BAD DINOSAURS: Episodes 1.1 to 1.3
Wordless, warm-hearted dinosaur slapstick the whole family can enjoy.
Should You Watch It?
Here's the happy news: this is a real charmer. Netflix's animated comedy follows a Tyrannosaurus mother and her three young ones through a string of short, wordless misadventures — and the visual comedy is some of the sharpest in recent animation. It's funny throughout and sometimes flat-out hilarious.
Better still, its heart is in the right place. Underneath the chaos runs genuine love between a mama T-Rex and her babies, and every episode ends with the family back together, no matter what the day threw at them. That's a worldview worth putting in front of your kids.
The only caution is a mild one. The humor leans hard on slapstick, comical peril, and a great many jokes about passing gas. If that's a hard no in your house, you'll know it fast. Otherwise, gather the family and enjoy — this one earns its laughs.
The Story
NO SPOILERS — WE KEEP THE SURPRISESMeet a Tyrannosaurus Rex family: one devoted mother and her three young ones — a pink baby, a purple sibling, and a red sibling. Each episode strings together short, dialogue-free vignettes as the family tries to get through the day.
Sometimes that means squabbling with a fish-stealing Pterodactyl. Sometimes it's a stubborn pair of triceratops guarding an oasis, a spooky cave, an annoyingly loud neighbor, or just the eternal problem of finding lunch. As with any siblings, the older two sometimes gang up on the littlest — but you can guess where the day always ends.
Is It Any Good?
Four stars, and they're earned. What sets this series apart is its craft: vibrant animation, easy-to-follow stories, and — remarkably — no dialogue at all. The comedy is carried entirely by movement and timing, and it's some of the best visual comedy an animated program has offered in years.
Because there are no words, nothing gets lost. A toddler and a grandparent can watch the same episode and laugh at the same beat. Each half-hour bundles three smaller stories, so the pacing stays brisk and the gags keep landing. It's funny throughout and, at its peak, genuinely hilarious. This is skilled, joyful filmmaking that trusts pictures to do all the work — and they do.
The Worldview
The heart of this series is a strong, pro-family worldview, and it's the reason the show is such a pleasure. Every story is built around a mother's genuine love for her children — she'll go to any length to protect them — and around the simple good of a family having fun together and coming back together at the end of the day, no matter what they've endured.
There are a few small things worth a parent's eye. The siblings squabble and pick on the littlest one; dinosaurs eat other dinosaurs; a mother fights fiercely to shield her young; and there are some scary critters along the way — all played for comedy. The show also gives its T-Rexes a few feathers, a nod to the idea that dinosaurs are connected to modern birds. It's a passing visual detail, but one you may want to note for younger viewers.
None of this dents the central message. This is a family that loves each other and keeps choosing each other — a picture that echoes the way Scripture treasures steadfast love within a household: "Above all, keep loving one another earnestly" (1 Peter 4:8).
The Content Guide
The specifics — spoilers included by nature — so you can judge for your own family.
Dominant Worldview and Other Worldview Content/Elements
Strong moral, pro-family worldview in a comical series of short stories promotes a positive relationship between a T-Rex mother and her children, having fun together as a family, and coming together at the end of the day no matter what the family has endured, with a few minor questionable elements such as violence between siblings, dinosaurs eating other dinosaurs, a mother going to any length to protect her children, and a few scary critters, plus the T-Rex family have a few feathers, implying an evolutionary connection to birds
Foul Language
No foul language, but there are multiple jokes and comical situations about passing gas, and a child triceratops urinates in a water hole for younger dinosaurs, which angers a baby T-Rex who splashes the contaminated water into the child’s eye, which gives it pink eye and angers its mother when the child starts crying
Violence
Scenes of strong and light slapstick comedy and comical peril include sibling dinosaurs fight a flying dinosaur over a swordfish, flying dinosaur snatches the fish and the baby T-Rex away, baby leaps off a cliff to chase the flying dinosaur and fight it over the fish, mother T-Rex gets into a head-butt fight with two triceratops, two young T-Rex dinosaurs fight a giant shell creature, baby T-Rex angers a giant crab creature by eating its antenna, other dinosaurs run away from the giant angry crab, a dinosaur comically slams into a smaller dinosaur, T-Rex family fights a giant centipede trying to eat the children, the family finds a comical way to reduce the centipede in size and stick it on a cave wall using the creature’s own sticky slime, mother T-Rex tries to stop an annoying loud smaller dinosaur keeping her awake, but she twice lands in a large cactus, the loud dinosaur pushes the cactus into the mother after the mother trips over a trap she and her children tried to set for the dinosaur (the children comically fell asleep), the family chases a smaller dinosaur to eat it, but the dinosaur prey trips and falls into some muddy quicksand and no longer tastes delicious so it escapes, another tasty dinosaur farts on them when the mother holds its armored tail in her mouth, mother goes flying and hits her head on a rock when a tree vine she was holding snaps, an electric eel shocks two dinosaurs
Sex
No sex
Nudity
No nudity
Alcohol Use
No alcohol use
Smoking and/or Drug Use and Abuse
No smoking or drugs
Miscellaneous Immorality
Comical situations include some sibling rivalry in part of Episode One, dinosaurs get angry at one another, and a baby dinosaur tries to turn a tiny terrified mammal into a pet but eventually lets it go, but the little mammal is not grateful at all and throws a piece of fruit at the baby dinosaur.
Talk About It
Four questions for the couch, the commute, or the couple bingeing it together.
The older siblings sometimes shut out their littlest brother or sister — but the family always comes back together. Why is it easy to pick on the youngest, and how does your family make sure everyone is included?
Romans 12:10 · Philippians 2:3–4The mama T-Rex goes to any length to protect her children. Where do we see that kind of fierce, protective love in the way God cares for His people?
Isaiah 49:15 · Psalm 91:4No matter how wild the day gets, this family ends it together. What helps your family reconnect at the end of a hard or busy day?
Ephesians 4:2–3When the baby T-Rex frees the little mammal it tried to keep as a pet, the creature isn't grateful at all. Have you ever done a good thing and gotten no thanks? What does the Bible say about doing good anyway?
Galatians 6:9 · Luke 6:35The Final Word
This one's a treat: skillful, wordless comedy built on a mother's love and a family that always finds its way back together. A little slapstick and a lot of gas jokes are the only speed bumps, and they're easy to see coming. So here's our answer, the same one we opened with: worth watching — pull up the couch and enjoy it together.
