REX: Kyoryu Monogatari

Directed by: Haruki Kadokawa

Screenplay by: Haruki Kadokawa and Shoichi Maruyama

Based on the Story by: Masanori Hata

Produced by: Shochiku

Release Date: July 3, 1993

Lenght: 1 hour, 46 minutes

An extremely cute and heartwarming family film, based on a short manga illustrated by CLAMP. and seemingly riding on the financial success of Heisei Godzilla and Jurrasic Park that began a bit of a dinosaur trend in the early-to-mid 90's.

The 1st act of the movie is pretty cold tonally compared to the rest, a group of scientists discover a dinosaur egg and spend the first 23 minutes or so trying to make it hatch, all while setting up the internal family drama. Then we cut from the the adult perspective to a much more child-like, as a young girl, the scientists' daughter, manages to make the egg hatch by playing a flute. The baby tyrannosaur imprints her as the mother, and we spend the 2nd act seeing how she raises the creature, and by the 3rd it becomes a christmas film, with the infamous scene of the child dancing with the dinosaur dressed in a santa claus outfit at a snowy town.

It's a really endearing movie. It's not gonna change your world or anything, but if you're in the mood for what it offers it delivers greatly. The baby dinosaur animatronic is surprisingly expressive, it reminds one in the best way possible to Digimon episodes centered around the season's mascot and their human partner. It's a solid recommendation.