Disney movie combines computer animation with live backgrounds

BY BRANDY BENSON

>Combining state-of-the-art computer character animation with stunning digitally enhanced live-action backgrounds, Walt Disney Feature Animation transports moviegoers back to prehistoric times for an incredible adventure involving dinosaurs.

An action-filled drama with elements of humor, Walt Disney Pictures' Dinosaur focuses on the journey of a three-ton Iguanodon named Aladar, who is raised from the egg by a clan of lemurs and eventually reunited with his own kind. With flaming meteors devastating the landscape and water in diminishing supply, the dinosaurs find themselves in a race against time to reach the safety of their nesting grounds.

When Aladar comes to the aid of a group of misfits unable to keep up with the breakneck pace of the herd, he makes an enemy of Kron, the stone-hearted leader of the group. Faced with such perils as treacherous rock slides and attacking Carnotaurs, Aladar and his friends must overcome tremendous obstacles before they can settle into a new life in a beautiful valley.

This remarkable film represents major advances in computer animation and Disney's in-house feature debut in this medium.

The movie is produced by Pam Marsden; directed by Ralph Zondag and Eric Leighton; co-produced by Baker Bloodworth, and score by James Newton Howard.

Voice Talents include Alfre Woodard, Ossie Davis, Max Casella, D. B. Sweeney, Hayden Panettiere, Samuel E. Wright, Peter Siragusa, Julianna Margulies, Joan Plowright and Della Reese.

Dinosaur, which opens Friday, May 19, is rated PG.