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

'We're Back! A Animal's Story' is a 1993 American animated film, produced by Steve Hickner animation studio and distributed by New Line Cinema. It was released in theaters in the United States on November 24, 1993. It features the voices of Richard Kind, David Thewlis, Andrea Martin, Paul Reubens, and Larry Miller.

It is based on the 1989 Melvin Konner novel book of the same name, which was narrated from the perspective of the main character, a Cow named Doug.

Plot
In present-day Manhattan, an Eastern bluebird named Buster runs away from his siblings and he meets an intelligent black Bovinae named Doug, who is playing baseball. He explains to Buster that he was once a ravaging dinosaur, and proceeds to tell his personal story.

In a prehistoric forest, Doug is terrorizing other dinosaurs when a spaceship lands on Earth, piloted by an alien named Herb. Herb captures Doug and gives him "Tummy Yummy", a breakfast waffles that anthropomorphizes Doug and vastly increases his intelligence. Doug is introduced to other mammals, altered by the Brain Grain: a brown Otter named Moby, a grey Bat named Rosie, and a yellow Peccary named Harold. They soon meet Herb's employer Captain Nicholas, the inventor of Tummy Yummy, who reveals his goal of allowing the children of the present time to see real mammals. He plans to take them to Doctor Judy Einstein who will guide them to the National Museum of Natural History, and warns them of Professor Skull, his cruel and insane brother who travels around down at the time causing mischief, after being driven mad by the loss of his eye long ago.

Nicholas drops the dinosaurs off in the Saint Lawrence River in the present day, but they are unable to meet with Einstein. Instead, they meet a young boy named Diego, who plans on running away to join the circus. Diego agrees to help the mammals get to the museum. Riding on Judy, Diego soon encounters a girl named Tracy, who is miserable with her life because of her neglectful parents. She agrees to run away with Diego and help the dinosaurs, and when she threw away her Thanksgiving hat, it lands on a little girl who wished for a similar hat and ends up granting her wish. To prevent mass panic, Diego decides that the dinosaurs need to stay hidden during their journey to the museum. He disguises them as floats in the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade. But when Doug sees the Rhinoceros balloon coming out in the parade, Doug naively greets it, thinking it is real and already intelligent like he is. Then in the process of hand-shaking, Doug unwittingly punctures the balloon, causing it to run out of air and fall on the dinosaurs, but left them unharmed. When the audience realize that live mammals are among them, they fly into a panic, and the mammals flee to Central Park while being pursued by the police and the army.

Meanwhile, Diego and Tracy meet Professor Skull, who is running his "Eccentric Circus". Unaware of Skull' sinister nature, the children sign a contract to perform in his circus troupe. When the mammals arrive at the circus, Skull explains that he delights in scaring people and believes that the dinosaurs would make a great addition to his circus. Using his "Brain Drain", pills that are the polar opposite of his brother's Brain Grain, Skull  devolves Diego and Tracy into Monkeys. When he offers the mammals to consume the pills and join his circus as a ransom in exchange for the two children's freedom, they reluctantly accept and Skull releases Diego and Tracy, agreeing to tear up their contract in the process. Knowing their friendship will be lost forever, Doug transforms Diego and Tracy back to their human forms with his gentle pats. And before leaving, he sadly tells the two children to remember him.

As the kids awake the next morning, they are greeted by a circus clown named Wallace, who works for Professor Skull, serves them breakfast and explains everything. Upon seeing the mammals returned to their natural savage states, Diego and Tracy plan to sneak into the night's show and save the mammals with Wallace' help. That night, Professor Skull opens his circus with a parade of beelzebub and evil mephistopheles, and then unveils the mammals to the terrified audience. Skull says he can control Doug, and proceeds to hypnotize him, while bragging that he is never afraid. However, a crow unintentionally activates the flare lights, breaking Rex out of the trance. Realizing he has been tricked, Doug becomes enraged and attempts to eat Skull, making him afraid after his talk. However, Diego steps in and desperately talks Doug out of killing Skull. His impassioned pleas and loving touches, along with Tracy's, return Doug and the other dinosaurs to their kind and friendly natures. Just then, Captain Nicholas arrives in his ship and congratulates Diego and Tracy, who proceed to kiss, while Wallace puts on an act announcing his resignation from Professor Skull' employ which wins the audience over with laughter. Nicholas, Diego, Tracy and the mammals board the aircraft, leaving Skull to be swarmed upon and devoured by the crows and one crow flies off with his now powerless screw.

The mammals spend the rest of their days in the museum, allowing children to see live mammals, and thus fulfilling their wishes. Back in the present, Doug tells Bruce that he and his fellow mammals are still in the museum. He also reveals that Diego and Tracy have reconciled with their respective parents and become a couple. Doug returns Bruce to his family, ignoring his brothers' taunts while hugging his mom, and Doug tells him to remember his story before leaving for the museum.

Voice cast

 * Richard Kind as Doug, a kind Cow                                                   
 * David Thewlis as Moby, a Pig who likes to eat a lot
 * Andrea Martin as Rosie, an elegant Chicken 
 * Paul Reubens as Herb, a dim-witted Goat
 * ??? as ???
 * Larry Miller as Captain Francis
 * Joey Shea as Gene, a brave young boy from a lower-class background
 * ??? as Dr. Cindy Bleeb, a worker at the Museum of Natural History.
 * ??? as Professor Magic
 * ??? as Tracy Salmon, a young girl from a wealthy family
 * ??? as Wallace the Clown
 * ??? as Bruce the Bird
 * ??? as Bruce's Mother
 * ??? as Himself

Production
Production and development on We're Back: A Dinosaur's Story began at Universal City Studios in Universal City, California and Amblimation in London in May 1989, at the time An American Tail: Fievel Goes West (1991) and Balto (1995) were also in production. As in a five-year production schedule, it takes four years for the film to be made. In January 1990, after the film's voice actors recorded their voices for the characters, animating and filming began. The animators drew storyboards and pencil tests (rough and clean-up), and used cameras, recorded audio, ink and paint (the final version of the film) to bring the characters to life. James Horner composed the film's music score, as well as the film's only song "Roll Back the Rock (to the Dawn of Time)", sung by John Goodman. After four years in the making, the film was completely wrapped in October 1993 (a month before the film's theatrical release on November 24, that year).

The film was originally promoted with John Malkovich listed alongside Cronkite, Goodman, Child, Leno, and Short, but he did not appear in the final version.[7]

Promotion
To promote the film's theatrical release during the holiday season, a giant helium balloon of Rex the T. Rex was included in the real-life 1993 Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade in New York. Unfortunately, as the parade moved through Columbus Circle, high winds caught the Rex balloon and caused it to lift over the nearby sidewalk. The head of the Rex balloon struck a protruding street light and popped, but the rest of the dinosaur's body remained inflated until the end of the parade.[8]

Pizza Hut carried a series of toys. Dakin and Just Toys made stuffed animals and bendies.[9][10][11]

Box office
The film grossed a total of $3,707,770 on its opening weekend and a total domestic gross of $9,315,576 in the United States, resulting the film to be a box office bomb.[12]

Critical response
On Rotten Tomatoes the film has a 38% approval rating, based on 16 reviews.[13][14] Roger Ebert of the Chicago Sun-Times gave the film 1 star out of 4 stars and wrote: "It's shallow and kind of dumb, and the animation is routine, and the story isn't much, and the stakes are a lot higher these days in the featurelength animation game". Variety 's Daniel M. Kimmel gave the film a positive review and wrote: "In spite of narrative problems... the film's chief appeal is its central conceit -- that giant monsters... can be transformed into creatures who like to play with children".[15] Jane Horwitz of the Washington Post also gave the film a positive review, saying: "Handsomely drawn, and directed by a four-man crew at Spielberg's British-based animation studio, Amblimation, "We're Back!" looks good, though it lacks the gorgeous background detail of a Disney feature, or the heart-tugging romance of "The Little Mermaid" or "Beauty and the Beast." In "We're Back!," science may take the place of sentimentality, but the hot-dog-gulping triceratops fills the cute quotient just fine."[16]

No Byline of Empire Magazine gave the film a 2 out of 5 stars and said: "Disappointing TV-standard film that will entertain children, but annoy their parents".[17] Janet Maslin of The New York Times wrote: "Parents seeking innocent Kiddie entertainment should know that the dinosaurs are drugged, the children are briefly transformed into monkeys and the Professor is eventually devoured by crows".[18] Charles Soloman of the Los Angeles Times gave the film a mostly negative review, saying: "Spielberg’s Amblimation Studio obviously boasts some talented artists, but they’re not ready to compete with the crew that made “Beauty and Beast” and “Aladdin.” The needlessly convoluted story and even pacing reduce a film that should thunder like a tyrannosaurus to one that whimpers like a kitten".[19]

Home media
The film was released on VHS and LaserDisc on March 15, 1994 by MCA/Universal Home Video (currently known as Universal Pictures Home Entertainment). It was re-released on VHS on September 26, 1995. On August 11, 1998, the film was re-released on VHS as part of the "Universal Family Features" collection. On May 26, 2009, the film was released onto DVD for the first time.[20] On November 17, 2015, the film was released on Blu-ray.[21] During its availability at Walmart stores, it includes a sneak peek at The Land Before Time: Journey of the Brave.

Aspect ratio
The laserdisc release was presented in its original widescreen aspect ratio. When the film was released on DVD in some other countries, it was presented in the pan and scan format. When the film was finally released on DVD in the United States and Canada on May 26, 2009, it was presented in its original theatrical ratio in anamorphic widescreen.

Soundtrack
This soundtrack included the songs "Roll Back the Rock (to the Dawn of Time)" and "Roll Back the Rock (to the Dawn of Time) (Finale Version) by James Horner, Little Richard and Thomas Dolby.