Pangea - The Neverending World (also called Rexy) is a series of Hungarian 3D animated short films, by the animation studio Aenima CGS. The first short, retroactively renamed Rexy Goes to Mama, was made in 2009, then it was followed up by three others in 2020, 2021 and 2023, titled Rexy and the Volcano, Rexy Meets the Mountain King and Rexy and the Hungry Birds. The shorts are 7 to 9 minutes in length, and they follow the adventures of a young Tyrannosaurus rex named Rexy.
All shorts can be viewed for free here
on Aenima CGS's YouTube channel.
This short provides examples of:
- All-CGI Cartoon: The short uses 3D computer animation.
- All Flyers Are Birds: In Rexy and the Hungry Birds, the Ludodactylus-like villainous pterosaurs have grasping feet, the Pterodaustro make flamingo-like noises, and the Arambourgiania builds a bird nest on top of a cliff with a single egg, from which a fluffy, egret-like chick hatches. Heck, even the short's title calls them "birds" despite clearly being pterosaurs.
- Artistic License – Paleontology:
- Despite the title, Pangaea has long been broken up into several continents by the time of the late Cretaceous when most animals appearing in the shorts lived.
- Rexy and his mother both stand too upright. And while Rexy, accurately, has two fingers on each hand, his mother has three. In the sequel shorts, Rexy is also redesigned with three fingers...
- The theropods are all portrayed with pronated hands, except for Rexy who has very flexible wrists to be able to use hand gestures.
- The raptors in Rexy and the Volcano are the old-school, scaly kind.
- Tyrannosaurus could not glide through the air like a video game character with a wingsuit, as Rexy does in the second short.
- The Spinosaurus in the third short, despite getting redesigned with paddle-like tails
according to more recent discoveries about the species, still have long hind legs and pronated hands. Furthermore, they live on top of a mountain instead of a wetland area (which the first short got right).
- Awe-Inspiring Dinosaur Shot: Half of the movie plays out like this; a baby Tyrannosaurus rex named Rexy is used as a tracking shot, which then transitions to a flock of Pteranodon flying over a ravine. Later on, Rexy is running past a herd of sauropods having a fun adventure where, oddly enough, a Hard Rock track plays throughout.
- Big Damn Heroes: Rexy's mother arrives just in time to save him from the Spinosaurus.
- Character Action Title: Rexy Goes to Mama and Rexy Meets the Mountain King both have this kind of title.
- Chasing a Butterfly: At the beginning of the short, Rexy chases a butterfly, which leads him away from his nest to a ravine he almost falls in. Later, he is also attacked by a Spinosaurus.
- Harmless Freezing: In the fourth short, the Arambourgiania carries Rexy so high up that icicles start to grow around his body and he soon becomes rigid. After falling in warm water, he thaws and is back to being healthy.
- Mama Bear: Rexy's mother, a protective mother T. rex.
- Paddleball Shot: There's a handful of these, just for the sake of showing off the 3D effects; e.g. vines hanging towards the camera in the opening scene, and a pterosaur screaming at the camera.
- Papa Wolf: In Rexy and the Volcano, it's Rexy's father who shows up and saves his son from a trio of hungry raptors.
- Public Domain Soundtrack:
- After Rexy's mother rescues him from the Spinosaurus, their happy reunion is accompanied by "The Blue Danube Waltz" by Johann Strauss II, which continues into the end credits.
- Rexy Meets the Mountain King, naturally, uses Edvard Grieg's "In the Hall of the Mountain King" in its soundtrack.
- Random Events Plot: Both shorts lack an overarching narrative; it's just Rexy bumping into one creature after another while his parents are searching for him.
- Raptor Attack: The antagonists of Rexy and the Volcano are a trio of featherless, Jurassic Park-esque raptors.
- Same Plot Sequel: Rexy and the Volcano is pretty much a re-hash of the first short: Rexy strays away while his parents are asleep, encounters a bunch of colorful creatures, then gets menaced by a predator but gets saved just in time by one of his parents.
- Snakes Are Sinister: At the start of Rexy and the Hungry Birds, Rexy is attacked by a large blue snake.
- Speech-Impaired Animal: Most of the time, Rexy just makes random baby sounds (pretty much constantly). However, sometimes you can hear actual words in his chatter (most notably, "mama").
- Spinosaurus Versus T. rex:
- Towards the end of the original short, an enormous Spinosaurus tries to devour Rexy, but his mother arrives and manages to scare the Spinosaurus away.
- Rexy meets the Mountain King's main plot is built around this trope, as the eponymous Mountain King is a terrifying Spinosaurus (living on a mountain instead of near any body of water) who also happens to be a father, and Rexy befriends his child. Rexy's father first attacks the Mountain King to protect his child, but after seeing that their children are getting along, the adults also put their conflict aside.
- Straying Baby: Rexy, right after hatching, wanders away from his nest and ends up in danger.
- Terror-dactyl: The eponymous "birds" in Rexy and the Hungry Birds are actually scary-looking pterosaurs resembling Ludodactylus, with crooked, toothy beaks, short crests, covered in dark fuzz, with bird-like grasping feet. Two other pterosaur species, based on Pterodaustro and Arambourgiania, appear in the short, but they are much friendlier and less menacing.
