edgepedia

Arts and culture / Screen and stage / Film and television / Films and standalone screen works / Films by genre, form, and subject / Animated and short films / Japanese anime features / Released 1932 to 1998

General · Edgepedia4 min read

Doraemon: Nobita's Dinosaur (ドラえもん のび太の恐竜) (1980 film)

Doraemon: Nobita's Dinosaur (映画ドラえもん のび太の恐竜, Eiga Doraemon: Nobita no Kyōryū) is a 1980 Japanese animated film in which Nobita hatches a baby Futabasaurus from a fossilized egg and journeys to the Cretaceous period, 100 million years in the past, to return it to its home. Released on March 15, 1980, it is the first theatrical feature in the Doraemon film series, based on Fujiko F. Fujio's manga and television anime.1 • 2

Key factDetail
Japanese releaseMarch 15, 1980, distributed by Toho1
Series positionFirst Doraemon theatrical film; the series ran annually afterward3
Director and screenplayDirected by Hiroshi Fukutomi; screenplay by Fujiko F. Fujio and Seiji Matsuoka (松岡清治)4
ProductionShogakukan and Shin-Ei Animation; 93 minutes; color, 1.85:1 aspect ratio, 35 mm1
Main voice castNobuyo Oyama (Doraemon), Noriko Ohara (Nobita), Michiko Nomura (Shizuka), Kazuya Tatekabe (Gian), Kaneta Kimotsuki (Suneo), Keiko Yokozawa (Piisuke)4
MusicShunsuke Kikuchi; theme song "Poketto no Naka ni" (ポケットの中に) sung by Nobuyo Oyama3
RemakeRemade in 2006 as Doraemon: Nobita's Dinosaur 2006, the series' first remake4 • 5

Spoilers

Story

The film begins with a boast. After being shown a dinosaur claw fossil by Gian and Suneo, Nobita declares that he will find a fossil of a whole dinosaur himself.4 After much digging he uncovers what looks like a fossil, and when Doraemon covers it with the Time Cloth (タイムふろしき), a gadget that restores an object to an earlier state, it turns out to be a dinosaur egg.3 The egg hatches into a baby Futabasaurus, a plesiosaur, which Nobita names Piisuke (ピー助) and raises with care.2 • 4

The return to the Cretaceous. As Piisuke grows too large to keep hidden in the present day, Nobita and Doraemon decide to return him to his own era, the seas near Japan 100 million years ago.2 • 1 A malfunction of the time machine leaves Piisuke far from his home waters, on the North American continent, and the friends must travel across the Cretaceous world to bring him back, pursued by dinosaur hunters who want to capture him.4 The adventure carries the familiar cast of Nobita, Shizuka, Gian, and Suneo out of everyday life and into a large-scale prehistoric setting, and the story centers on Nobita's bond with Piisuke and their eventual parting.6

Production

The film was produced by Shogakukan and Shin-Ei Animation and released by Toho in theaters nationwide in March 1980.1 • 7 Hiroshi Fukutomi directed, with Toshiyuki Honda as animation director, Seihei Kawamoto as art director, and Shunsuke Kikuchi composing the music; Fujiko F. Fujio himself took part in the screenplay, together with Seiji Matsuoka, expanding a short manga episode into a feature-length adventure.4 • 6 The voice cast came from the running television anime: Nobuyo Oyama as Doraemon, Noriko Ohara as Nobita, Michiko Nomura as Shizuka, Kazuya Tatekabe as Gian, and Kaneta Kimotsuki as Suneo, with Keiko Yokozawa as Piisuke.4

Place in the Doraemon film series

The first of a long series. Nobita's Dinosaur established the elements that later Doraemon films carried on: a journey out of daily life to a large-scale setting, adventure deepening the friendship among Nobita and his companions, and a story of meeting and parting between Nobita and a creature he has cared for.6 A new Doraemon film followed nearly every year afterward, beginning with Nobita's Space Explorers in 1981 and Nobita and the Haunts of Evil in 1982, making the series one of the longest-running animation film series in Japan.8

The film has been revisited repeatedly. It was remade in 2006 as Doraemon: Nobita's Dinosaur 2006, the series' first remake,4 • 5 and the dinosaur theme returned again in the 40th film, Nobita's New Dinosaur (2020), which follows a different story about twin dinosaurs hatched from a fossil.9

Reception and availability

On IMDb the film holds a rating of 7.4 from roughly 1,400 to 1,500 users,10 and the Japanese review site Kinenote records an average score of 73.0 points from 198 users.1 In Japan the film is available on subscription on Netflix, Hulu, and U-NEXT.10

References

  1. 映画ドラえもん　のび太の恐竜 - KINENOTE
  2. のび太の恐竜 | シンエイ動画 50周年記念サイト
  3. 映画ドラえもん コレクション｜ドラえもん｜テレビ朝日
  4. 映画ドラえもん　のび太の恐竜 : 作品情報・声優・キャスト・あらすじ - 映画.com
  5. ドラえもん ● 映画リスト (シンエイ動画)
  6. 映画ドラえもん　のび太の恐竜 | 映画 | WOWOWオンライン
  7. シンエイ動画 50周年記念サイト
  8. 映画「ドラえもん」シリーズに関する論考, 人間生活学研究
  9. のび太の新恐竜 | シンエイ動画 50周年記念サイト
  10. 映画ドラえもん のび太の恐竜 - JustWatch

Initially written Oct 3, 2026 · Reviewed: Oct 3, 2026; Oct 25, 2026 · Edited: Oct 3, 2026; Oct 25, 2026; Nov 1, 2026

© 2026 Biostate AI. Free to use with credit under the Edgepedia Community License. Embed a reference card.

Report an error

Doraemon: Nobita's Dinosaur (ドラえもん のび太の恐竜) (1980 film)

Pick at least one reason.