Land Before Time Retrospective #13
As of a few days ago, I have watched all fourteen Land Before Time films, many of them for the first time ever. In honour of this, and in honour of my 800th post on the Land Before Time forum, I shall rank them in order from best to worst.
The original film is still by far and away my favourite, but I did enjoy most of the sequels. And even the weaker ones still had redeeming qualities. I talked about the original film here.
But anyway…
#10: The Great Longneck Migration (2003)
Despite my general preference towards the earlier sequels, and despite this being the first film to not use any James Horner music, this one was a real treat. The storyline catches the right balance of being epic and adventurous and magical, while having good character development. It was also interesting to see how the rest of the Gang fared on their journey during Littlefoot’s absence. I likewise enjoyed how, upon finally reuniting with his father, Littlefoot is actually confused and upset and doesn’t warm up to him right away… although conversely it leads to my one nitpick with the film in that I wish Littlefoot had stayed angrier at Bron longer. He seemed to get over it just a little too quickly. But overall, I was thoroughly pleased with this one.
User ‘Littlefoot505’ mentioned in my forum intro thread that he thinks this should have been the last LBT film, and I might have to agree with him there. Unfortunately, things kinda went downhill for me after this…
– (Original review.)
#4: Journey Through the Mists (1996)
I had a hard time picking The Great Longneck Migration over this, but they might be interchangeable. Either way, the story and the cast are highly enjoyable. As Dalekdino mentioned, this one has a bit of an edge to it. Grandpa Longneck falling sick was a truly emotional moment, and it makes you all the more determined to see Littlefoot succeed in retrieving the night flowers. Ichy & Dil made for fun, entertaining, unique villains. Their dynamic was great.
And of course, Ali. I’m still sore that she never showed up in another film. She fit in so nicely with the rest of the Gang! Although it does make her appearance here all the more precious.
– (Original review.)
#5: The Mysterious Island (1997)
I love the journey in this one, especially how it’s divided into two distinct halves. While normally it seems a bit ridiculous how the kids always run off on adventures without the adults, here their solution to prevent the dinosaur herd from splitting apart is actually really clever. It shows the great camaraderie these kids have developed, how they’ve almost become more of a family to each other than to their actual families. Although, unsurprisingly, their running off still leads them into trouble.
Regardless, this was one of the most consistently fun and exciting of the series (even if I wish it had lasted a bit longer). Next to the very original Sharptooth, this film has the best villain. The Plated Sharptooth was genuinely threatening.
– (Original review.)
#3: The Time of the Great Giving (1995)
Seems to be among the most polarizing of the bunch; people either really like this one or they really don’t. I’m in the former camp. I enjoyed the poignant story and the themes of bullying, parenting, and empathy, and the film delivers a good lesson in that sometimes other people aren’t as different from you as you think. While I had a difficult time warming up to Topsy’s character throughout the rest of the series, he has some lovely character development here, and his speech to Hyp’s father is profound. I also like how the film ended up redeeming the bullies and Hyp’s father instead of excessively vilifying them. And the Gang themselves are, of course, still loveable and endearing. Especially Littlefoot and Cera; it’s touching to see how far their friendship has come since the first movie.
– (Original review.)
#8: The Big Freeze (2001)
The Sharptooth was underwhelming, and like with Mysterious Island I wanted this one to be longer and more fleshed-out in places, but overall it was pretty solid. Ducky and Spike take center stage and both of them are developed very nicely. For the first time, we get an exploration of what it means for Spike to be an adopted member of Ducky’s family. The winter landscapes were atmospheric and gave us yet another memorable setting. The snowball fight is a great standout scene. Ducky’s mother and Tippy’s mother are both loveable characters as well; too bad we didn’t see more of them in the series. It was also great that Mr. Thicknose got to be part of the adventure. The adults coming along on the kids’ journeys is something I think should’ve happened more often.
– (Original review.)
#2: The Great Valley Adventure (1994)
The first sequel was a strange experience. I think part of my problem is that I found the musical numbers and the comic relief villains incredibly jarring compared to the first film, whereas I started to get used to it after a few more sequels. Thus, the first half of Great Valley Adventure was kind of a slog, although it did pick up in the second half. Despite the singing and the goofy villains, it’s also closer in tone to the original than most others, which is a plus. More than any of the other films, there was a strong, contrasting mixture of some things I really liked and other things I didn’t. I think I’d need to see this one again sometime to form a more concrete opinion, whereas most of the other sequels I’m confident in how I feel about them. Still, when you mesh all the good and bad things together, this probably comes out as one of the more middle-of-the-road entries.
– (Original review.)
#6: The Secret of Saurus Rock (1998)
Another hotly-contested one. While it isn’t one of my absolute favourites, there are still things I enjoy about it. I liked the western vibe and the whole idea of a heroic, legendary dinosaur who turns out to be real. The “bad luck” added a nice touch, especially since there’s an element of ambiguity to the whole thing. Those parts were all well done, and it gave the film a nice mythical and magical touch that some of the other sequels are lacking. Related to that, Grandpa Longneck telling the kids campfire stories was genuinely endearing. However, other aspects of the story felt too low-key, and not nearly as exciting as it could have been. Doc is an interesting character, but he was a bit underutilized despite being the main guest star.
I dunno, it just felt like the ideas for the storyline were solid, but the execution was underwhelming.
– (Original review.)
#7: The Stone of Cold Fire (2000)
Compared to Secret of Saurus Rock, this one has a distinctly more adventurous feel, which I liked. However, the execution felt a little sloppy. Hard to explain why. It was sort of the opposite of Saurus Rock, which has a lower-stakes plot but was executed more consistently. Still, having aliens in Land Before Time is so bizarre it’s awesome, and the titular Stone of Cold Fire is a neat concept. This is another sequel that has more of an edge to it than most of the others, as Pterano’s backstory is surprisingly morbid and tragic, although the character himself I didn’t know what to make of. Along with his two goons, their motives were kinda confusing.
Again, there were a lot of good ideas here. I just wish they’d been better realized. But I may have to see this one again sometime to form a more definite opinion.
– (Original review.)
#12: The Great Day of the Flyers (2006)
Unlike Saurus Rock, this one works better as a low-key story. Our favourite flyer Petrie gets some nice development, and Guido is a fun supporting character. As Dalekdino mentioned earlier, it was satisfying to have Topsy fall in the mud and get laughed at by everyone, even Cera, and then later with Tria bossing him around. Finally someone who can put him in his place. 😛
That said, I still had a few issues with it. Tricia was cute, but she seemed to be little more than just Dinah and Dana Part II (speaking of which, whatever became of them?). The “be yourself” moral was groan-inducing, and I agree with IHC that the resolution to the flying test was likewise unsatisfying. And the film’s final act dragged on too long. The aspect of Guido’s sleepwalking was also strange, and I wanted to know more about his backstory but was left feeling short-changed.
– (Talked about this one in the Guido Showcase.)
#14: Journey of the Brave (2016)
I find that the last installment of a series tends to go one of two ways; it’s either the most amazing of them all or it’s a let-down. This, unfortunately, was the latter. After Wisdom of Friends, I was hoping for a good palette cleanser and a good final film to cap off my LBT quest. And gratefully, it is better than that film, yet I still came out feeling let down. Not the worst installment, but for sure the most disappointing. Compared to the memorable settings and themes of the other films, the adventure in this one felt generic.
One thing I did enjoy was, as with The Great Longneck Migration, we get to see how the remaining four members of the Gang manage without Littlefoot. I also liked the idea of Bron returning, but it didn’t amount to much considering he only really appeared at the very end. And where the heck is Shorty? Even with the Yellowbellies gone, the film was still overly silly in places, and tonally the series seems to have become so far removed from the original by now. Then again, perhaps I was just burnt out on LBT by this point, especially since I watched films #11-14 in very short succession.
Quote from MF217: “Considering Bron went missing, I was expecting one thing and one thing only that would’ve skyrocketed this film to Number 1 had it occurred; for Bron to be killed off. The audacity to make that decision would’ve easily made this film to be my favorite of the sequels; because it just goes to show how easily any of the characters could die by doing what they do in their lives, just like how the original movie proved this.”
^I had a similar thought while watching. I knew it probably wasn’t going to happen, but I agree that Bron dying would have improved the film.
#9: Journey to Big Water (2002)
Mo was obnoxious, and the storyline just wasn’t that interesting. I don’t entirely blame the creators, as it’s understandable that maybe they were getting worn down with the series by this point and/or were having trouble coming up with good ideas. It happens. Although even there, the series seemed to keep getting more and more light-hearted as it went along. Not an inherently bad thing, but it did stray further and further from what I loved so much about the original film. If they couldn’t keep a similar tone to the original, I wish they’d at least kept the tone of the early sequels. I did like the part with “Mrs. Mama”, but that was the only real standout scene for me.
Overall though, this one was just dull more than anything, unlike the below entries which fall into campy territory.
– (Original review.)
#11: Invasion of the Tinysauruses (2005)
This has the worst plot of any of them. The whole thing is a mess, albeit an entertaining mess. Thankfully I wasn’t bored while watching. Still, the set-up with the tree-sweets and Cera teasing Littlefoot was strange, Littlefoot being so upset about said teasing seemed out-of-character, the dinosaurs acting so threatened by the Tinysauruses was nonsensical, and the Tinysauruses themselves were lame. Even the film’s title is lame. 😛 I also wish they could come up with some more interesting antagonists; at this point Sharpteeth were becoming the go-to villains for the franchise. The only real bright spot was Tria. Yet another guest character whom I wish had been a more regular fixture of the series.
– (Original review.)
#13: The Wisdom of Friends (2007)
Despite everything, I actually think there’s a good story buried in here somewhere, with the Gang guiding another lost group of dinosaurs towards their own valley sanctuary. The broad premise is intriguing. Too bad the whole thing plays out like a bad comedy. There were some mildly entertaining parts; among them being the Gang’s exasperation at the buffoonery they have to put up with. I likewise enjoyed the Sharptooth quartet. But yeah, overall, I have to agree that this is the least good of them all. The Yellowbellies were annoying, and just… yeah… :/
I did notice some interesting parallels to the first film, which were fun to spot: In the first film, the Gang comes across a rock that looks like a Longneck that leads in the direction of the Great Valley. In Wisdom of Friends, they find a rock that looks like a Yellowbelly that leads in the direction of Berry Valley. The search for Belly Valley itself was reminiscent of the kids trying to find the Great Valley in the original. Another similarity during the final Sharptooth/Sharpteeth confrontation; in the original, Cera yells out “I’m coming!” before ramming the boulder, whereas here she yells, “I’m coming, Doofah!” The way the Sharpteeth get knocked off the cliff via boulder and fall a long way down also reminded me of Sharptooth’s defeat in the original. And then, immediately after the Sharptooth/Sharpteeth are vanquished, the kids find the Great/Berry Valley. Even the shot of them standing on a plateau looking down into Berry Valley is much like the Great Valley reveal shot.
However, it doesn’t really speak well of the film that my favourite moments were the ones that reminded me of the original, does it? Even Loofah agrees with me.
Condensed ranking & ratings (out of 8):
– 8 tree stars: The Land Before Time (#1)
– 7 tree stars: The Great Longneck Migration (#10)
– 6 & 2/3 tree stars: Journey Through the Mists (#4) – (Original rating: 6 & 1/3 tree stars)
– 6 & 2/3 tree stars: The Mysterious Island (#5) – (Original rating: 6 tree stars)
– 6 tree stars: The Time of the Great Giving (#3)
– 6 tree stars: The Big Freeze (#8) – (Original rating: 5 & 2/3 tree stars)
– 5 & 1/3 tree stars: The Great Valley Adventure (#2) – (Original rating: 5 tree stars)
– 5 & 1/3 tree stars: The Secret of Saurus Rock (#6)
– 5 & 1/3 tree stars: The Stone of Cold Fire (#7) – (Re-review rating: 6 tree stars)*
– 5 tree stars: The Great Day of the Flyers (#12)
– 4 tree stars: Journey of the Brave (#14)
– 3 tree stars: Journey to Big Water (#9)
– 3 tree stars: Invasion of the Tinysauruses (#11)
– 3 tree stars: The Wisdom of Friends (#13)
*(I covered LBT 7 again later on and bumped up my previous rating a little.)
– TBD tree stars: The TV series