Bluth and Goldman not pleased with production?

[Malte279]

I must disagree with both of you.
I really like Chomper in the sequels, but unless we are talking of a concept of the original movie which would have been completely and totally different to begin with Chomper would not have fit in into the first movie. The entire story would have had to be turned upside down to fit him in. The original movie is by far gloomier than any of the sequels and therefore much less suitable for Chomper who is (and I really do like him) a product of the less gloomy sequels from tip to toe.
As for the original movies Sharptooth they definitely exaggerated to make him more scary permitting him to jump higher, and farther, and living through much higher a fall than his prehistoric counterpart would have ever had. Nevertheless it is my conviction that the actual idea of any "super-abilities" based on a sharptooth being some kind of prehistoric marvel character was neither in the minds of the makers of LBT nor would it be likely to be on the mind of Littlefoot or other characters of the movie.
Unrealistic abilities of the original movie's character are on the same level as the unrealistic element of talking dinosaurs in LBT movies.

[Caustizer]

I guess Don Bluth didn't like the land before time because everytime he sees it he can only think about what nobody else will see and all the things he was forced to cut from the final product.

I would hate something I made too if i was forced to take away pieces of it.

JK Rowling feels the same about some of her books...she felt she was pressured for time so she didn't put in some plot elements she wanted to.


Having all the characters die at the end (Great Valley = heaven ending) would be far too depressing for children and also wouldn't leave any room for a sequal!

[oogaboo]

Interesting article. It amazes me of how far TLBT has gotten and how much it grossed in the movies. Few years later we have new people dedicated enough to make 12 extra sequels. They only sold at least 60 million units which is about 5 to 7 units per movie. And this is World Wide! If you think about it...that is a pretty small amount of units sold out of 12 movies. Not to mention bad merchandising.

[Allicloud]

Interesting article. It amazes me of how far TLBT has gotten and how much it grossed in the movies. Few years later we have new people dedicated enough to make 12 extra sequels. They only sold at least 60 million units which is about 5 to 7 units per movie. And this is World Wide! If you think about it...that is a pretty small amount of units sold out of 12 movies. Not to mention bad merchandising.

Wait...where are you getting the 5-7 number? Because last time I checked, 60 million units divided by 12 sequels was not 5-7.

[oogaboo]

If each of the 12 movies sold 5 million units that would equal 60 mil.
5x12=60.

[Allicloud]

If each of the 12 movies sold 5 million units that would equal 60 mil.
5x12=60.

Ah right. Cos you said 5-7 units, you missed out the million part.

Still, this is probably better sales than any other direct-to-DVD Don Bluth sequel...Heck, probably better sales than any direct-to-dvd sequel ever!

And I can find pretty solid evidence at my school, of all places. Whenever I end up mentioning the series in conversation, people will always say a variant of either "Yeah...that's that film with the cartoon dinosaurs, right?" and/or "Oh yeah, I loved that film!"

[Bruton the Iguanodon]

I wouldn't be surprised...the final version ended up sucking compared to what the full cut sounded like.

The first words of the feature are hers, "Mama!"

No it's not

[DarkHououmon]

How would the final cut suck?

I looked at the movie's beginning. Ducky's first words are "Mama!". The movie's first words, not including the narrator, is a threehorn shouting "Come on!".

[Bruton the Iguanodon]

Yup, so the summary got it wrong.

By the way, why do the credits say, "in order of appearence" but Ducky is listed next to last?

What I was saying was the current cut sucks without the scenes of Littlefoot finding the valley on his own, etc.

[Bruton the Iguanodon]

Spike gets up and starts following her, eating his nest/bush as he goes.

We didn't see him get up (due to 7 seconds being offscreen) but I supposed he'd have to since he's on his feet when we see him. I supposed he would have had to roll ovee to get up to, so I guess this saves him the humiliation of watching him get on his feet 4 the 1st time  

[Bruton the Iguanodon]

Next Littlefoot is seen out on a ledge. He hears his mother calling as overhead, clouds form the shape of long-necks.

Plural?!!  :blink:

[Belmont2500]

I really don't understand directors sometimes. Even if the final product didn't stay true to Don Bluth's original vision, it still turned out to be a wonderful film. It sparked many sequels, a television series, and a large fanbase. I don't see that for Oliver and Company. Don Bluth should be proud, but alas, he seems reluctant to acknowledge his BEST creation (IMHO). It easily craps all over Rock-A-Doodle and Pebble and the Penguin any day.

I also don't understand critics. So they acknowledge that The Land Before Time was a well animated movie. The dinosaurs were cute, the musical score was epic, the overall atmosphere was still considerably dark... and yet they compare it to a Saturday morning cartoon? Now I was born on the tail-end of the 80's, but Saturday morning cartoons must have been GOOD back then. I'm sure, what with all the 30-minute toy commercials.

My guess is that they fell asleep during the good parts.

[NewOrder]

There are several inconsistencies in the plot summary of this article. For instance, there's a triceratops that yells "go on", or something along those lines in the expositional portion of the opening sequence, before Ducky is even introduced.

And they called Ducky a platypus?! If they'd used the term Duckbill dinosaur, I'd be okay with that, but platypus is simply an idiotic term. It's a mammal for crying out loud.

[Bruton the Iguanodon]

There are several inconsistencies in the plot summary of this article. For instance, there's a triceratops that yells "go on", or something along those lines in the expositional portion of the opening sequence, before Ducky is even introduced.

And they called Ducky a platypus?! If they'd used the term Duckbill dinosaur, I'd be okay with that, but platypus is simply an idiotic term. It's a mammal for crying out loud.

And saying that we see Spike get up.

[NewOrder]

Well, that part did make it into the extended cut version that was seen on selected countries, and it's in the book.

[cyberbat]

1) Adam Do you know that they are making a new remake of WATERSHIP DOWN? Well they have, I also recommend PLAGUE DOGS. The other animated movie that studio made.


2) Am I the only one that is bothered by the great inconsistency of spikes size? His egg was twice the size of ducky........and yet he's like 10 times her size later one. The same size more or less than the rest of the gang.......that's a HUGE growth spurt there! Silly thing to notice I know

I wish Bluth and co wouldn't be wasting their time with that old dead video game movie and instead animated those cut scenes for us fans! I would pay for that in one of those funding sites.

Why can't they publish them on the DVD's? Perhaps they don't have the footage. Such a shame.

[DarkHououmon]

I wouldn't say they are "wasting their time" with Dragon's Lair. They've gotten a lot of funding for it, so there are a lot of people willing to see it. So long as there are plenty of people who want it and so long as Don wants to do it, then animating a Dragon's Lair movie is not a waste of time. Personally, I'm interested in seeing a new Don movie, regardless if it's LBT or not.

Besides, I'm not really sure how interested in animating new Land Before Time scenes he would be.

[StardustSoldier]

Yeah, somehow I doubt that Bluth is going to have any more involvement with LBT. It seems like he moved on a long time ago. Regardless, I sure do wish someone at Universal would either dig up that lost footage, or else if it no longer exists, then find a way to recreate it.

I guess Don Bluth didn't like the land before time because everytime he sees it he can only think about what nobody else will see and all the things he was forced to cut from the final product.

I would hate something I made too if i was forced to take away pieces of it.

JK Rowling feels the same about some of her books...she felt she was pressured for time so she didn't put in some plot elements she wanted to.

I agree. While I do think Land Before Time is a wonderful film, I can see how Bluth would be unhappy if he felt that his vision got too compromised in the making. Creators always view their own work through a different lens than their audience. I'm a fiction writer in my spare time and I've experienced this. I've written many stories that I was unhappy with because I felt my vision didn't work out, and yet I've still had numerous other people tell me how much they enjoy my writing.

[Petrie]

Well I don't think there's really a way to go and re-create lost footage at this point.  Universal just put out the blu-ray of LBT and it was bare-bones.  Shows you how much it matters in the scheme of things.  At least we have it in the best quality we are likely to get the film.    For a while there, I wasn't even sure if we would get that.  Just waiting for a soundtrack re-release in better quality.  An American Tail just got one, Balto has had one, so maybe LBT is next.

[StardustSoldier]

Yeah, I guess recreating the lost footage may not even be possible. But a fan can dream. 

A soundtrack re-release would be pretty awesome though. Especially if they added in the musical cues that were omitted from the original release, although again it seems unlikely.

Also, it wasn't until I started typing this that I looked it up and realized that James Horner also did the soundtrack for Balto. I haven't seen that film since I was a kid, but that alone makes me want to go and rewatch it now.