I think they allow the mind to exercise in ways few other activities do. But at some point fantasy can become a replacement for a reality that we do not like. We need to teach our children the difference, especially our younger children. For starters you can discuss whether dinosaurs really talked as they do in the Disney movie. Talking animals are a hallmark of Disney cartoons, but when cartoons become more like real-life movies our children may not understand the difference.
Life is wonderful until a meteor shower destroys their home and threatens their very existence.
Aladar and four of his faithful lemurs escape with their lives and hook up with an intraspecies herd of herbivorous orthnipods who are making haste for the breeding grounds where they hope to find a patch of paradise unscathed by the firestorm. To Aladar s great surprise, he discovers that the leaders of the herd, Kron and Bruton, live and rule by a Darwinian worldview. When Aladar complains to Kron that the young and elderly cannot keep up and will surely die if left behind, Kron snaps back only the strong should survive and threatens to kill Aladar if he interferes with his leadership again. Although Aladar is an iguanadon like Kron and Bruton, his upbringing by the gentle lemurs has taught him that cooperation is a better means to survival than competition. This appears to be a departure from Disney s typical subliminal Darwinian message such as the Lion King s Circle of Life theme.