A well-known Christian apologist has spoken out about the “evolutionary indoctrination” in Disney-Pixar’s latest animated film, saying parents should be aware of the unbiblical presuppositions permeating the movie.
Ken Ham, president of Christian apologetics ministry Answers in Genesis-USA, has expressed concern about Disney-Pixar’s latest film, “The Good Dinosaur.” In a blog post last week, Ham described the animated movie as an “evolutionary indoctrination film.”
“This new movie claims to show what might have happened if the supposed asteroid impact that killed the dinosaurs in the most popular evolutionary dinosaur extinction theory had missed Earth,” Ham wrote. “In the trailer, an Apatosaurus meets up with a young boy and they travel together.”
In an earlier critique of the film, Ham said humans and dinosaurs did indeed once live together, as they were likely both created on Day Six of Creation Week, according to the Bible. Ancient artistic depictions of dinosaur-like creatures bear witness to the coexistence of man and dinosaur, he said.
How then does “The Good Dinosaur” advance unbiblical teachings? Ham says the evolutionary underpinnings are evident in the film’s portrayal of one of the main characters.
“The evolutionary presuppositions behind the film come out in the depiction of the boy in the trailer,” Ham wrote. “He acts more like an animal than a human and appears not to be very intelligent. He growls, howls, and bites, but never speaks. It seems to me that the intended impression is that this young boy has not quite yet evolved to be fully human.”
Many Christians believe that dinosaurs went extinct because most of them were destroyed by the Great Flood of Noah’s day. As for the dinosaurs taken on-board Noah’s Ark, they had trouble adjusting to the altered climactic conditions following the deluge and eventually died off.
“The Good Dinosaur” presents a different story.
“What if the asteroid that destroyed the dinosaurs missed?” the movie’s trailer asks.
Ham says this belief—that dinosaurs were wiped out by an asteroid millions of years ago—is “false.”
“Unfortunately, this new film will be watched by many children and will only reinforce evolutionary ideas about the history of Earth,” he opined. “Even though it’s fiction, nonetheless it will buttress the false beliefs about dinosaurs that children are taught through much of the media and education system.”
Despite the evolutionary assumptions therein, Ham believes Disney-Pixar’s new film, which will come to movie theaters on Thanksgiving Day, could be used as an evangelistic conversation-starter.
“Now, despite the evolutionary presuppositions behind The Good Dinosaur (and the evolutionary content that will likely be part of the film), this movie can also be used as a touch point with the culture to start gospel-centered conversations,” he said. “Just like in Acts 17 when the Apostle Paul took a pagan altar and used it as a way to proclaim Christ, so can we take a movie like The Good Dinosaur and use it to point to God’s Word and the gospel.”