Gertie the Dinosaur Review

Gertie the Dinosaur is a 1914 animated short film directed by Winsor McCay. It truly is a revolutionary film.

This is one of the most famous animated short films ever made as it’s so influential. Winsor McCay was a visionary director and here he made another classic after ‘How a Mosquito Operates’. Although I did find the animated segments too short, I still loved the film’s approach which mixed live-action with animation. Basically it has the director present his animated creation to the audience and wins the bet that a dinosaur can become alive.

I loved the use of intertitles as the dialogue is so good here, I also found the director very pleasant and likable. Of course the highlight is seeing Gertie himself who’s such a well developed early animated protagonist who’s rather naughty and needs discipline. Sometimes the animation showed its age here, but for the most part it was impeccable, especially in strong character designs and polished movements. The highlight is Gertie throwing a mammoth in the lake.

Gertie the Dinosaur is a movie that holds up tremendously well as it’s still enchanting and involving to this day thanks to good live-action segments and build up, revolutionary animation and a memorable central character.