The Dawn of the Dinosaurs 1

I retreat to movies when I do not feel at home in culture. Culture is what makes a place a home, but American culture has never been a home to me. You may say that movies are a cultural product, but I see movies as more of a witty comment on culture, especially this movie. None of the animals in this movie really feel at home. The saber-toothed lion wants adventure and the thrill of the hunt, but he is getting old and losing his touch. The mammoths want to have a family, but they discover to their dismay that there are animals called the "Dinosaurs." The sloth wants to be a mother, but he is a male.

They are all out of touch with natural cycles. The only animals that are in touch are the primordial squirrels who are always in or out of love with each other. They seem to be doing a flamingo dance around each other. They too have a conflict between surviving and loving. They forever chase the acorn even at the cost of destroying their love for each other.

One of the scenes that I really love is where the sloth makes a playroom for the different animals including the baby dinosaurs. The baby dinosaurs are trying to play with the other animals, but they end up eating, destroying or making playthings out of the other animals. At the end, we see a broken decoration. That broken piece of decoration becomes a sign of the crack leading to the underground world of the dinosaurs.

Subconsciously, there is much chaos and destruction in this world. Like the world of Ghosts of the Ghostbuster movies, the dinsoaurs represent unconscious drives and wishes that threaten to enter the conscious world. The dinosaurs are destructive and selfish forces that must be turned into a positive force.