Too many fans seem to be blown away

hyped garbage

Excellent, a Must See

It is interesting even when nothing much happens, which is for most of its 3-hour running time. Read full review

This was among the very first animations, in the sense of multiple drawings. And — I think I am right in this — Gertie the dinosaur is the first animated creature. I believe she only appeared in two shorts, this and one earlier where the cartoon is the result of a winning bet. In both, Gertie appears with humans.Now you have to have some context. In 1920, the theory of evolution was not widely accepted, and scientific data on dinosaurs was scanty. They had fossils, in fact Gertie is the "bringing to life" of one such fossil featured in the earlier short. Its one still displayed in the New York Natural History Museum. People — ordinary educated folks — had no ideas about whether man and 'saur coexisted. These were mysterious bones, almost alien.These films are important because they are early animation. But that's obvious. I submit that because film was so immensely powerful in those early days — even more so than now — that this implanted a notion that these two beings (us and them) could live together. Remember that photography was considered the technology of proof. If a picture or film of something could be shown, something was true. Animation and "real" film weren't as indistinguishable as we know them to be. But then in the last decade, computer animation routinely mixes with "real" shots and we believe what we see.Since this, we've seen numerous movies where dinos and humans co-exist, and it hardly matters if it is set in the present as this and "Jurassic Park" are. Somehow, the deviant imagination holds it. Such is the power of film, that it helps weave stories that people need.Ted's Evaluation -- 2 of 3: Has some interesting elements.

There is only a minute and a half of this intriguing sequel to Gertie the Dinosaur in which the title character encounters a train and tries to eat it and dreams being surrounded by other dinosaurs. I think she also puts her tail in her mouth at the beginning. I don't know if Winsor McCay didn't finish this short or some of it is missing but even at such a short length, the footage is fascinating. This time the backgrounds are a little shaded. No doubt, anyone who loves dinosaurs and animation should take a look at this one. I found out about this one in Mark Evanier's news column and he linked a Google video of it there. Well worth seeing for any McCay and animation buffs.

This is just about impossible to rate--a fragment is all that exists of the original short--no titles, no credits and just one scene about a minute and a half long! However, it really makes you wonder and wish you could see the whole thing, as the animation, for 1921, is exceptional. Despite having no sound, the quality of the animation is actually better than many of the Fleischer cartoons of the 30s. In particular, the backgrounds are so masterfully drawn.So why would a review this snippet? Well, considering how important Gertie is to the history of animation, I think it's imperative that we remember and celebrate the cartoons that eventually led to Disney, Warner Brothers and their contemporaries. I guess from the review it would not surprise you to find out I am a history teacher!

All that survives of Winsor McCay's feature "Gertie on Tour" is a tantalizing fragment a couple of minutes long. But it shows the same wit and imagination as in the original "Gertie the Dinosaur" feature, and it probably was quite an enjoyable little movie, just as the original was.The idea in this one is that Gertie has now been brought into the present-day world. In her enclosure, she interacts playfully with her surroundings, which include some good detail. But she also thinks about what it was like when the world was filled with her own kind. It all makes for an intriguing setup, because someone with McCay's creativity could have done quite a bit with those kinds of ideas, since both ideas lend themselves to entertainment and also to thoughtful observations.It's too bad that the rest of this feature, like so much from the era, might never again be seen. But it's fortunate that at least the fragment remains, so that we can once again see the personable Gertie in a new situation.