The Land Before Time review by Jgames

The Land Before Time is another Don Bluth hit that many claim to be their childhood movie. After Secret of NIMH, people like Spielberg and Lucas wanted to do some work with Don Bluth, which spawn An American Tale and The Land Before Time. The Land before time has spawned 13 movie sequels and even a tv series. It even manages to outgross worldwide a competing Disney animated movie at the time. I personally never watch the movie all the way. I saw part and pieces, but never actually saw the movie in its entirety. So let see what made this movie into a huge hit with audience and critics.

The story is set in prehistoric time, with the main character, Littlefoot, and his remaining small family trying to migrate to the great valley for food. With an Earthquake separating Littlefoot from his family, he must adventure on his own with other abandoned dinosaur kids to the great valley with Sharptooth, a T-rex, on their tails.

First let me get into what I really love about the movie, the animation. The movie manages to have gorgeous hand-drawn backgrounds that help cement the atmosphere and mood they going for. They manage to make the movie feel grand and important, with the T-rex, Sharptooth, looking as menacing and badass as you want a T-rex to be. There so many moments that is convey just by showing, whether it be a great tragic dead, or finding hope when everything looks dim. That being said while the 80’s animation mostly hold up, there was one scene where the character and background did not mix at all, and you can tell there two different drawing and just look terrible. Plus sometimes the face can look a bit goofy, but for the most part, the animation is amazing. The kid dinosaur does look cute until they talk, then they get annoying. While I much prefer Secret of NIMH from an animation standpoint (actually in many other aspects), is still a movie that still holds up in the animation aspect, being a great looking 80's animated dinosaur movie. Showing all the majestic and danger that lays in the dinosaur times.

The story was alright. I mean is a simple concept, having the kids be in an unfamiliar place where they must fend for themselves and get over a tragic death. I won’t spoil the dead even though most people who have not seen the movie know who died. The dead in the movie was done wonderfully thanks to the animation. That being said how the kid handles the tragedy and overcome it in the movie feel a bit cheap towards the end. While I get that Don Bluth is all about having as many dark moments in the movie until the ending where everything is happy, it did feel forced. I mean there could be some room for mourning at the end, but nope gotta make it happy. Not to mention there lot of other subject the movie tackle like prejudice and getting over one fear, that are handle at best alright. Nothing spectacular, and nothing that will stick with you. I feel like my favorite part of the movie was the beginning when none of the dinosaurs spoke and just a narrator speaking and the movie doing what it does best, having a great animation that can convey the feelings without them talking. The movie felt grand and I was invested in the vastness of prehistoric time and all the danger that comes with it. It reminded me of my favorite short in the movie Fantasia with the dinosaurs. It felt like the movie was a documentary of the dinosaurs, done with great grace. But the movie needs to aim at kids, so of course, they need talking dinosaurs. Which don't get me wrong the adventure is entertaining enough. The tragic death scene does belong in a top ten death in animation, and is no wonder why so many people know about the death even if they have not seen the movie. Kids will love the story, and even adults can enjoy it, as they do have some heavy moments, and thankfully is just about an hour long. That being said I felt like the story could have done a better job with its theme, like believing in what you can’t see which was a touching line, but really had no weight later in the movie. Is just an alright story overall.

The characters is where I simply can’t bring myself to love this movie. The adult characters were wonderful with great voice actors behind them that give the movie a great deal of gravitas and importance. The kid dinosaurs, voice by kids actor, was somewhat annoying and just couldn’t give a great performance, aside from maybe Cerra who did a decent job. I don’t want to bash on kid actors but they are adults now so who cares. They never could pull me into the movie and never made me feel invested with their performance. The animation did a better acting than the kid actors. They are okay when it comes to the lighter moments, but the darker moments they could not pull off the performance needed. It does not help that the kids dinosaurs are pretty generic, with conflicts they must overcome and of course they do and you see it a mile away. Littlefoot trying to get over his loss could have been great, but aside from the scene of said tragic death, is not handle that well. The main problem I had with the movie is that I couldn’t root for the main character, and could not get invested which is a shame. That being said, I can see why kids might able to relate to them aside from the fact they less critical and I am someone who finds kids annoying (god damn my cynical barely adult self). The dinosaurs do have problems that kids can relate to, especially with being separated from your parents, which I guess was done decently. That being said I would not mind if Sharptooth got something to eat.

Overall I can see why people love this movie. The animation is great and makes it feel vast and grand. The tragic death was done beautifully and Sharptooth was a menacing predator. That being said the kid characters was not that great in my opinion, and the story was just alright. While I would have loved this movie as a kid and can see why this is ingrained in so many people, I personally overall thought the movie was just alright. I know this is an unpopular opinion and someone will say this was my childhood, but I have to give my honest opinion and give this a C.

Available on Netflix