception and execution.

That exact type of interference, in the form of the annual BlizzCon event (a wicked awesome gathering of fans of Blizzard Entertainment in Anaheim, California) and a debilitating cold (which is common side-effect of 25,000 nerds gathering in one place), is what rendered me incapable of providing a movie review for the past three weeks. Since the past three weeks are the only three weeks I have missed in nearly four years of writing reviews, I hope that my absence can be forgiven.

On a much less business-related note, Happy Belated Thanksgiving everyone! The Thanksgiving holiday was truly wonderful for me this year as it was the first time I had been back to Hays since moving to Washington, D.C. over the summer. I ate, sleep, was merry and spent much-needed quality time with my family.

My ease of access to food and the close proximity of loved ones is exactly opposite of the situation that the protagonist, a young Apatosaurus named Arlo, of “The Good Dinosaur” finds himself in. Set millions of years after an asteroid (that killed the dinosaurs in our world) nearly misses a prehistoric earth, Dinosaurs have evolved into early farmers and ranchers. Seeing dinosaurs farm with, literally, their faces is nothing short of mesmerizing. The concept and initial set-up of “The Good Dinosaur” is very much in the vein of Pixar’s greatest triumphs – even if the resulting movie falls a tiny bit short.

There is a lot of “The Land Before Time,” one of my all-time favorite childhood movies, in “The Good Dinosaur,” in addition to a moderate dose of “The Lion King.” While certain elements are cut from these masterpiece clothes, “The Good Dinosaur” is ultimately one of Pixar’s weaker entries. Granted, a weak entry from Pixar is something akin to a weak painting from Picasso.

There are certainly some good lessons, a compelling journey and stunning visuals in “The Good Dinosaur.” Furthermore, as “Jurassic World” continued to prove earlier this year, there is magic in bringing dinosaurs to the silver screen. Whether brought back to life in a genetics lab or an animation studio, our collective consciousness continues to love dinosaurs. “The Good Dinosaur” is a good character, a good cinematic dinosaur and a great family holiday cinematic outing.

5 of 6 stars