On a brisk Friday in November, LJ and Zofia were running through the hallways to meet up with their friends at lunch.
"GUYS!" LJ called out. "GUYS, YOU WON'T BELIEVE WHAT'S GONNA HAPPEN! THIS IS GONNA BE SO AWESOME!"
"What?" Gaz asked softly while the others looked at the Schwartz siblings.
"We...are gonna go see a dinosaur movie, made by Pixar!" LJ exclaimed.
"Pixar made a dinosaur movie?" Dib asked. "Well, sign me up! Pixar's the best!"
"Hmm... I don't think I've seen a dinosaur movie," Kimberly said. "First time for everything though."
"This is gonna rock!" Akito remarked.
"Dinosaurs, huh?" Chrissy asked as she put on some lipstick.
"Chrissy, you should come too," Zofia said. "You're our friend."
"Yeah!" LJ grinned. "This will ROCK!"
Raul nodded. "Besides, it could be...a da~te!" he added.
"Well... All right..." Chrissy said. "I guess it couldn't hurt, even if not a lot of dinosaurs share the glitz and glamour that I do."
"You sound like those crazy girls who enter beauty pageants to make themselves sound loved by their parents." Zofia commented.
"Except more emotionally stable." Martin added.
"We going after school then?" Chrissy asked.
"Uh, if that's okay," Zofia smiled. "We'll just have to do some quick homework in Study Hall of course."
"Darn..." LJ grumbled.
"You know how Mother gets if our homework isn't done." Zofia said to her brother.
"I know..." LJ replied. "Let's get to it."
Everyone still felt excited about the movie, but went back to their own classes, doing some homework in between so they wouldn't have to think about doing it for after the movie. Luckily, they managed to find some focus time, though still thought about seeing a dinosaur movie from Pixar which sounded too good to be true.
"Seriously, guys, this is Pixar we're talking about," replied LJ. "They made bugs cool. There's no way they could fail to make dinosaurs cool!"
"Pixar does have a lot of movie magic," Vincent said as he painted on his easel for Art Class. "Bugs... Toys... Rats... They're just incredible!"
"Uh-huh! Uh-huh!" LJ agreed. "Not to mention an entire film based on the whole Monster in the Closet idea!"
"This is gonna be the best time ever!" The group all cheered out of excitement of seeing the movie.
And so, that afternoon...
"I didn't think the final bell would ever ring," Kimberly said. "Don't get me wrong, I don't mind school, but this movie's gonna be great!"
They soon went off to the movie theater to see The Good Dinosaur. They got their concessions and went into the theater.
"This is gonna be so great!" Dib beamed.
"Make us proud, Pixar." Akito added eagerly.
LJ settled in between Chrissy and Kimberly as the previews began playing.
"Let's see what movies we'll see in a year from now before seeing it in the theater... Such a tease!" Zofia said.
And so they sat and watched the previews. Some of them they liked, some of them they didn't, but they had plans for future times they would go out to the movies again. And finally, the feature presentation began.
"Finally!" Zofia sighed in relief.
They soon began to watch the movie which started off in outer-space. A comet was soon coming towards Earth which would eventually kill all of the dinosaurs, but it seemed to miss the dinosaurs which made them look up before they continued to graze in the grass. The movie then cut to millions of years later.
"Nice backgrounds... Looks almost real..." Vincent commented.
"So far, so good." LJ replied.
They soon saw some opening credits with beautiful looking backgrounds and saw a hut.
"Maybe it's the Green Thumb in me, but I like the backgrounds." Estelle commented.
"Perhaps," Raul replied. "But this is awesome so far!"
They soon heard stomping and saw a dinosaur come out.
"Ooh, look at him," Akito smirked. "Maybe that's our big, bad, but awesome protagonist."
The dinosaur stomped around, showing how big and tall he was before striking down a tree with his tail and threw it into a pile behind him as he seemed to garden around the field he lived in.
"I wouldn't say big and bad..." LJ remarked.
"Eh, he still looks a bit badass." Akito shrugged with a small smile.
Another dinosaur soon joined the first one.
"I guess they're gardening." Estelle said.
"I guess they have a little community of their own." LJ replied.
"Hmm... All right..." Akito shrugged. "Nothing wrong with that."
The female dinosaur soon called the male dinosaur inside and they joined together to see three eggs. One of which was very big.
"Which one did ya say moved?" The male asked.
"The one on the left." The female replied.
"You would think considering this is a movie about dinosaurs made by Pixar, things would get interesting a bit faster." Martin shrugged.
"Maybe it's getting there," Jenny said. "Even some of the best movies start out slow."
Eventually, the eggs began to hatch and the family named them Buck and Libby. Zofia slowly sipped her soda as this seemed to be a very slow beginning, even for a kid's movie. The final egg was soon about to hatch.
"Let me guess, he's totally tiny and not big and strong like I'm imagining?" Akito commented.
"You are correct, sir!" Jenny replied as the egg hatched.
The egg soon hatched to show a very tiny and weak dinosaur who would be named Arlo.
"Maybe he'll learn to grow as a dinosaur and in muscle like Hercules?" Akito suggested.
"He might grow, but that'll probably be it." LJ replied.
"Well, he looks a bit cute... Cuz he's small," Jenny said. "Kinda reminds me of Aunt Lu's pet turtle."
"Minus the shell." Martin agreed.
30 minutes passed as they continued watching the movie. It seemed a lot longer than that, and they saw the death of Arlo's father, but had a hard time feeling sorry for him and he soon met a feral boy he named Spot since he was like a dog.
"Reminds me of Donnie Thornberry." Akito, Estelle, and Vincent remarked.
"The resemblance is uncanny!" LJ added.
The movie still seemed slow and dull though, but the younger kids laughed at some moments they found funny.
"Was that a joke?" Vincent asked.
"I don't think so." Chrissy replied.
"I can't tell which ones are jokes." LJ remarked.
"The cave kid is peeing!" A little kid called out before laughing with his friends.
The others sweat-dropped.
"Bathroom humor, huh...?" Kimberly muttered. "Not even Waffle would laugh at that..."
"YOU HAVE ALL GONE TO THE TOILET BEFORE!" LJ called out. "IT ISN'T THAT FUNNY!"
"Thank you." Kimberly sighed.
A lot of the other people in the theater shushed LJ.
The movie soon kept going until they got to Arlo finding a human family and deciding to let Spot stay with them which made some of the mothers in the audience cry at the emotional scene.
"Guess it's a happy ending...sorta." Martin remarked.
Arlo soon came back home to his family. Zofia snored as she had fallen asleep during the movie.
"Sis. Wake up. The movie is over." LJ shook her shoulder.
"Huh? I wasn't sleeping!" Zofia snorted before blinking. "Mm... What'd I miss?"
"Honestly, I don't remember." Estelle said, feeling disappointed.
"You didn't miss much." LJ replied.
The end credits soon rolled and the lights came back on.
"What... Was... THAT?!" Akito ranted. "What was that?!"
"Boooring!" LJ remarked.
The group soon left the theater in vast disappointment.
"Pixar betrayed us!" Zofia yelled out.
"DARN YOU, PIXAR!" Martin shouted to the sky.
They soon met back at the Schwartz's house, complaining about The Good Dinosaur which really ticked them off.
"That was the lamest movie ever!" Dib exclaimed.
"I think I just remembered why we quit seeing animated movies in the theater anymore." Gaz grumbled.
"It's like none of them are GOOD anymore!" LJ agreed. "The Good Dinosaur? More like The Huge Dino-Snore!"
"I sense some trouble in the living room." Cherry said while polishing her weapons from other adventures which were not safe for children.
"Really?" Lionel asked. "What gave ya that idea?"
"The kids sound like you whenever we watch a movie that disappoints you." Cherry replied.
"Good point," Lionel replied. "Suppose we oughta do something for 'em before Felicity takes them over to the Pickles' house?"
"Hmm... It might be nice," Cherry said. "What can we do though? It's sad they couldn't have grown up with the dinosaur movies we did... And those times I had at Jurassic Park with Atticus."
"Well, I might have a few." Lionel replied with a smile.
Cherry looked to him as they soon looked back into the living room.
"And that is what is wrong with kid's movie these days!" Dib continued to rant in the living room.
The others murmured in agreement.
Lionel reached into his bag and pulled out a handful of DVDs. "I think this might be able to help!"
"Kids, we have something to share with you." Cherry said.
The kids looked over as Cherry and Lionel came in.
"Behold! Real dinosaur movies!" Cherry told them.
Lionel pulled out the first five Land Before Time movies and waved them around mystically. The kids soon stood up and gathered around.
"The Land Before Time... The Great Valley Adventure... The Time of Great Giving... Journey Through the Mists... The Mysterious Island?" Zofia read aloud each of the titles.
"These are real dinosaur movies for kids." Cherry told them.
"They have a group of kid dinos going on huge adventures, and they almost die every time, but the characters are super-memorable and fun!" Lionel explained. "Plus there are a bunch more movies afterwards."
"Hmm... If you say so..." Zofia said, a bit unsurely.
"Aw, come on, you guys, don't let one bad dinosaur movie cloud your judgement," Cherry said. "I tried not to let Surf's Up do that when I saw Happy Feet back when penguins were like the most popular animal ever at the time after March of the Penguins came out."
"Look, you GOTTA watch the trailer for yourself." Lionel replied, putting the trailer on the TV.
The others looked over and looked to the screen.
"They're gonna show us every joke and best moments, aren't they?" Chrissy asked.
"Nah, that wasn't really a thing back then," Cherry said. "Movie trailers mostly left you in the dark back then so you see the movie for yourself with fresh eyes even though you kind of have an idea of what's going on."
"Plus, they were actually super-cool, and got you hyped for the movie instead of spoiling it all during the trailer!" Lionel added as it began.
They soon began to watch the trailer for themselves, and it already looked a whole lot better than The Good Dinosaur.
"Oh! That animation!" Zofia gasped. "It's so beautiful!"
"It's so...vibrant and life-like!" LJ exclaimed.
"Why couldn't Arlo be like that long-necked dinosaur?" Chrissy frowned.
"I like the little one!" Zofia smiled.
"She is pretty cute." Gaz had to admit.
"The pterodactyl is my favorite!" LJ exclaimed.
Cherry and Lionel seemed happy that the kids seemed to enjoy the Land Before Time already.
Soon enough, the trailer ended.
"Okay, now I'm interested." Dib smirked.
"That's more like it!" Cherry said with excitement, even if she didn't exactly smile. "Let's wash that bad taste of a boring movie out your mouth with an underrated classic."
"I am so DOWN for that!" LJ remarked, and the other kids agreed.
"All right then, let's give you guys a real show," Cherry said, taking out the first movie, putting it on for them. "I'll go make you guys some snacks."
"This is gonna be AWESOME!" Kimberly gushed.
Cherry and Lionel soon came into the kitchen while the kids were about to watch the first Land Before Time movie.
"Nothing can ruin this." Dib said out of excitement.
"Agreed." Gaz nodded.
They soon settled in to watching the movie as it seemed to be all in good fun so far, but something strange would soon happen. The TV began to spark and glimmer, before a bright flash of light seemed to engulf all of the kids. The kids soon yelped out as they were suddenly sucked away.
Cherry poked her head out. "Why do I feel like this was done by a magical force?" she muttered to herself.
"Because it was?" Lionel stated.
"Typical..." Cherry said. "You think they'll do better than I did at Jurassic Park?"
"Well, hopefully," Lionel replied. "As long as they survive the Sharptooth."
"Ooh..." Cherry shook chills all around her body. "Yes, indeed. Who knows what other horrors might lie in the Stone Age?"
"Aye," Lionel nodded. "But they're a great group of kids. They can handle themselves."
"Well... All right," Cherry said. "I just hope they know what to do when it comes to Sharptooth."
"Hey, I trust those kids to get themselves outta trouble," Lionel replied with a smile.
Cherry looked to him and soon went back into the kitchen for a drink.
