We're Back! A Dinosaur's Story (film)

1993 animated film

Although Talbott had little involvement, he encountered the creators of the film many times during production, including Spielberg who would make several calls to the author from Los Angeles and had a personal meeting with him when he first arrived in London. Horner also composed the film score, having previously scored Fievel Goes West. According to Nibbelink, however, during the scoring sessions, instead of conducting the score himself as he normally did, Horner hired four freelance composers to conduct while he supervised from the control booth. The sequence of Professor Screweyes' demise was also considerably toned down. known as the dinosaur renaissance, which started in the 1960s. We're Back! A Dinosaur's Story was released in the same year as Jurassic Park, and was marketed as the more family friendly Spielberg made dinosaur film; the tagline in promotional materials was "A dinosaur adventure for the whole family". Fiction in the dinosaur renaissance presented the creatures in a more friendly and upfront manner; We're Back! A Dinosaur's Story, for example, depicts dinosaurs in an American suburb doing activities like playing golf. We're Back! A Dinosaur's Story was heavily advertised and promoted with merchandise and fast food tie ins. A balloon of Rex floated at the real life 1993 Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade, which deflated after coming into contact with a traffic light. Hi Tech Expressions also published platform video games based on the film for the Sega Genesis, Game Boy and Super Nintendo Entertainment System (SNES). In the Genesis and SNES games, the player plays as Cecilia and Louie helping the dinosaurs get to the museum, while the Game Boy game, a reskinned version of the existing game Baby T Rex, involves the dinosaur Rex as a playable character rescuing the other three dinosaurs captured by Screweyes. We're Back! A Dinosaur's Story was released to American theaters on November 24, 1993. It was released on March 15, 1994 on home video. Each copy included pockets of reusable stickers and coupons for Universal Theme Parks and products from Nestle, The Hertz Corporation, and First Alert.

In the United States, We're Back! A Dinosaur's Story opened during the Thanksgiving holiday with other new entries including Mrs. Doubtfire, A Perfect World and a film adaptation of George Balanchine's The Nutcracker. It grossed $4.6 million on its opening week, well below expectations. Its opening weekend at the time was attributed to snow storms and weather patterns across the country and had also affected the rest of the film box office that weekend. In its second weekend, We're Back! A Dinosaur's Story grossed $1.5 million, a 60% decline. with journalists quickly evaluating its run as a commercial flop.

Mixed opinions continued in retrospective coverage. Seventeen, in 2017, listed it as one of the 18 best animated films to view on Netflix; and Country Living, in 2019, included it in a list of the 15 best kid friendly dinosaur films. On the other hand, The A. V. Club placed it in its 2015 list of the 14 worst dinosaur media; and Paste, that same year, ranked the dinosaur characters the ninth worst in popular culture, calling them the "silliest, most annoying of the animated dinosaurs". The A. V. Club also ranked Screweyes' devouring by the crows the 19th most terrifying moment in children's entertainment. /Films Dalin Rowell felt that, despite its poor character animation and bizarre writing, the incorporation of a horror circus and real dinosaurs dancing on city streets would fascinate children's minds, and the character of Rex would appeal to young audiences looking for a supportive and very fun friend. Common Sense Media's Renee Schonfeld called it "clever enough, visually appealing enough, and brisk enough to make it satisfying". He praised the "engaging" child protagonists, voice acting, and parade scene, although felt it suffered from an "often tangled, overloaded story" with too many characters.