The main reason why voice actor Jeffrey Wright accepted the role of Poppa in the Pixar animated movie "The Good Dinosaur" is because his kids are huge fans of Pixar's movies.
"Out of the blue, I received this offer and invitation to be a part of this movie, 'The Good Dinosaur.' I turned to my Pixar experts, my kids, and asked them what this could all be about," he shared during an interview with Collider. "Of course, they flipped out and it was pretty obvious from their reaction that I was going to do this."
But more than that, Wright appreciates the movie because it is fraught with moral lessons, and he is certain that it would make a deep and lasting impact on his kids' pop culture lives.
He is also a fan how the movie teaches kids just how much their parents love them. Even though parents can sometimes get overbearing and strict, the thing that children should always remember is that they have their best interests at heart.
This is what Poppa struggles with throughout the movie, said Wright. "Part of the lesson for him, as a father, is when is pushing going too far," he said. "He's clearly concerned primarily for the well-being of his family, and particularly Arlo (the dinosaur), and he's concerned that Arlo develop into his full capacity. That's what we all desire, as parents of children. And that line between being a nurturing parent and an over-bearing, damaging parent is one that's very delicate."
Relating the movie's story to his own life and experiences as a father, Wright said that try as he might to teach his kids the ways of the world, in the end, it is "the process (that) teaches us."
"If we're being diligent, we're learning from our strengths as parents, but also from the mistakes that we make, and he's a good example of that," Wright further said of his character. "For that reason, parents and children watching this together will bring a lot of their own experiences to the table that will only enhance their enjoyment of the movie."
Wright did not know how the movie will turn out while he was voice acting as Poppa, and he only saw the film through director Peter Sohn's imagination.
However, he was able to convey the right emotions because Sohn articulated even "the smallest but meaningful details about the character, and his intentions, and the dynamics with his family and his son, and details about the atmosphere they're living within."
