Film
We're Back! A Dinosaur's Story
- Time-travel sci-fi
- Light-hearted
A 1993 animated film where time-traveling Captain Neweyes feeds dinosaurs a magical cereal that makes them smart and kind, then brings them to modern New York to make children's wishes come true. It's a gentle, earnest adventure with wild tonal shifts, bright animation, and the kind of plot logic only children's films attempt. Perfect for nostalgic adults and kids who like dinosaurs more than narrative coherence.
If you liked this
The Land Before Time1988
An emotional dinosaur odyssey with real stakes, gorgeous animation, and a genuine sense of prehistoric wonder. Spielberg produced; the craft is visible in every frame.
But The sequels diluted the brand terribly, so the original might feel buried under decades of straight-to-video mediocrity in your memory.

Jurassic Park1993
Released the same year, it's the film We're Back wishes it were: dinosaurs brought to life with cutting-edge effects, genuine thrills, and a screenplay that respects the audience's intelligence.
But If you've seen it recently, watching it again might feel like a waste when something new calls. The spectacle hasn't aged as gracefully as people claim.

DuckTales: The Movie - Treasure of the Lost Lamp1990
Another early-90s animated adventure with a similar DNA: colorful, episodic, packed with vocal talent, and utterly unconcerned with plausibility. Pure comfort viewing.
But The plot is genuinely thin even by the standards of its era. It coasts on charm and you either surrender to that or you don't.

Not sure tonight? Get a pick in a minute, starting from We're Back! A Dinosaur's Story
The wildcard
Something you would not have found on your own.
The Dinosaur Project2012
Both films commit entirely to the fantastical premise without cynicism. They believe in dinosaurs as inherently wonderful, not as monsters to fear. The tone is pure adventure, not deconstruction.
Found-footage adventure where a team discovers living dinosaurs in remote Congo. It sounds absurd (it is) but commits fully: practical creature work, genuine thrills, and the premise played completely straight without winking at the audience.
But The found-footage format feels dated now and the dialogue is often clunky. It's a B-movie through and through—no irony shield, no apology, which some viewers will find embarrassing.

More like this (7)
An American Tail: Fievel Goes West1991
Amblin animation at its peak: a mouse in the Old West, gorgeous backgrounds, James Horner's score, and the kind of earnest sentiment that makes you feel like a kid again.
But The pacing meanders; you're never quite sure what the stakes are until late. By then some viewers will have checked out.

FernGully: The Last Rainforest1992
Magical, weird, visually ambitious animation about a shrunk human in a fairy rainforest. The voice cast is stellar and the environmental message doesn't smother the adventure.
But The villain (Tim Curry as a sentient cloud of pollution) is genuinely unsettling in ways the film doesn't quite earn. It can feel tonally muddled.

The Swan Princess1994
A lush, surprising animation of Swan Lake with real ambition in its storytelling, character work, and willingness to subvert fairy-tale conventions in clever ways.
But The animation quality is uneven, especially in action sequences, and some voice performances strain against the material. It's obvious the budget wasn't quite there.

Aladdin1992
Disney's animation Renaissance at full roar: Robin Williams unleashed as the Genie, gorgeous design, a score by Alan Menken that soars, and genuine wit in the script.
But The film is so overstuffed that characters get short-changed and the plot feels like it's being rushed through to get to the next setpiece.

Beauty and the Beast1991
The best Disney film of the era: gorgeous, romantic, with a heroine who reads books and questions authority. The ballroom scene is cinema magic.
But The pacing sags in the middle act and Gaston's villainy is so cartoonish it undercuts the emotional weight the film is reaching for.

FernGully 2: The Magical Rescue1998
A direct sequel that actually improves on the original in some ways: tighter pacing, better character balance, and a genuine emotional core beneath the environmental messaging.
But Straight-to-video production values show everywhere. If you need theatrical animation polish, this will disappoint. It's sincere but scrappy.

The Water Horse2007
Both are creature films built on wonder rather than fear. Both center a child's relationship with an impossible animal. Both trust that spectacle and emotion can coexist without one cheapening the other.
A boy discovers a mysterious egg that hatches into a water creature in Scottish Loch Ness. It's a creature-companion film with real beauty, excellent practical effects, and genuine emotional stakes about growing up and letting go.
But It's fundamentally sentimental in ways modern cinema avoids. If you're allergic to earnestness and sentiment, the film will feel saccharine and slow.

People
Cast
John GoodmanRex (voice)
René Le VantWoog (voice)
Felicity KendalElsa (voice)
Charles FleischerDweeb (voice)
Walter CronkiteCaptain Neweyes (voice)
Jay LenoVorb (voice)
Joey SheaLouie (voice)
Yeardley SmithCecilia (voice)
Martin ShortStubbs the Clown (voice)
Kenneth MarsProfessor Screweyes (voice)
Julia ChildDr. Bleeb (voice)
Blaze BerdahlBuster (voice)
Directing
- Dick ZondagDirector
- Phil NibbelinkDirector
- Ralph ZondagDirector
- Simon WellsDirector
- Brendan HoughtonLayout
- Chris ScullyLayout
- Clive HutchingsLayout
- Damon O'BeirneLayout
- Das PetrouLayout
- David KenyonLayout
- Douglas KirkLayout
- Glenn JeffsLayout
- Hervé LeblanLayout
- Marco CinelloLayout
- Mark MarrenLayout
- Panagiotis RappasLayout
- Tony PulhamLayout
Writing
- Hudson TalbottNovel
- John Patrick ShanleyScreenplay
Production
- Nancy NayorCasting
- Valerie McCaffreyCasting
- Thad WeinleinCo-Producer
- Frank MarshallExecutive Producer
- Kathleen KennedyExecutive Producer
- Steven SpielbergExecutive Producer
- Steve HicknerProducer
Recommended by
Fraggle Rock, My Parents Are Aliens, Muppets Most Wanted, Balto, Zookeeper, The Jim Henson Hour, Emmet Otter's Jug-Band Christmas