At 22 minutes, episodes occasionally strain the limits of its dialogue-free, roar-heavy approach to storytelling. As an event, though—as a dose of bracingly original animation from a master of the form—it’s hard to question its few missteps. After all, everybody’s gotta eat.
Through the lens of two characters, a man and a dinosaur, “Primal” is a piece of elemental storytelling that finds some real emotional depth without either of its protagonists uttering a single word of dialogue.
Epic yet intimate, Primal is awash in eye-popping imagery. ... Tartakovsky has long been a distinctive force in TV animation and this is another winner, a spare storytelling experiment that plays like nothing else in the current landscape.
Primal restores a genuine sense of awe regarding how you can use the format for something besides shits and giggles. It’s storytelling at its most basic, sound and images moving faster than a speeding velociraptor and brimming with soulfulness.