You’ll believe a T-Rex can cry!
This may look like just a cutesy movie about dinosaurs on the surface but in reality, it’s a heartfelt prehistoric drama about identity, loneliness, the importance of family and even subtle commentary on mental health from a Tyrannosaurus Rex as our protagonist!- Heart’s lack of self-esteem/self-worth in himself and as a parent to Umasou for the majority of the runtime. It may not be immediately obvious, but the young T-Rex doubts himself a lot to the point he gets terrifying anxiety-filled nightmares that bring out his worst fears to the surface. It’s only until Umasou accepts him anyway as his father despite their differences that he starts to believe in himself again and calls Umasou his son.
- The fact Heart was completely alone after running away for what was likely a few years, having nobody to turn to before meeting Umasou. He never stopped thinking about his adoptive family but was terrified of seeing them again out of fear of accidentally eating them. His mother and Light, return to the herd but clearly miss him. His mother looking completely heartbroken over Heart’s disappearance is devastating.
- After Heart puts Umasou in a safe rocky hole to sleep, Heart goes hunting. The sky and land are blood red and he thinks to himself that Umasou won’t accept him if he saw him killing other herbivores and that he’s not Umasou’s father, saying “the truth will be exposed” right before brutally killing a herbivore. As he’s eating, he sounds like he’s sobbing. He looks up with tears streaming down his face, clearly ashamed/disgusted of who he is and what he’s become, feeling like a monster. He then says this line: “How did Mom feel when she raised me?“ It then cuts to Umasou being protected from the rain (just like Heart’s mom did for him in his childhood) under Heart while Heart is contemplating and angry, leading into the “race” scene.
- The build-up to and the actual “race” Heart and Umasou have to see if they can be together forever as a family is gut-wrenching.
- Heart explains to Umasou that their training is something everybody has learned, that he’s strong enough to defend himself and that it’s time for them to go their separate ways in the gentlest way possible. Umasou who truly loves his dad is heartbroken by this and is on the verge of tears begging to stay with Heart and wants to be like his father (viewing him as his hero). Heart feels he has to be blunt and tells him to stop trying to be like him and that he simply can’t be like him (heavily implying Heart hates himself). Umasou questions this, pleading to stay with Heart and leading into the aforementioned "race".
- While Umasou is running with all his might, Heart’s simply effortlessly plodding along and when they both reach a certain distance, Heart quietly turns around to give them both distance as he wishes he be safe. Doesn’t help the music is so heartbreaking and emphasises the whole sad affair so beautifully. Thankfully, he sprints over to go save Umasou who was attacked and nearly killed by Baku’s family, defeating the group of T-Rexes in the process.
- The original story was even sadder. Heart's nameless counterpart in the anime does the same thing, only he does the race to reunite Umasou with his biological parents, and chose to distance himself from him. Considering what Heart does in the movie, it makes it heartwarming while the nameless Tyrannosaurus rex gets a Bittersweet Ending.
- Umasou trying to use what Heart taught him when he’s attacked by Baku’s family and it’s still not enough. He’s kicked around and nearly crushed by the malicious T-Rexes when they then try to eat him. This implies that Heart was holding back his full strength on Umasou because he genuinely didn’t want to actually hurt the little guy.
- After Heart is exiled from Baku’s territory in an effort to protect Baku’s own family, Heart takes Umasou to a safe location where he gently wakes the injured child. Umasou is alive to Heart‘s relief but Umasou weakly says to Heart he didn’t catch up to him in time and asks if that means they’re a family. Heart realising he had just put his own son through serious danger by accident and cries in remorse, says yes and that they’ll be together, as father and son. Also qualifies as Heartwarming and provides the image above.
- Heart finally reuniting with his mother after many years. This is especially significant as for most of the runtime, Heart was so worried and scared that he could have accidentally eaten his brother, Light and his mother. Not to mention he had massive anxiety and self-esteem issues in himself, thinking himself as a monster and worried his mother would be scared of him in his more intimidating older appearance. The moment she recognises her son as that sweet little dinosaur boy she raised and loves, those worries wash away as he brakes down in tears rushing to her for a hug and apologising for running away all those years ago. Qualifies as Heartwarming too.
- Early into the movie, the mother Maiasaura is forced by the leader Maiasaura to abandon baby Heart (who’s a baby T-Rex). She feels a lot of guilt for doing this despite going to a place where he’ll have a lot of berries to eat. She apologises and was about to run off in shame, when little Heart cries out for his Mom and she stops. She’s contemplating and conflicted over this choice and it’s eating away at her until she runs back to accept and love her son. It’s heavily implied she was ostracised and exiled for her decision.
- Heart and Gonza’s duel to the death is rather depressing after a rewatch. Heart and Gonza never got along the day Heart went outside his forest home to discover what his real food is based on his instincts. Heart was traumatised and downright terrified of Baku and his family (this was when young Heart thought he was a plant eater), thinking he was gonna be killed. Gonza followed Heart and tried to kill Light (after Heart clarified about his family to Baku in fear and ran off back to his home). It all went downhill when Heart bit hard into Gonza’s tail in retaliation and rage at Gonza suggesting he kill Light and ate it. After Heart ran away, he was essentially all alone with nobody to trust. Not to mention Umasou (Heart’s adoptive son) being directly in Gonza’s mouth (in which Baku’s family tried to kill him in a cruel manner), resulting in Heart fighting his biological family and being exiled by Baku for it, further killing any hope of Heart being with his biological family. Gonza effectively destroyed any chances of Baku and Heart reconciling as a family by forcing his biological brother into this one-sided fight.
- The reasons Heart and Baku fight in the finale. From Heart’s perspective, he’s saving his adoptive family and son from what he thinks is just a vicious killer. From Baku’s perspective, he’s avenging his murdered late son. The fact Heart never truly finds out Baku’s his biological father makes this fight so much sadder to watch. He fought spoiler:his dad without even knowing it.
- Baku disowns his son, Heart while he’s unconscious after their battle in an effort to keep him safe from the wrath of his biological family.
- Early on, a young Heart panics upon seeing seeing the group of Tyrannosauruses kill a herbivore right in front of him and he runs back to the forest scared out of his mind. It’s when he accidentally nearly attacks Light (his brother) after eating the tail of the young T-Rex, Gonza that the horrifying realisation sets in that he might accidentally hurt his family that he runs away, much to Light’s horror, screaming for Heart to come back. We then cut to Heart’s Mom who has a bunch of fruit for Heart, waiting for Heart to come back which won’t happen until years later, when Heart’s grown up and Egg Mountain erupts.
