We're Back: A Dinosaur's Story is a 1993 hand-drawn animated film based on a 1987 children's book. Despite involvement from notable directors and a major studio, the film faced production challenges, script rewrites, and mixed reception. Deleted scenes remain unreleased, and the film struggled with tone and character focus, impacting its success despite home media popularity.
We're Back: A Dinosaur's Story is a 1993 hand-drawn animated feature film based on the 1987 children's book of the same name. The film's journey from book to screen involved multiple studios, directors, and creative changes, culminating in a movie that, while not a major box office success, found a following in the home media market.
Shortly after the publication of the book, several companies showed interest in adapting it into a film. Initially, Hanna-Barbera purchased the rights within months of the book's release. However, Universal Pictures later acquired these rights. At that time, Universal already had an in-house animation division, which would produce the film.
The film was the second movie produced under Steven Spielberg's animation division, Amblimation. Four directors worked on the project, rotating their involvement with other Amblin animated projects. Among them, Phil Nibbelink was the most heavily involved, while Simon Wells contributed primarily during the early writing stages.
Disney directors John Musker and Ron Clements had their own vision for the adaptation, imagining a semi-modern-day version of Snow White starring a seven-year-old boy and seven dinosaurs. However, this concept did not come to fruition in the final film.
Writer John Patrick Shanley was hired to rewrite the script, introducing a slightly darker tone that Steven Spielberg preferred. Despite minor revisions, the script remained largely consistent throughout production.
During recording sessions, actors found the dialogue awkward, leading to many lines being reworded on the spot. However, Shanley disapproved of these changes, and the production reverted to the original script.
Near the end of production, early test screenings received negative feedback. Sydney Sheinberg, then CEO of Universal, demanded reworks to address these issues. To lighten the tone, new scenes were added, including a Thanksgiving Day parade sequence. These changes increased the production cost by approximately $1 million.
We're Back was released just five months after Spielberg's Jurassic Park, another dinosaur-themed film. Despite a significant advertising push, We're Back did not perform well at the box office. However, it found greater success in the home media market.
The original author, Hudson Talbott, was not particularly fond of the film's direction, feeling it strayed too far from the book's original charm.
As of 2024, none of the deleted scenes have been officially released by Universal Pictures. The movie's trailer featured exclusive animation of dinosaurs locked in cages, a sequence that was later cut.
In 2009, a YouTube user uploaded a fragmented deleted scene showing the villain, Professor Screw Eye, explaining his backstory and the origin of his eye injury. This scene ends with Screw Eye transforming the dinosaurs back into their beastly forms. It was cut primarily to reduce the film's age rating from PG to G. Unfortunately, the uploaded footage is incomplete, and the full scene remains unreleased.
Another altered sequence involved the demise of Professor Screw Eye, though the extent of changes remains unclear.
Fans and critics have speculated whether retaining the original footage could have improved the film. However, the movie suffers from deeper internal issues beyond tone. It struggles with character focus, initially seeming to center on the dinosaurs but then shifting to the children, who are introduced late in the film. This shift leaves little time to develop the child characters adequately.
To make the film work cohesively, a significant restructuring would be necessary. A single darker scene leading into the third act is unlikely to resolve these fundamental problems.
We're Back: A Dinosaur's Story remains a unique entry in 1990s animation, notable for its connection to Spielberg's Amblimation and its attempt to blend darker themes with family-friendly storytelling. Despite its challenges and mixed reception, it has maintained a presence in popular culture, especially through home media. The mystery of its deleted scenes and the creative decisions behind its production continue to intrigue fans and animation historians alike.
