50 Fun Facts About The Good Dinosaur

What species of dinosaur is Arlo in The Good Dinosaur?

Animators filmed elephants at a zoo to work out how a timid long-necked giant should move.

What is the name of the human boy Arlo befriends?

Arlo wins a naming contest against a Styracosaurus who wanted the boy as a pet.

Who directed The Good Dinosaur?

Sohn replaced original director Bob Peterson in 2014 after story problems; he had made the short Partly Cloudy.

In which year was The Good Dinosaur released?

It came out six months after Inside Out, the first time Pixar released two films in one year.

What alternate-history twist sets up The Good Dinosaur's world?

Millions of years later, herbivores have become farmers and carnivores ranchers.

What crop does Arlo's family grow?

Each child earns the right to make a mud-print mark on the family's corn silo.

What are the names of Arlo's parents?

Jeffrey Wright and Frances McDormand voice Poppa Henry and Momma Ida.

How does Arlo's father die in The Good Dinosaur?

Henry had just saved Arlo from the flood when the storm took him.

Who voices Arlo in The Good Dinosaur?

Ochoa replaced Lucas Neff when most of the cast was swapped out during the 2014 reboot of the story.

Who voices Spot?

Spot is a seven-year-old caveboy who communicates only in grunts and howls.

Which actor voices Butch, the Tyrannosaurus rancher?

Animators modelled Butch's look on screen cowboys played by Clint Eastwood and Jack Palance.

Who voices Ramsey, Butch's daughter?

A. J. Buckley voices her brother Nash.

Which Oscar winner voices Arlo's mother, Momma Ida?

McDormand was the only member of the original 2013 cast to keep her role after the film was reimagined.

Who voices Poppa Henry?

Wright replaced John Lithgow, who had recorded the part for the earlier version of the film.

What kind of dinosaur is Forrest Woodbush?

He keeps a menagerie of small animals perched on his horns and challenges Arlo to a naming contest for Spot.

Who voices Thunderclap, leader of the pterodactyl gang?

Zahn's carnivorous flock carries Spot off during the film's final storm.

The members of Thunderclap's flock are all named after what?

Downpour, Coldfront, Frostbite and Windgust round out the pterodactyl gang.

What is the name of the leader of the Dromaeosaurid rustlers?

John Ratzenberger keeps his Pixar streak alive as Earl, one of Bubbha's pack.

Which role does Pixar regular John Ratzenberger voice in The Good Dinosaur?

Ratzenberger has voiced a character in every Pixar feature since Hamm in Toy Story.

What are Butch's family herding in The Good Dinosaur?

The herd is made up of prehistoric Bison latifrons, and cattle rustlers are after them.

Who originally came up with the idea for The Good Dinosaur in 2009?

Peterson, co-director of Up, was removed in 2013 after third-act story problems he could not solve.

The film's original creator said his inspiration came from seeing what as a child?

He wanted audiences to know what it was really like to be, and be with, a dinosaur.

Which Disney film took The Good Dinosaur's original November 2013 release slot?

The film was pushed to May 2014, then to November 2015 as the story was rebuilt.

The Good Dinosaur's final November 2015 date had been reserved for which Pixar film?

Inside Out in turn had originally held the May 2014 slot that The Good Dinosaur briefly occupied.

How many employees did Pixar lay off in November 2013 after the film's delay?

The cuts followed the closure of Pixar Canada a month earlier, which cost about 80 more jobs.

Which actor originally recorded the role of Arlo's father before being recast?

Lithgow had said in 2014 the film was being completely reimagined and he would re-record, but was ultimately replaced.

Judy Greer, Bill Hader and who were cast as Arlo's siblings in an early version?

The trio was cut down to one brother, Buck, and later a sister, Libby.

What did the filmmakers decide should serve as the antagonist of The Good Dinosaur?

Producer Denise Ream put it simply: nature can overcome anything, including a massive dinosaur.

Which US region did the team visit to research the film's landscapes?

They spent time in Jackson Hole, Wyoming, Juntura, Oregon and southern Montana.

What real-world sources did Pixar use to build the film's terrain?

The geographic foundation let Sohn shoot in any direction and keep the world feeling big and real.

What technical first did The Good Dinosaur bring to Pixar's skies?

Lighting cinematographer Sharon Calahan called the storm clouds almost a villain, present in nearly every scene.

What animal did animators film at a zoo as reference for Arlo's movement?

They built a rule: when Arlo's hips go up, his head goes up and his chest goes down.

How much server space did The Good Dinosaur take up?

That was ten times the footprint of Monsters University two years earlier.

When the T. rexes run, their lower bodies mimic what?

Their upper bodies were meant to feel like a cowboy riding in the saddle.

Who composed the score for The Good Dinosaur?

It was the first Pixar film scored by two composers; Mychael Danna had won an Oscar for Life of Pi.

Which composer was originally attached to score The Good Dinosaur?

He left when the film changed directors; the Danna brothers took over.

Which Pixar short played before The Good Dinosaur in theaters?

Sanjay Patel's short imagines Hindu gods as superheroes and is based on his own childhood.

Which short was originally set to accompany The Good Dinosaur before the delay?

The Monsters University short ended up playing with Muppets Most Wanted instead.

In which city did The Good Dinosaur premiere on November 10, 2015?

It played an exclusive run at the Grand Rex a week before its US and European release.

The Good Dinosaur was released in the same year as which other Pixar film?

It was the first time Pixar put out two features in a single calendar year.

How much did The Good Dinosaur gross worldwide?

Against a $175-200 million budget, Disney was estimated to have lost $85 million.

Which film beat The Good Dinosaur over its opening Thanksgiving weekend?

Pixar's film took second with $56 million over the five-day holiday.

Which country was The Good Dinosaur's top international market?

The UK delivered $22.5 million, ahead of France's $18 million and Japan's $14.9 million.

What Rotten Tomatoes approval rating did The Good Dinosaur hold as of 2025?

As of 2025 it sat at 76%. Critics praised the near-photoreal landscapes but felt the story fell short of Pixar's usual standard.

What did Sanjay Patel's Pixar short film reimagine as superheroes?

It draws on Patel's childhood, bored by his father's meditation and obsessed with a TV superhero show.

The Good Dinosaur's director made his directorial debut with which Pixar short?

He later directed Elemental, which earned an Oscar nomination for Best Animated Feature.

Which character from Up was based on the appearance of The Good Dinosaur's director?

Sohn even voiced Russell in the spin-off short George & A.J.

Where does Arlo leave his mark on the silo at the end of the film?

He finally earns the mud-print he had struggled for all film, after saying goodbye to Spot.

Who does Spot ultimately go to live with at the end of The Good Dinosaur?

Arlo reluctantly encourages him to join the caveman, his wife and children they meet near the farm.

What triggers the megatsunami near the film's climax?

Arlo leaps into the water to shield Spot and the two are swept over a waterfall.