''Dinosaur'' is an animated short film directed and produced by

Will Vinton William Gale Vinton (November 17, 1947 – October 4, 2018) was an American animator and filmmaker. Vinton was best known for his Claymation work, alongside creating iconic characters such as The California Raisins. He won an Academy Awards, Os ...

. In 1987, the film was extended and released on video under the title ''Dinosaurs!''. The new footage stars Fred Savage playing a grade school student named Philip who gives a class report on

dinosaur Dinosaurs are a diverse group of reptiles of the clade Dinosauria. They first appeared during the Triassic Geological period, period, between 243 and 233.23 million years ago (mya), although the exact origin and timing of the #Evolutio ...

s, with the help of an animated chalkboard and

claymation Claymation, sometimes called clay animation or plasticine animation, is one of many forms of stop-motion animation. Each animated piece, either character or background, is "deformable"—made of a malleable substance, usually plasticine cl ...

dinosaurs.

Background

Originally created in 1980, when it was known more simply as ''Dinosaur'', the 17-minute claymation short by Vinton Productions would later be used for this 1987 video. The popular short is also played at the Smithsonian Museum and has won numerous awards. This film is also played BOB's request in Rocky Hill,

Connecticut Connecticut ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It borders Rhode Island to the east, Massachusetts to the north, New York (state), New York to the west, and Long Island Sound to the south. ...

at the museum in Dinosaur State Park. It is also played at the Pacific Science Center (in

Seattle, Washington Seattle ( ) is the List of municipalities in Washington, most populous city in the U.S. state of Washington (state), Washington and in the Pacific Northwest region of North America. With a population of 780,995 in 2024, it is the List of Unit ...

) in the ''Dinosaurs A Journey Through Time'' exhibit, but cuts out the first two parts and narrows it down to the claymation dinosaur story. ''Dinosaurs!'' was designed as an

educational film An educational film is a film or movie whose primary purpose is to educate. Educational films have been used in classrooms as an alternative to other teaching methods. History Determining which films should count as the first educational fil ...

for young children new to the world of

prehistoric Prehistory, also called pre-literary history, is the period of human history between the first known use of stone tools by hominins million years ago and the beginning of recorded history with the invention of writing systems. The use o ...

life; the video slipsleeve describes the film with "Discover the ''real'' monsters who dominated the earth for millions of years!" The cartoon animation of the chalkboard is used to elaborate on attributes such as the extinction of the dinosaurs as well as their brain capacity, while the Vinton claymation illustrates, in a colorful and simplistic manner, the brutal lives of the many dinosaurs. The movie also introduces a

music video A music video is a video that integrates a song or an album with imagery that is produced for promotion (marketing), promotional or musical artistic purposes. Modern music videos are primarily made and used as a music marketing device intended to ...

for the song "

Mesozoic The Mesozoic Era is the Era (geology), era of Earth's Geologic time scale, geological history, lasting from about , comprising the Triassic, Jurassic and Cretaceous Period (geology), Periods. It is characterized by the dominance of archosaurian r ...

Mind" by Charmer, featuring cartoon dinosaurs performing it.

Plot

The video—with beginning scenes filmed in 1987—begins with a young boy named Phillip (played by Fred Savage) sitting in his bedroom, listening to loud music, and struggling to find an idea for a class report on a science topic. While struggling to find some ideas, and irking his mother (who threatens to call his father if he does not turn off the music and go to bed) with his loud music, he plays a song on his boom box (titled "Mesozoic Mind"). And the song provides him with an inspiration for his report: DINOSAURS! Philip then goes to sleep and has a dream, where he discovers that the search for the truth about these magnificent animals and their astonishing 160-million-year success on Earth is probably the most fascinating speculation there is. Phillip then finishes his report and presents it to the class. The class report is then covered through the 1980 claymation short ''Dinosaur'' by Will Vinton Productions.

Awards

* Chicago International Film Festival, 1980 * Gold Hugo * Gold Award, Houston International Film Festival, 1980

References

External links

MesozoicMind.com—Give me a Mesozoic Mind...
* *
Overview of the Dinosaur Documentary
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Dinosaur (1980 film) 1980 animated short films 1980 films 1980 children's films 1987 animated short films 1987 films 1987 children's films Films using stop-motion animation Museum educational materials Smithsonian Institution publications Animated films about dinosaurs American animated short films 1980s English-language films 1980s American films 1980 direct-to-video films Films produced by Will Vinton Films directed by Will Vinton English-language short films

Background

Plot

Awards

See also

References

External links