Article on LBT from 1989

[Malte279]

As some of you know I'm right now doing an internship at Dortmund's institute of newspaper research. I've been checking out for more articles on LBT other than the marginal results I got on earlier occasions. I have to admit that today's results were very modest as well.
The picture shows a list of current films etc. from june 1989 (the German release date was june 22nd 1989). The land before time (German title: In einem Land vor unserer Zeit) is on the first rank of the movies. The lines below the picture read:
"Died out 65 million years ago yet very alive on screen. Dinosaur-star Littlefoot and his friend Ducky bamboozle the first rank of the movie hit-list for themselves at first go."
Not only do they use that strange word (hope bamboozle is a good translation) which seems to imply that they didn't get the first rank by fair means, but they even use the male form of friend for Ducky (as if you would refer to her as he in English).
Regretably they don't have the year 1988 of any English or American newspaper I have checked out yet.

[action9000]

That's a fascinating article, Malte.  Thanks for posting it.  It's unfortunate that we are unable to find such articles related to the 1988 release, but this is one of the more original articles I've ever seen.  Good work! :^.^:

[Cyberlizard]

Very interesting, too bad i can't read German.

[Malte279]

That's why I translated   I have another, more detailed, article which I found a while ago. I don't have it at hand right now, but I shall translate and post it here as soon as possible.

[Petrie.]

Interesting article....maybe LBT was just that popular over there.  LBT was #1 in theaters over here for a week--its first week.  It kept on falling in consecutive weeks.  Compared to the other animated films out there--Oliver and Company, and Who Framed Roger Rabbit (released about five months earlier) it held its own for seven consecutive weeks.

http://www.the-numbers.com/charts/weekly/1988/19881118.html

[Malte279]

LBT remained at the top of the hit-list in Germany for quite a while. Perhaps that is why there is some LBT merchandise other than the movies around here, while there is hardly anything but movies and plushs in most countries.

[Malte279]

I continued my search for articles on LBT in the institute. There is nothing in the regular (German) papers of that time. It seems they generally reported less on movies back then than they do nowadays. All I got from a regular paper was a small ad for LBT in the advertising section. I did find two articles on LBT in special movie magazines. Neither of them is a pleasure to read for LBT fans and I confess that I was smirking when I saw the movie hitlists where LBT remained at the top for many weeks despite the total roasting those articles were.
I'll try to translate the articles as good as I can. There are some phrases and inkhorn terms very difficult to transfer into English though. The first article (the kinder of the two) reads:

Sometimes the 350 heads team around Don Bluth is taking real efforts, plays with perspectives and shadows and includes pretty slapstick feats. The backgrounds too often come across as impressive, the sky is varying magnificently between yellow pastell and fiery red and time and again the layers are arranged one after the other into the deep that beautiful ambient effects are the result. But nevertheless there is an dÈj‡-vu right from the beginning: Nothing, absolutely nothing is really new and exciting about this cartoon. On the contrary: "The land before time" is a kind of museum of classical cartoon. Back to the roots is the slogan, and this usually means back to Disney in this businness.
Don Bluth, once employed in the grand master's studio, is in the early minutes clearly plagiarizing the primeval world scenes from "Fantasia". Later on, as of course it is about making cute and anthropomorphizing the fauna, there are borrowings from "Dumbo", "Bambi" and "The Jungle Book". The cute saurian heroes eat only plants of course, for nature is basically good. Only "sharptooth" alias Tyrannosaurus Rex is misbehaving.
So it's businnes as usual and this wouldn't be too bad as all if at least the movie had a half-passable story to offer. However, the whole fuss, the graphical talent, finally deflagrate in a narrative nowhere. It looks just like Disney, but it doesn't work out. The quest for the Great Valley, this is alright as a motive, but if during this only the themes friendship, danger, and rescue are repeated over and over again it is simply doesn't do, respectively it doesn't do very long: As soon as "sharptooth" has gurgled away in the water, there is nothing left to tell, so one is in paradise after one hour already.

I meant to post the other article I found in this post too, but I decided differently. Perhaps this article is giving some material for a discussion, so I will give it some time and see if that's a fact before I post the other article.

[Malte279]

As I said there was another article I found which was even stronger against the land before time. I shall post the translation here for the sake of letting you know what was written back then in 1989:

To many visiters of the cinema animation is a genre they take note of only marginally - if at all. Too early, too short, or too "unserious" are the contacts with the created unreality of the trick film for it to leave, apart from exceptions, a deeper impression.
One of these exceptions is certainly "The Jungle Book" by Disney and Teitherman, which dvanced to become a cult movie even of the educated elite early after its start in 1967 - the kids were enthusiastic about it anyway. Now the Jungle Book is a really beautiful movie. Even for people who don't appreciate animated movies. The newest opus by Don Bluth (An American Tail) is however a hardly bearable impertinence even for people who maintained a certain enthusiasm for animated movies from their childhood - even though it is in every single of its pictures a declare epigone of classical Disney productions. That is not so much because of technical reservations one might hold against the graphical realization. On the contrary the movie is solidly conservative concerning this and sort of breathes the genuine spirit of the 40s and 50s. This goes as far as to the certain primness of the movements which is pleasantly far from the often cold perfection of computer based products of other animation factories.
However the obvious honesty of the ex-Disney-man and ex-Californian Don Bluth and his 350 (!) assistants he has ralied in the Irish "exile", retaliates in the aspects of content of his 66 minutes fable about the time in which, for the anthropomorphe logic of the cartoon movie, men were still dinosaurs. When about 100 million years ago the green food for the dinousaurs runs short an orphaned young saurian named "Littlefoot" has to fight his way through all kinds of rigor (principally earthquakes and the encounter with an evil representative of a species named "Sharptooth") to the legendary "Great Valley", along with four friends.
The story is told with very much emotion, a great pinch of "Go west young man!" and so much dramatic lack of imagination that even the sugary music can't make you forget about the aneamic plot. Of course the brave little group arrives at the praised valley in the looked for end (the US journal Variety writes: "One of the slowest hours which ever crawled over the silver screen!"). Milk and honey, friendship and pancakes everywhere, and if they didn't cease to live happily ever after...

Well, this is what they wrote and if the text above is almost incomprehensible for use of inkhorn terms and neverending sentences it perfectly matches the mood of the German original. I will not comment on it now hoping for one of you to take the first step.

[Petrie.]

Sounds like they know he was out to do Disney better than Disney.  My opinion, he did that and better while Disney still had yet to turn out something decent: their Black Cauldron (1985) was a flop, the Great Mouse Detective was ok.

Unfortunately, once Disney got Little Mermaid off the ground in 89, that was it for Bluth and co...keeping Disney going while Disney found itself.

[F-14 Ace]

I get the feeling that these people didn't care much for the movie.  I don't understand what they hav against LBT.

[WeirdRaptor]

Actually, its not that surprising. Every movie in existance has someone that hates it. I cannot agree with those articles, nor can I see where the hell they're coming from with remarks liek "plagerizing Fantasia". (??) Um, I've seen "Fantasia" and "The Land Before Time" and I've never seen a scene in either that made me think of the other.

[Malte279]

Also I think the second article shows quite clearly it was written in a time when cartoon movies where usually looked down upon as "for children". Why else would there be such a long hymn to the "exception" jungle book in a review that is supposed to be about the land before time.

PS: Does anyone of you know that journal "Variety" which has been quoted in the second article?

[pokeplayer984]

Actually, its not that surprising. Every movie in existance has someone that hates it. I cannot agree with those articles, nor can I see where the hell they're coming from with remarks liek "plagerizing Fantasia". (??) Um, I've seen "Fantasia" and "The Land Before Time" and I've never seen a scene in either that made me think of the other.

Well, there is that one scene in Fantasia that has a Stegosaurus fighting a T-Rex.  So maybe the person thought they were stealing from it with that scene.

But seriously, with how they made the Littlefoot's Mother vs. Sharptooth scene, I doubt they could've stolen that scene in any way, shape or form. :

A main difference is that Fantasia's version has the major bite from T-Rex off screen, we get shadows of it and a slight graphic view of the wound caused from the bite.

Another major difference is that Fantasia's is more dramatic with that thunderstorm.  We get a pretty bland scene where it was just fate being rather cruel.

The thunderstorm for us is meant to reflect the sad scene of Littlefoot's Mother's death.  Which I must say does rather well in the end. :^.^:

So while there are vauge similarities with them, there is little chance of plagerizing here.

[action9000]

nor can I see where the hell they're coming from with remarks liek "plagerizing Fantasia"

For the sake of arguement, I do see, to a limited extent where this person is coming from.

The opening of the original Land Before Time consisted of a lengthy musically-based prologue, with the story being told by the images and the music. This certainly has parallels to Fantasia.  Throughout the first 15 minutes, much of the sound heard by the viewer is the music wrapping the pieces of the film together.  The actions of the Herds moving, the scene with the Egg Thief, the hatching of Ducky, Cera, and Littlefoot, and the first bonding between Littlefoot and his family, are all told with animations and beautiful music.

As the film progresses, it moves away slightly from this aspect and dialog becomes more important as a means of having the characters understand each other.  Even so, there are a number of scenes where few words are spoken, but much emotion is protrayed through the use of music.  Some such scenes include:
- The sharptooth battle and the Great Earthshake
- The birth of Spike
- The memorable scene of Littlefoot being left alone in the giant footprint at night, while the others huddle around Cera.  Over time, the Gang wanders over to Littlefoot and join him in the footprint.  Not a word is spoken in this segment.
- Some brief travelling scenes, such as the swimming across the pool, just prior to meeting Sharptooth for the last time.
- Segments of the final battle with Sharptooth
- The discovery of the Great Valley and the Epilogue of the film.

I will agree that The Land Before Time has many elements unique to it, as does Fantasia.  I do also see a number of parallels between LBT and Fantasia, as stated previously.  This is not a bad thing, and frankly, I enjoy both films for these aspects.

But plagerizing??  hardly.  I completely disagree with that.