We’re Back! A Dinosaur’s Story

Captain New Eyes travels back in time and feeds dinosaurs his Brain Grain cereal, which makes them intelligent and non-violent…

• Director:Phil Nibbelink
• Genre:Animation / Family / Fantasy
• Runtime:71 minutes

Cast

John Goodman : Rex (voice)
Blaze Berdahl : Buster (voice)
Rhea Perlman : Mother Bird (voice)
Jay Leno : Vorb (voice)
René Le Vant : Woog (voice)

The film opens with a trio of violent young birds attacking their youngest sibling Buster (Blaze Berdahl). As Buster leaves his family, he meets an intelligent golf-playing Tyrannosaurus rex aptly named Rex (John Goodman). Rex explains to Buster that he was once a stupid and violent dinosaur, and proceeds to tell the story of how he came to become what he is today.

Millions of years in the past, Rex is a very savage creature who terrorizes smaller animals until a futuristic aircraft arrives and interrupts Rex’s rampage. Rex is greeted by a small green creature named Vorb (Jay Leno) who feeds him “Brain Grain”, a cereal that increases Rex’s intelligence. The inventor of the cereal and pilot of the aircraft, Captain Neweyes (Walter Cronkite), brings in Rex, gives him his name, and introduces him to other dinosaurs that have been fed Brain Grain: Dweeb the Parasaurolophus (Charles Fleischer), Woog the Triceratops (Rene Le Vant) and Elsa the Pterosaur (Felicity Kendal). Neweyes then reveals his goal of allowing the children of the present time to see real dinosaurs, fulfilling their biggest wishes. He informs them that there are two people to keep an eye out for: Doctor Juliet Bleeb (Julia Child), a scientist from the Museum of Natural History who will aid the dinosaurs, and Professor Screweyes (Kenneth Mars), Neweyes’s insane brother. He instructs them to find Doctor Bleeb and avoid Professor Screweyes.

Neweyes drops the dinosaurs off at the Hudson River where they meet a young raft-sailing boy named Louie (Joey Shea), who plans on joining the circus. Upon reaching New York City, Louie realizes that people would panic if they saw live dinosaurs and, with the help of Elsa, flies over the city in search of a good hiding place. During the flight, Louie comes across a girl named Cecilia Nuthatch (Yeardley Smith), who explains that her parents are hardly around. Louie convinces Cecilia to abandon her home and introduces her to the dinosaurs (Louie and Cecilia then quickly develop a crush on each other). When the dinosaurs explain their goal of getting to the Museum of Natural History, Louie decides to disguise them as floats in the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade. During the parade, Rex hears all the children wishing to see real dinosaurs, so he starts to sing the song “Roll Back the Rock (To the Dawn of Time).” When the audience realizes that live dinosaurs are among them, they fly into a panic. The local authorities are called in to stop the dinosaurs, resulting in a slapstick-filled chase scene. As the dinosaurs lose the cops, Louie and Cecilia venture to Central Park, where Professor Screweyes is running his “Eccentric Circus”. Louie and Cecilia meet Professor Screweyes and cite their desire to join his circus. As they literally sign a contract in blood, the dinosaurs arrive and try to save them. Screweyes, upon meeting the dinosaurs, explains that he delights in scaring people and believes that the dinosaurs would make a great addition to his circus. He then reveals his very own “Brain Drain”, the polar opposite of his brother’s Brain Grain. He demonstrates the Brain Drain on Louie and Cecilia, devolving them into apes as he makes the dinosaurs a deal: if the dinosaurs consume the Brain Drain and join his circus, he’d destroy the contract and let Louie and Cecilia free. Reluctantly, the dinosaurs accept the offer. Read more

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