Greenes Please don't spend money on this.

Beystiman It's fun, it's light, [but] it has a hard time when its tries to get heavy.

Neive Bellamy Excellent and certainly provocative... If nothing else, the film is a real conversation starter.

Ortiz Excellent and certainly provocative... If nothing else, the film is a real conversation starter.

Lee Eisenberg Cinema's first look at dinosaurs has all the creativity that anyone could want. Winsor McCay's "Gertie the Dinosaur" is a simple but funny short. I first saw the cartoon in a documentary about the history of animation. McCay stood in front of an audience and explained what he was about to do. Then the playful reptile made her grand entrance. It shows what one can do with animation. It is, after all, simply another form of filmmaking. Since then, animation has ranged from the soft and cute (the Silly Symphonies) to the mordant (Ralph Bakshi's "Fritz the Cat").You have to see "Gertie the Dinosaur", if for no other reason except to get a look at early animation. A masterpiece.

Hitchcoc This groundbreaking effort is not only a curiosity; it is also a clever, imaginative film. Probably the best known piece of early animation, it involves a minor bet among a group of animators who find themselves at the Museum of Natural History in New York. When they see a dinosaur (they call a dinosaurus--a brontosaurus--although that name is now passé), one of them bets he can bring the dinosaur to life, using animation. The bet for a dinner is accepted and off goes the animator, doing thousands of drawing and creating a truly memorable dinosaur, full of personality and fun. Of course, the main characters are only line drawings on a sketchy setting, it works marvelously. Gertie proves to be petulant and uncooperative at times but, ultimately performs her tricks. I had never seen this film before and am quite impressed with the accomplishment.

Robert Reynolds Winsor McCay did a great many things of which he could be justifiably proud, but I think Gertie the Dinosaur ranks at the top of that lengthy list of accomplishments and I suspect McCay may have felt the same way, for it is still remarkable all these years later. Gertie is more life-like than some people I know! Funny, believable, touching and fascinating, sometimes all at once. This is one of the cornerstones of modern animation and also succeeds on its own terms and merits as both art and entertainment. Winsor McCay grew unhappy and somewhat disgruntled and disillusioned as animation became, in his eyes, more commercial and less artistically inclined. I've often wondered what McCay would have made of the independents, such as Will Vinton and Bill Plympton, among others, and the different forms, like Claymation and the stop-motion work of George Pal and others. I hope he would be pleased with at least some of the work done in the last 90 or so years. An absolute gem. If you haven't seen Gertie, I envy you for the treat you have in store. She's a delight. Well worth getting. Most highly recommended.

GeneralB This short and rather old cartoon about a dinosaur is quite enjoyable. It was one of the earlier cartoons, and one of the first dinosaur movies. It may also have introduced cartoon violence to the world; Gertie chucks a mammoth named Jumbo into the ocean. I have found that it is more fun to watch the original silent version than the one with sound, although others may disagree.