The Land Before Time

Voices of: Pat Hingle, Judith Barsi, Gabriel Damon, Helen Shaver, Bill Erwin, Burke Byrnes
Directed by: Don Bluth
Rating: G
Genre: Animation, Adventure
1988

Times Seen:
Tim: 5

Summary: Five young dinosaurs team up after being separated from their families on a trek to safety in the Great Valley.

Review:

Tim: The Land Before Time is one of the most influential, important movies of my childhood. I absolutely loved this film and watched it over and over (my estimate of 5 is quite conservative, I'm sure it was more). I hadn't seen the film since my childhood, probably close to two decades ago. I finally got around to watching it again and was pretty nervous it wouldn't hold up over time. Luckily, I found that to not be the case. This film retained the magic and entertainment I remembered from my youth. I still love this movie.

Now, I do want to point out an interesting dichotomy here. On the one hand, this film is very much geared towards children. Ducky's voice, for example, but really there's so many aspects of this film specifically designed to appeal to kids. Adults might find some of that annoying, but I don't fault the film for knowing its audience and delivering high quality to that demographic. So, while the film is focused on the kids, like many of director Don Bluth's films, this one tackles some dark and serious subject matter. SPOILER ALERT- the scene where Littlefoot's mother dies is absolutely heart wrenching. It was hard for me to watch as a kid and it's still hard me to watch now that I have a kid of my own. It's not just the death that is hard, but the depression that hits Littlefoot is shown vividly on screen. There's some very frightening scenes with the Sharptooth as well. This is not a film that coddles to the young viewers. So, it's focused on entertaining kids, but it deals with some mature, challenging subjects. I loved that the movie managed to accomplish both.

I also have to mention how much I love the characters. Again, they are designed to appeal to kids, but they are so incredibly memorable. Even 20 years later, I still remembered all of them. Littlefoot is the leader- he's braver than he gives himself credit for and looks after his newfound friends. Cera is cocky and a bit of a loner, denying how much she needs other people. Ducky is just super cute. Petrie is funny, especially in his fear of flying. Spike somehow pulls the whole team together, even though he doesn't say a word. Each of these characters is very different from the other, both in their species and personality. This film shows us that being different isn't a bad thing at all and that we can be great friends despite our differences.

I love how the movie looks- the muted color scheme is so different from the plush colors we see in most animated films today. I thought it gave this a very unique feel and matched up well with the story we're told. I really liked the music as well- it's haunting in a beautiful way. The dialogue between the characters is great- I still was able to quote many of the lives, even decades later. I also loved the language the film embraced- tree stars, sharpteeth, the Great Valley, etc. It pulls you into this world.

So, I have to say that The Land Before Time was and continues to be one of my all time favorite animated films. I know there was a series of direct-to-video sequels, but I don't know if I have seen any of them and I don't have any desire to. This film remains wonderful to me and I look forward to the day when I can share this with my own kid(s).

Rating 1-10
Tim's Rating: 8.5



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