The Gang of Five

The Land Before Time => General Land Before Time => Topic started by: NewOrder on February 12, 2016, 12:36:24 PM

Title: Sequels Personal Ranking
Post by: NewOrder on February 12, 2016, 12:36:24 PM
I thought I'd start this topic where we can share our own personal ranking for all current sequels.

Here's mine:

1. Journey Through the Mists
2. The Great Valley Adventure
3. The Mysterious Island
4. The Stone of Cold Fire
5. Journey to Big Water
6. The Great Longneck Migration
7. The Great Day of the Flyers
8. Journey of the Brave
9. The Time of the Great Giving
10. The Secret of Saurus Rock
11. The Big Freeze
12. Invasion of the Tinysauruses
13. The Wisdom of Friends
Title: Sequels Personal Ranking
Post by: Littlefoot fan 1990 on February 12, 2016, 01:40:41 PM
Here's my list of my ranks for the sequels.  

1. The Time of The Great Giving
2. The Mysterious Island
3. Journey of the Brave
4. The Stone of Cold Fire
5. The Secret of Saurus Rock
6. The Great Valley Adventure
7. Journey Through the Mists
8. The Big Freeze
9. The Great Day of the Flyers
10. Journey to Big Water
11. The Great Longneck Migration
12. Invasion of the Tinysauruses
13. The Wisdom of Friends
 

Title: Sequels Personal Ranking
Post by: Hypno on February 12, 2016, 04:04:35 PM
I'll do this once my marathon is over and I've seen JoTB.
Title: Sequels Personal Ranking
Post by: Sable on February 12, 2016, 05:36:27 PM
1. The Stone of Cold Fire
2. Journey Through the Mists
3. The Mysterious Island
4. The Great Valley Adventure
5. The Time of the Great Giving
6. Journey of the Brave
7. The Secret of Saurus Rock
8. Journey to Big Water
9. The Great Longneck Migration
10. The Big Freeze
11. The Great Day of the Flyers
12. Invasion of the Tinysauruses
13. The Wisdom of Friends
Title: Sequels Personal Ranking
Post by: Coyote_A on February 12, 2016, 07:21:38 PM
Hmmm... Should be something like:

1. The Mysterious Island -> my all time favourite!
2. The Great Valley Adventure -> nostalgia factor is strong with this one
3. The Great Longneck Migration -> the most epic sequel of them all, for better or for worse
4. Journey of the Brave
5. The Big Freeze
6. Journey Through the Mists
7. The Stone of Cold Fire
8. The Great Day of the Flyers
9. Invasion of the Tinysauruses
10. Journey to Big Water
11. The Secret of Saurus Rock -> the western style is just ridiculous and I didn't like Doc... Like, at all
12. The Time of the Great Giving -> the most boring of them all overall
13. The Wisdom of Friends -> do I even need to comment? :D
Title: Sequels Personal Ranking
Post by: Pinky997 on February 13, 2016, 10:53:51 AM
I actually made this list after I finished re watching all the sequels.. I don't remember why I would have ranked Wisdom of Friends so high but I trust my judgement immediately after seeing them more than how I feel now, at least a year after. I know the last 3 were ranked so low because they were most boring, to me. I have to add Big Freeze and JOTB bc they weren't on my original list.

The Mysterious Island
The Great Longneck Migration
Journey to Big Water
Journey Through the Mists
The Big Freeze
The Great Valley Adventure
Invasion of the Tinysauruses
Journey of the Brave
The Time of the Great Giving
The Wisdom of Friends
The Stone of Cold Fire
The Secret of Saurus Rock
The Great Day of the Flyers
Title: Sequels Personal Ranking
Post by: NewOrder on February 16, 2016, 05:50:21 PM
It's good to see most of us ranked Journey of the Brave very high, let's hope its popularity is good enough to convince the studio to continue with the franchise.
Title: Sequels Personal Ranking
Post by: Dr. Rex on February 18, 2016, 09:28:00 PM
I have yet to see JOTB, so it'll be excluded from the list.

1. The Great Longneck Migration
2. The Great Valley Adventure
3. The Big Freeze
4. Journey Through the Mists
5. The Great Day of the Flyers
6. Journey to Big Water
7. The Secret of Saurus Rock
8. The Mysterious Island
9. The Stone of Cold Fire
10. Invasion of the Tinysauruses
11. The Time of the Great Giving
12. The Wisdom of Friends
Title: Sequels Personal Ranking
Post by: Bruton the Iguanodon on February 19, 2016, 01:32:14 AM
1. The Mysterious Island
2. Journey To Big Water
3. The Time of The Great Giving
4. Journey Through The Mists
5. Journey of the Brave
6. The Great Valley Adventure
7. The Stone Of Cold Fire
8. The Big Freeze
9. The Secret of Saurus Rock
10. The Great Longneck Migration
11. The Great Day of the Flyers
12. The Invasion of the Tinysaureses
13. The Wisdom of Friends
Title: Sequels Personal Ranking
Post by: Parker on February 23, 2016, 07:27:42 AM
Counting only the sequels I've seen and have clear memories of, my ranking looks like this:

1. The Stone of Cold Fire
2. Journey of the Brave
3. The Mysterious Island
4. Journey Through the Mists
5. Secret of Saurus Rock
6. The Great Valley Adventure
7. The Time of the Great Giving
8. Invasion of the Tinysaureses

Out of all the sequels, I find The Stone of Cold Fire the most interesting. Mostly, I like that it gave us a compelling antagonist: Pterano, who had both a tragic back story and motives that didn't involve eating the main characters for once. Add the surreal weirdness of extraterrestrials showing up, and the movie easily takes my top spot.

Maybe it's just the movie's newness befuddling my impressions, but I actually think Journey of the Brave is my second favorite sequel. I liked its simple, but exciting adventure. I liked its songs. I liked its character interactions. Honestly, I was surprised by how good it was.

The next two sequels, The Mysterious Island and Journey Through the Mists, were both enjoyable adventures with memorable settings. My Chomper favoritism gives his movie the edge, but Journey Through the Mists featured lots of great characters too. Ali, Archie, Dil, Itchy - the list goes on. Also, am I the only one who finds the Old One unintentionally hilarious? She's like a walking stereotype of stuffy old people.

Secret of Saurus Rock would be higher on my list if it weren't for Cera's nieces, who seemingly exist only to distract us from the movie's serious moments. It's a shame, since Doc is a great, mysterious character, and the legend of The Lone Dinosaur adds a welcome layer of history to The Land Before Time's mythology.

Even though it introduces one of my favorite characters, The Great Valley Adventure is lower on my list simply because I find the others stronger. That said, it deserves credit for giving us our first prolonged look at The Great Valley. It also gets points for exciting scenes with the Sinking Sands and the erupting volcano.

In general, I don't like generic bully characters, and The Time of the Great Giving constantly shoves three of them in our faces. It makes up for it with Mr. Threehorn's strong role and the surprisingly touching "Kids Like Us" lesson. But otherwise, I find it to be one of the weaker sequels. Still, it's not as mediocre as Invasion of the Tinysaureses, which was way too silly -- even by the standards of the other sequels.
Title: Sequels Personal Ranking
Post by: Coyote_A on February 23, 2016, 09:50:14 AM
Quote from: Parker,Feb 23 2016 on  03:27 PM
Out of all the sequels, I find The Stone of Cold Fire the most interesting. Mostly, I like that it gave us a compelling antagonist: Pterano, who had both a tragic back story and motives that didn't involve eating the main characters for once. Add the surreal weirdness of extraterrestrials showing up, and the movie easily takes my top spot.
I completely agree, out of all the villains the gang had to deal with throughout the series Pterano was no doubt the most interesting one. The reason why sequels like "The Big Freeze" or "Journey Through The Mists" are higher on my top favourites list than "The Stone of Cold Fire" is mostly because I'm a sucker for touching moments between the characters and their family members (like Ducky, Spike and their mom in the Freeze) and the protagonists themselves... Well that and the fact that I watched the "Journey Through The Mists" as a kid. :DD
Title: Sequels Personal Ranking
Post by: Dalekdino on March 15, 2016, 08:19:24 AM
1. Journey Through the Mists (I sated many time this is my top favourite sequel for many reasons. One been it has a bit of an edge to it with grandpa long neck becoming deathly ill, and I like Ali. I really wish they'd give her another BETTER appearance.)
2.  The Stone of Cold Fire (Despite some silly moments, this was one I actually enjoyed and had very few problems with like LBT 4, and was the last one I'd like for a while..)
3. Great day of the flyer. ( I really don't think it's all that bad and I like Guido, though I do wish they'd focused more on the Cera and Tricia plot. Though it was good to see Topsy fall in mud and get bossed about by Tria   )
4. The Great Valley Adventure ( Well this one kinda played a special part of my childhood as I remember getting really hyped about there been another LBT movie, plus it's Chomper's debut.)
5. The Time of the Great Giving (I enjoyed it as a kid but it's were my hate for Topsy kicked in and I'm not as fond of the songs now I'm older.)
6. The Great Longneck Migration. (I think it could have been better here and there, some of the writing was a bit poor)
7. Journey to Big Water. (Nothing special about this one, plus it has a reprise of big water one of my least favourite songs, and Littlefoot's VA is clearly starting to go though puberty.)
8. Journey of the Brave. (As I said was pretty disappointed with this one, my main problem being all the stupid cartoon sound effects that I really don't think work with LBT)  
9. The Mysterious Island (While I was happy Chomper came back, this was were the franchise started to go down hill for me, plus there's a lot of anachronistic words and references in this one, mainly in friends for dinner. And I hate how there blood in this one..)
10. Invasion of the Tinysauruses. (This one really increased my hate for Topsy, plus it wasted a good opportunity to references Cera's real mum and say what happened to her and her 3 sisters.)
11.  The Big Freeze. ( This film has probably my most hated song on par with hot and stinky... The mad song, I just found it embarrassing every time I heard it . And I hate the whole Ducky been out of character and been hard on Spike plot, that was the last thing I was expecting when I saw the film was gonna have the gang been introduced to snow. One top of that it's a pretty boring squeal and wasted the  opportunity for Spike to meet his real parents or find out what happened to them.)  
12:  The Wisdom of Friends . (Yeah I've not actually seen  LBT 13 minus a few clips, thank god! So that's while I put it before my personal least favourite sequel. But I can see why this one is soo hated. The stupid behaviour of the yellowbellies' and a fart joke..)
13.  The Secret of Saurus Rock (I've sated before in other topics. But this is my least favourite in the entire franchise! I remember seeing it for the first time as a kid and hated it. Main reason been the stupid and unholy annoying and gibberish spewing  Tricera twins who are Cera's niece and nephew even though Cera has no on screen siblings at that point. I also, like LBT 5 don't like that there's blood in this on too. And I call bull on the whole hints of Doc being the lone dinosaur, even though grandpa long neck said he was told the story when he was Littlefoot's age... What is Doc immortal or something? On top of that this was going to be the final LBT movie! What a horrible way to end the franchise that would have been. A prehistoric western!!?)

Anyway those are my ranks for the LBT sequels.
Title: Sequels Personal Ranking
Post by: rhombus on March 15, 2016, 01:40:31 PM
The fourteenth film has grown on me a little since I left my review of the movie.  It is my favorite of the post LBT VIII films, though I think it still had its far share of problems.  That being said, overall it was a welcome departure from the, in my opinion, general decline in quality in LBT IX through LBT XIII.

1. The Great Valley Adventure (LBT 2)
2. The Mysterious Island (LBT 5)
3. Journey Through The Mists (LBT 4)
4. The Time of The Great Giving (LBT 3)
5. The Stone Of Cold Fire (LBT 7)
6. The Big Freeze (LBT 8)
7. Journey of the Brave (LBT 14)
8. The Great Longneck Migration (LBT 10)
9. Journey To Big Water (LBT 9)
10. The Secret of Saurus Rock (LBT 6)
11. The Invasion of the Tinysaureses (LBT 11)
12. The Great Day of the Flyers (LBT 12)
13. The Wisdom of Friends (LBT 13 - I don't see this one moving any time soon  :p )
Title: Sequels Personal Ranking
Post by: MF217 on April 01, 2016, 08:54:44 PM
(Note: There will be some spoilers ahead for those who have yet to see Journey of the Brave, but also keep in mind I'm a lot different from most of the others regarding my opinions on the various sequels now that I've grown up in age. Just keep that in mind)

1. The Great Longneck Migration (Normally I'm a huge fan of Topsy, but this big of a twist regarding Littlefoot's development was simply too good to pass up considering we finally get to see who Littlefoot's dad is. Also the plot handled itself very well as to the fact Littlefoot does NOT immediately accept Bron in his life the moment he meets him the first time in his life. That's actually rather mature how they went about handling it, although Bron could've added in that he thought the Great Valley was an urban legend as to why he didn't go to the Great Valley. Not much other problems otherwise)

2. Invasion of the Tinysauruses (I LOVE the introduction of Tria here, and how her introduction continues Topsy's change as a character as a result. I'm a huge fan of Topsy here considering my childhood worship of Triceratops as a whole, so seeing Topsy get some additional development here was a huge plus. Personally I didn't expect more than Tria's introduction and her relationship with Topsy, considering that... well... it's pretty clear that both Topsy's wife and whatever few siblings Cera had are either missing outright or dead by this point)

3. The Great Day of the Flyers (I love the fact they introduce an obscure species of gliding Dinosaur here, as to showcase that, yes, Dinosaurs have feathers in some species. Nowadays pretty much all of them have feathers, but while Guido is technically not the first non-Avian Dinosaur shown in the series with feathers, he does hold the distinction of being the first in the movies. Once again, love the Topsy development here, but I have to rank this one lower because it's not as prevalent to the plot in this one. Spinosaurus also feels rather shoehorned in on this one as well)

4. The Time of the Great Giving (The first movie to develop Topsy as a character, and with the introductions of the bullies, it's ultimately TOPSY who has a role in getting the bully trio redeemed; he witnesses himself when Hyp's father shows up, using the exact same lines he did earlier with Cera, and who chews out Hyp's Dad? The big ole' Threehorn himself does. I will admit, Velociraptor in place of the usual Utahraptor feels odd considering these are by all means THE most threatening Fast Biters in the entire franchise by far.)

5. The Stone of Cold Fire (Not as much Topsy development here, but his hatred for Pterano, and what we learn of the latter further in, at least justifies some of his behavior; he's scared out of his wits of another Dinosaur doing the same mistake as Pterano did from before they arrived in the Valley. Pterano himself isn't all that bad either, and the Rainbow Face's snarky commentary to the other adults I worship mainly because they can not only put up a good argument to Topsy, but also keep him from coming up with a clever comeback at the same time! The Rainbow Faces in this movie are also an inspiration for one of the prominent, yet secret, species in Chronicles of Paleus as well!)

6. The Mysterious Island (Chomper is back, good news. Giganotosaurus as the main antagonist? Oh, boy... lemme guess he's going to face the two Tyrannosaur parents and- OH MAN THAT'S BRUTAL! Never before was I actually this impressed by the sequels for outright showcasing bloodshed when even the first movie had attempted to shy away from that! Congrats! You have my attention here, movie!)

7. Journey Through the Mists (As a kid when I saw previews for this movie on Cartoon Network, I was very confused as to why a "second Littlefoot" was present. When I actually saw the movie for myself, I had my question answered regarding Ali and then the oddball hilarity of Ichy and Dil as the two Sharpteeth for the movie. Feels rather weird seeing two Sharpteeth characters speak the same language as the other characters in all honesty, but it did feel interesting because a certain Japanese Anime Movie which I would later worship is helped because of this factor...)

8. The Great Valley Adventure (Aside from the catchy "Eggs" song, and the introduction of Chomper, I'm not letting my nostalgia blind me here; how did Chomper's Parents get into the valley at all? How did they know their egg was stolen and taken here in the first place? Why were the omnivorous Struthiomimus treated as bad guys when they need the food to eat in the first place? Why the strictly egg diet Ozzy keeps insisting on when that alone wouldn't sustain them? Why aren't the parents doing anything about the two egg thieves yet do pretty much all the work for the two Tyrannosaurus rex adults? This film just confuses me in the end, but I still like it... somewhat)

9. The Secret of Saurus Rock (Now you're probably wondering; why isn't this higher on the list due to Dinah and Dana? They're both nieces to Cera, and thus grandchildren to Topsy on a technical level, so why is this so low? Because unlike the above examples of development for Topsy... this goes absolutely nowhere and is never spoken of again. Bron himself I didn't really feel interested in... uuuntil the end in which we see him and Grandpa Longneck tag team a T. rex and Allosaurus and FINALLY have it so the adults are the one solving the crisis for once, since their battle with the two Sharpteeth net them a tooth to repair Saurus Rock with!)

10. Journey of the Brave (I was going into this movie with some rather high expectations given the leaks alone. 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. My ultimate disappointment is the fact they... don't really do anything major in this movie aside from introducing Wild Arms, who is a MUCH better designed Dinosaur than the Yellow Bellies)

11. Journey to Big Water (Liopleurodon... why do you constantly get hyped up as the biggest marine reptile predator of the Mesozoic? We ALL know that it's actually Mosasaurus who was this, and that was AGES before Jurassic World made the latter famous for it. So basically we have a rather poor attempt to create a situation where Littlefoot and the gang are interacting with sea based animals... which only makes me question just how stable the land of the Great Valley actually is, which the raising of questions but no actual answers leaves me disappointed here. As for Mo, well... he's a mixed bag. He was unique for being a marine reptile... but the good ends there. He was annoying otherwise)

12. The Big Freeze (To be honest, this was one of my favorites as a kid; not anymore. As the second worst, in my opinion, the film itself is... rather boring. It does bring up some valid questions regarding Spike's inner psych, but doesn't do much with them because it wouldn't be until the TV Series did we get to hear Spike "speak" full blown sentences. Aside from the plot with the Spiketails, this film was just incredibly boring and didn't feel very good in terms of lasting appeal. It seems to rely mostly on a gimmick, this one being snow and winter, to get viewers into it)

13. The Wisdom of Friends (**** off, Yellow Bellies, I was GLAD to write a scene where these buggers got to be killed off by mystic explosion due to Xilariz's Tek Bow arrows. I hate the Yellow Bellies for a variety of reasons, but also the fact this movie ended up using toilet humor which is a type humor I've grown to despise nowadays, mainly because it's nothing but pandering to a low, young aged audience. The Baryonyx should've at least left a mark on the entire herd and the Gang of Five, considering they had numbers on their side. What happens? The Sharpteeth are no big deal, despite having faked a death earlier in the movie, and the film doesn't end on a very climatic note either. Oh, and what I absolutely hated about the Yellow Bellies here gave me plenty of reason to bump of JotB to its spot on the list; Wild Arms)
Title: Sequels Personal Ranking
Post by: AllegroGiocoso on April 03, 2016, 02:09:32 AM
It took me a while to figure this out, but I finally have a list!

1.   Journey of the Brave
2.   Journey through the Mists
3.   The Great Valley Adventure
4.   The Mysterious Island
5.   The Big Freeze
6.   Journey to Big Water
7.   The Great Longneck Migration
8.   The Stone of Cold Fire
9.   The Secret of Saurus Rock
10.   The Time of the Great Giving
11.   The Great Day of the Flyers
12.   Invasion of the Tinysauruses
13.   The Wisdom of Friends
Title: Sequels Personal Ranking
Post by: Hypno on April 03, 2016, 08:55:31 PM
Someone must like the new movie lol
Title: Sequels Personal Ranking
Post by: Coyote_A on April 07, 2016, 01:59:29 AM
Well, I also considered putting it among my top three favourite sequels... But then the nostalgia kicked in. :D
Title: Sequels Personal Ranking
Post by: ADFan185 on April 17, 2016, 03:05:56 AM
1: Great Longneck Migration

2: Journey Through The Mists

3: The Great Day Of The Flyers

4: The Big Freeze

5: The Mysterious Island

6: The Secret Of Saurus Rock

7: Stone Of Cold Fire

8: Journey To Big Water

9: Time Of The Great Giving

10: Invasion Of The Tinysaurs

11: Great Valley Adventure

12: Wisdom Of Friends

13: Journey Of The Brave


Title: Sequels Personal Ranking
Post by: action9000 on May 28, 2016, 08:10:56 PM
1.   The Great Valley Adventure
2.   Journey through the Mists
3.   The Time of the Great Giving
4.   The Big Freeze
5.   The Great Longneck Migration
6.   Journey to Big Water
7.   The Great Day of the Flyers
8.   The Stone of Cold Fire
9.   The Secret of Saurus Rock
10.   Invasion of the Tinysauruses
11.   The Mysterious Island
12.   The Wisdom of Friends

I haven't seen Journey of the Brave yet.
Title: Re: Sequels Personal Ranking
Post by: RubberDucky on August 21, 2018, 05:20:33 AM
1.  The Mysterious Island
2.  Journey through the Mists
3.  The Stone of Cold Fire
4.  The Great Longneck Migration
5.  The Big Freeze
6.  Journey of the Brave
7.  Journey to Big Water
8.  The Great Valley Adventure
9.  The Great Day of the Flyers
10. Invasion of the Tinysauruses
11. The Secret of Saurus Rock
12. The Time of the Great Giving
13. The Wisdom of Friends
Title: Re: Sequels Personal Ranking
Post by: Sneak on August 21, 2018, 07:16:56 AM
Hmm... I will try to make my own list.
Exact places may be not correct, I just know I like some movies more and others like less. I grouped movies in "()": I - very like, II - like, III - less like, IV - minimum like.
There was no movie I absilutely hated, even XI, XII, and especially XIII, yeah, from the very start I defined them as the lowest movies, but the most distant for me after first watching was sixth one, I believe.
Due to losing huge potentioal, as I told in my review, LBT 14 is still balancing between group II and group III.
I also have a very strange relationship with Big Freeze, so it is balancing between minimum liking and less liking. XD

1. Mysterious island (I)
2. Journey through the mists (I)
3. The great longneck migration (II)
4. Journey to Big Water (II)
5. Great Valley adventure (II)
6. Journey of the brave (II-III)
7. The stone of cold fire (III)
8. The time of the Great Giving (III)
9. The big freeze (III-IV)
10. Invasion of the tinysauruses (IV)
11. The wisdom of friends (IV)
12. The great day of the flyers (IV)
13. The secret of Saurus Rock (IV)
Title: Re: Sequels Personal Ranking
Post by: Sovereign on August 21, 2018, 10:15:17 AM
I forgot to post on this topic before? Well, let's do it now. :p

1. Stone of Cold Fire (easily best plot and characters, imo)
2. The Mysterious Island ( I love the first half and best overall songs)
3. The Great Migration
4. Secret of Saurus Rock (I think it's severely underrated)
5. Journey of the Brave
6 Journey Through the Mists
7. Journey to Big Water (These are the films I actually consider good while the rest are mostly forgettable or silly)
8. The Great Valley Adventure
9. Big Freeze (I'd want to like this but damn, Tippy drops the rating)
10. Time of the Great Giving
11. Invasion of Tinysauruses (could rank higher without Tria and Big Daddy)
12. Great Day of the Flyers
13. Wisdom of Friends (very original, I know)
Title: Re: Sequels Personal Ranking
Post by: DiddyKF1 on August 21, 2018, 11:00:31 AM
Well, I only recently gave them my own ratings with someone on FF.net, so I might as well put them here...

I'll do them in reverse order from worst to best:

13. The Wisdom of Friends
Don't even get me started. Need I say more?

12. Invasion of the Tinysauruses
The overall story was just ridiculous, and the characters seem completely out of it. (Honestly, since when would Ducky and Petrie want to kill some tiny dinosaurs? I mean, seriously!?) No. This whole movie was just a joke.

11. The Secret of Saurus Rock
Doc simply left me feeling unimpressed, and the twins were pretty annoying. Even the story might have had room for improvement.

10. The Great Valley Adventure
The story was a bit confusing, and the Egg Stealers seemed to have no ambition. I think this one convinced the producers to really step it up in the later sequels.

9. The Great Longneck Migration
I'd say it was okay. Room for some improvements here and there, but otherwise decent. Also, Kiefer Sutherland's voice was spot-on.

8. The Time of the Great Giving
Here, we simply have one of many examples where the adults don't try to do something until it's too late (or almost too late). The idea of bullies in the Great Valley I thought was a good piece of morale.

7. The Great Day of the Flyers
Even though Petrie is my favorite character, right next to Ducky, this story was good for the most part, but Guido was simply an annoying piece of filler material.

6. The Mysterious Island
Very good story, and the characters developed very well. The adults' actions again seem questionable, but other than that, we at least got to see more of Chomper's developing story.

5. Journey of the Brave
This was a definitely an improvement over its absolutely terrible predecessor, but not quite top-notch. Where's Shorty? And what about more of Chomper and Ruby's story? Oh, and Wild Arms was just as bad as Guido, but not quite compared to those ... no. I refuse to speak of them.

4. Journey to Big Water
I thought the songs in this one were pretty good, and it was all capped off by a very nice story. The only problem I had was a lack of swimming sharpteeteh. We only saw like a few of them; not enough for that intensity we got in the first movie.

3. Journey Through the Mists
Simply a heart-touching story of trying to save a grandfather's life by taking a treacherous journey while trying to avoid being eaten by some not-so-cunning villains. Ichy and Dil definitely lacked in character, but other than that, it's what got us into that Littlefoot x Ali idea.

2. The Big Freeze
Ducky seemed pretty harsh in this movie, but I loved the way her character developed throughout the movie. She really grew up a little. Surprisingly, even Aria Curzon herself disliked Ducky's attitude in this movie!

1. The Stone of Cold Fire
Ah, where do I begin? You've got four great friends, but your uncle has arrived and has a plan that just might destroy your relationship with all your friends and some of their families, and you may potentially never be looked at the same way again. Petrie had to go through so much in this movie while his uncle Pterano wreaked havoc over a supposed magical stone. What a great story! Much like Ducky in LBT 8, Petrie goes through major character development here, as his own family problems damage his morale. Pterano was an excellent character, and I keep wondering if he'll ever reappear. The only things missing are the story of Cera's family, and why didn't we get a proper reunion scene between Ducky and her mother?
Title: Re: Sequels Personal Ranking
Post by: IHC on December 22, 2018, 08:04:26 AM
#1: The Big Freeze (VIII). One of the ones that's hard not to cry during. The plot's really good, with the only really inconsistent thing being Mr. Thicknose claiming he'd never been outside the valley when he had to have left during Mysterious Island. Mr. Thicknose was an engaging and interesting supporting character, and of course Ducky and Spike's arcs were nothing short of amazing.

#2: Journey of the Brave (XIV). In terms of objective aspects like animation quality, soundtrack (including songs), and writing, I think this is actually the best of the sequels, even if I personally prefer Big Freeze. The primary conflict was engaging and actually focused on the main characters, the supporting characters were will done in terms of being interesting without taking focus away from the main ones, and everyone actually acted in-character. I also really liked that it has a nuanced moral: "Don't just recklessly charge into danger to help others, but sometimes, it's worth it to take risks for those you care about."

#3: The Great Longneck Migration (X). I overall like the plot and think they handled bringing Littlefoot's father in late in the series in the most... respectful way possible, other than the explanation of why he went missing not completely working. The reason for the great migration and gathering seems a bit silly though, and why would Littlefoot's family know about the crater and the fertile lands between it and the Great Valley when they migrated from far away? Oh, and I wish they could've brought Ali back at least briefly.

#4: Journey Through the Mists (IV). Plot has really serious stakes, characters have good reasons for leaving the valley and making the decisions they did (mostly), and good performances by the VAs. But there's a lot of small nitpicks that lower its score for me, like the villains being non-threatening, and weird cartoon physics stuff like that one branch hitting Dil repeatedly which distracted from the overall darker tone.

#5: The Time of the Great Giving (III). Again, an overall good movie brought down by little things. My point about ineffectual annoying villains still applies. Also, I'm probably in the minority here, but I actually think the later sequels had overall high-quality animation than the II-V era, in terms of things like expressions and avoiding animation errors like drawing body parts the wrong color.

#6: The Stone of Cold Fire (VII). Like others have mentioned, Pterano's one of the most interesting villains in the series, and while in the end it was kind of a shaggy dog plot I mostly enjoyed it. Not great songs though, and I wish the Rainbowfaces had been more... subtle. I'd have loved to see years of arguments over whether they were aliens or not!

#7: The Mysterious Island (V). The first half of this was looking like a really good movie, with everything mostly fitting together logically, characters being, well, in-character, one of the best songs in the entire series... but the second half, pretty much from when Chomper starts taking them to the hiding place, just falls apart and is a mess of action sequences that don't really change anything. Also, while 'Always There' is one of my favorite songs from the franchise, 'Big Water' and 'Friends For Dinner' are two of my most-hated.

#8: The Great Valley Adventure (II). Well, I like the basic plot, but Ozzy and Strut are kind of obnoxious, dialogue is actually not as well-written as some of the later movies, and the songs? This is one of a small number of movies in the series where I genuinely don't like any of the songs. Most of them have at least one good one.

#9: The Great Day of the Flyers (XII). Both the main plot (Petrie's important rite of passage test) and the subplot with Cera and Tricia are interesting and compelling, but I strongly dislike the way the test ended up being resolved, and the "be yourself" message was applied really poorly since flying in formation is an actual life skill flyers would need to know. Guido, however, was just plain obnoxious, and added a ton of pointless padding. The movie would be greatly improved without him.

#10: The Secret of Saurus Rock (VI). Err... the main plot was just not that interesting, Littlefoot was IMO out-of-character for much of the movie, and trying to shoehorn a Western theme into this franchise worked out poorly. Honestly the Cera/Dana/Dinah subplot was a lot more compelling and I wanted to see more of that explained. Oh, and another one in the "I disliked all three songs" category.

#11: Invasion of the Tinysauruses (XI). Hoo, boy... Almost the entire valley was totally OOC, starting basically the equivalent of a lynch mob and attempting to murder other creatures over... flowers? The Tinysauruses themselves were just... who thought this was a good idea? The only good thing about this was the Tria subplot and the death of Cera's mom finally being acknowledged (basically).

#12: Journey to Big Water (IX). Mo is a flat-out TERRIBLE supporting character, and every aspect of the plot revolved around him, so he completely took away the spotlight from the main characters. He clearly didn't need any help, and it was bad enough that most of the cast had to be forced into going with him by an earthquake. If he'd actually had a believable reaction for a child separated from his pod and lost all alone in an unfamiliar place, and the gang had helped him (and he genuinely needed their help) because they know what that's like, that would have made for a much better movie. Oh, and I strongly suspect a Walking With Dinosaurs cash-in, given that the two aquatic characters are literally the same species as the focuses in Cruel Sea.

#13: The Wisdom of Friends (XIII). I... good lord. Literally the only thing that even remotely approached being good about this movie was Cera complaining about everything else. It starts out mediocre, then becomes terrible the instant the Yellowbellies show up. Despite apparently being targeted at pre-schoolers it even managed to have a bad moral for the kids: don't worry about following safety rules or thinking your actions through, just trust your feelings and do whatever like these guys who are too stupid to remember their own names!
Title: Re: Sequels Personal Ranking
Post by: StardustSoldier on July 05, 2019, 05:46:27 AM
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 Gang of Five forum, I too 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've talked about the original film in my introduction thread (http://www.gangoffive.net/index.php?topic=16317.msg477884#msg477884), a more detailed overview in the Tell Your LBT Story thread (http://www.gangoffive.net/index.php?topic=960.msg479486#msg479486), a script/deleted scenes overview (http://www.gangoffive.net/index.php?topic=1300.msg477925#msg477925), and a few posts here (http://www.gangoffive.net/index.php?topic=1896.msg477930#msg477930) where I talk about some of the film's emotional moments.

But anyway...

The Great Longneck Migration:
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.

Littlefoot505 mentioned in my 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...

- (See my original review here. (http://www.gangoffive.net/index.php?topic=14775.msg482444#msg482444))

Journey Through the Mists:
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.

- (See my original review here. (http://www.gangoffive.net/index.php?topic=15383.msg480526#msg480526))

The Mysterious Island:
I love the journey in this one, especially how it's divided into two distinct halves. While normally it seems a bit unbelievable 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. :rolleyes

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.

- (See my original review here. (http://www.gangoffive.net/index.php?topic=15314.msg480799#msg480799))

The Time of the Great Giving:
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 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.

- (See my original review here. (http://www.gangoffive.net/index.php?topic=15359.msg480519#msg480519))

The Big Freeze:
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.

- (See my original review here. (http://www.gangoffive.net/index.php?topic=43.msg481594#msg481594))

The Great Valley Adventure:
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.

- (See my original review here. (http://www.gangoffive.net/index.php?topic=15364.msg480518#msg480518))

The Secret of Saurus Rock:
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.

- (See my original review here. (http://www.gangoffive.net/index.php?topic=14321.msg481167#msg481167))

The Stone of Cold Fire:
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.

- (See my original review here. (http://www.gangoffive.net/index.php?topic=15056.msg481559#msg481559))

The Great Day of the Flyers:
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. :p

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.

- (Didn't do a proper review of this one, though I talked about it a bit in the Guido Showcase (http://www.gangoffive.net/index.php?topic=16345.msg485388#msg485388).)

Journey of the Brave:
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 marathon. 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.

Journey to Big Water:
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.

- (See my original review here. (http://www.gangoffive.net/index.php?topic=1509.msg481617#msg481617))

Invasion of the Tinysauruses:
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. :p 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.

- (See my original review here. (http://www.gangoffive.net/index.php?topic=2192.msg484943#msg484943))

The Wisdom of Friends:
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:
Spoiler: ShowHide
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.
:PCera
Title: Re: Sequels Personal Ranking
Post by: StardustSoldier on July 05, 2019, 05:57:38 AM
Condensed ranking:
- 10/10: The Land Before Time (#1)
- 7.5/10: The Great Longneck Migration (#10)
- 7.5/10: Journey Through the Mists (#4) (Original rating: 7.25/10)
- 7.5/10: The Mysterious Island (#5) (Original rating: 7/10)
- 7/10: The Time of the Great Giving (#3)
- 7/10: The Big Freeze (#8) (Original rating: 6.75/10)
- 6.5/10: The Great Valley Adventure (#2) (Original rating: 6/10)
- 6.5/10: The Secret of Saurus Rock (#6)
- 6.5/10: The Stone of Cold Fire (#7) (Re-review rating: 7/10)
- 6/10: The Great Day of the Flyers (#12)
- 5/10: Journey of the Brave (#14)
- 4/10: Journey to Big Water (#9)
- 4/10: Invasion of the Tinysauruses (#11)
- 4/10: The Wisdom of Friends (#13)

- TBD/10: The TV series

(Update: Added ratings)
Title: Re: Sequels Personal Ranking
Post by: Sneak on July 05, 2019, 06:11:05 AM
Very good 800th post!
Nice text, Stardust.
Title: Re: Sequels Personal Ranking
Post by: StardustSoldier on July 05, 2019, 06:12:00 AM
Thanks! :)
Title: Re: Sequels Personal Ranking
Post by: Dr. Rex on February 02, 2020, 11:37:59 PM
I have yet to see JOTB, so it'll be excluded from the list.

1. The Great Longneck Migration
2. The Great Valley Adventure
3. The Big Freeze
4. Journey Through the Mists
5. The Great Day of the Flyers
6. Journey to Big Water
7. The Secret of Saurus Rock
8. The Mysterious Island
9. The Stone of Cold Fire
10. Invasion of the Tinysauruses
11. The Time of the Great Giving
12. The Wisdom of Friends
Now that I've seen LBT 14 and taken some time to think about it, I'll have to place it between...9 and 10. Which means I find it better than LBT 11 but not as good as LBT 7.
Title: Re: Sequels Personal Ranking
Post by: Nanotyrannus on March 22, 2020, 08:23:26 PM
It's been a while - about a year and a half - since I've watched all fourteen of the movies in a marathon, so some of these might be different if I were to rewatch any of these right here on the spot. Nevertheless, ranking time, best to worst:

- #1) The Land Before Time IV: Journey through the Mists (1996) - I think that, of the sequels, this is the strongest, and the only one I really think stands out as truly good, even if it isn't very good. The only severe problems I really have with the movie are with the main antagonists; given the timing of me writing this review coinciding with a month dedicated to these characters, I'll elaborate on why I don't really like them elsewhere. Regardless, 7/10.

- #2) The Land Before Time VII: The Stone of Cold Fire (2000) - There's a lot to like here, from the decent plot and enjoyable songs and especially the pterosaur antagonists, who are as interesting as they are entertaining. If not for the dumb ending twist, I think this would be on par with IV, but I still think that the movie is worthy of an alright 6.5/10.

- #3) The Land Before Time V: The Mysterious Island (1997) - Again, there's a lot here worth liking, like the okay story and some good moments ('Always There' is a highlight), what I think are The Mysterious Island's strongest points are the action setpieces: the tsunami on the land bridge, the shark and the log and everything with the ugly-looking green sharptooth (Giganotosaurus? Carnotaurus? another Allosaurus morph like the featherheads are?), especially its inexplicably bloody fight with Chomper's parents. However, I have gripes with it; I think that some of the characterization is rough in places, namely with how stupid Spike is, and I've never been fond of Chomper randomly being able to talk without any explanation. Still, 6.25/10 isn't a bad score.

- #4) The Land Before Time III: The Time of the Great Giving (1995) - Another alright one, with a good plot with a good tone, some entertaining villains(?) and a fun climax with some Spielberg-style velociraptors. I think the movie suffers in its pacing though; scenes like Littlefoot being dismissed as a bad influence and the kids trying to wake up Spike go on for much longer than they should, and the movie in general feels slow. But, for all of its pros and cons, I think that the picture levels out to a 6/10.

- #5) The Land Before Time VIII: The Big Freeze (2001) - Past the top 5 and beyond the realm of decency lies a tale of a Pachyrhinosaurus voiced by Rafiki running around in the snow with a bunch of little kids and Spike being whisked away by Koda from Brother Bear; don't worry, the story isn't as dumb as I'm making it out to be, and I would argue that it is actually quite sweet, even if it is far from the strongest out there. Beyond the alright story and the fantastic song 'Family', not a lot here is all that remarkable; both the new and returning characters are 'eh', the rest of the songs range from mediocre ('The Lesson') to bad ('The Mad Song') and it doesn't exactly end on the most breathtaking note (Ducky slept well that night... how thought-provoking). But if you want a simple, heartwarming story, there is much worse out there than The Big Freeze. 5.75/10. On a side note, some odd inconsistencies with the other sequels - especially the fact that, apparently, there have never been any other spiketails in the valley besides Spike before this movie - suggests something to me about the Land Before Time universe that I'm not confident has been suggested before... or should I say, universes?

- #6) The Land Before Time: Journey of the Brave (2016) - The latest and not exactly greatest entry in the franchise, barring a 30th anniversary playset and some TV series compilations on YouTube. JoTB is a very mixed bag; some elements are strong (Etta, the story, the sharptooth designs and the scene where the main posse arrive at the volcano) while others detract from the experience ('Hot and Stinky' is a real stinker, the diggers were pointless, there's an abundance of cartoon sounds for some reason and the ending was rushed), and some elements still are middling, like the new voice actors - I think they generally do a good job at capturing the spirits of their respective characters, with the glaring exception of Barry Bostwick as Littlefoot's grandfather. All in all, eh - 5.5/10.

- #7) The Land Before Time X: The Great Longneck Migration (2003) - Perhaps the most ambitious of the Land Before Time sequels, the movie shines in several ways - the traditional animation and artwork (especially the beautiful backgrounds) are the best among the sequels, 'Bestest Friends' and its credits rendition are wonderful, the pacing is pretty fast and the new characters are, as a whole, likeable. Unfortunately, this is only one side of the story; the rest of TGLM is either mediocrity or pretty heavily botched, between the terrible computer animation, the mediocrity of the other songs, the middling story and Bron and his backstory mauling the world and story of the first movie. What I think is the movie's worst aspects are the Tyrannosaurus trio that the characters fight near the end, which are utterly pathetic wastes of cartoon flesh, and the climax, which (largely thanks to the awful tyrannosaurs) is all-around terrible and ridiculous. There were plenty of ingredients here for something strong, but the final product is just another drop in the bucket of platitudinous-ness. 5.25/10.

- #8) The Land Before Time XII: The Great Day of the Flyers (2007) - Whereas The Great Longneck Migration sits in this region of the list for trying to fly high and constantly crashing into things along the way before landing with a broken wing and a scratched-up beak, this little movie lands in this spot because it doesn't really do anything of note. The plot is uninteresting fluff, the CGI is very poor, the message is generic (and perhaps not executed in the greatest way; "forget abiding by the rules of this rite of passage, be yourself!"), and there really isn't anything exciting here; the only thing that really stands out is a phoned-in Spinosaurus attack before the climax, and even that is a pretty lame scene. However, nothing here is terrible, and there are a few merits - the songs are actually pretty strong as a whole, the characters of Guido and Tricia are welcome additions to the series, most of the humor is surprisingly on-point and Cera shines as a character. I think the very middle rating fits here - 5/10.

- #9) The Land Before Time XI: Invasion of the Tinysauruses (2005) - Unfortunately, there's nowhere else to go here but down, down into the tunnels that the tiny longnecks call home. Right off the bat, I don't like the story; the entire feature being based off of a bunch of miniature sauropods being framed for eating flowers off of a tree because Littlefoot is a coward doesn't sit well with me, and the too-long runtime and prosperous stupid characters (especially the adults) don't help matters. Not everything is bad - I liked Tria and her subplot with Topps and Cera, and there is a very small moment where Littlefoot alludes to Cera's mother - but there isn't enough here to say this from a 4/10.

- #10) The Land Before Time VI: The Secret of Saurus Rock (1998) - Alright, good stuff out of the way first: Doc is really cool, there are some fun shots that play with lighting and 'On Your Own' is alright, but that's about all that VI has going for it. I'm not against the idea of a western with dinosaurs - scenes that toyed with the concept were some of the better parts of the generally-middling The Good Dinosaur in my book - but, aside from Doc and Littlefoot's goofy fantasies about him, the western angle is more just an overlay to a story about Cera being the aunt of two supremely annoying baby threehorns and the Great Valley being threatened by bad luck of all things. Besides Doc, I don't really like any of the characters here; Littlefoot, Dana and Dinah are egregious examples, Littlefoot for his annoying obsession with the Lone Dinosaur and Dana and Dinah for every last thing they do. But what kills the movie for me is its blood-boilingly bad climax, which has to be seen to be believed. 3/10.

- #11) The Land Before Time II: The Great Valley Adventure (1994) - I know that a lot of people here like this one, but I'm sorry, I thought that this was a really hard sit, maybe because I don't have much nostalgic attachment to any of the sequels. The biggest and most destuctive problem here is how unabashedly boring it is: there isn't a shred of tension or excitement and the plot moves at the speed of a brick. This is compounded by horrible animation and the worst triad of songs the series has ever put out. There are a few tiny consolations; the villains are reasonably entertaining, Chomper and his parents are okay and the art itself is pretty alright; but nothing can shake the feeling of this being nothing more than a cheap cash-grab. 2.5/10.

- #12) The Land Before Time IX: Journey to Big Water (2002) - There are a few things here that shine, like the Liopleurodon being one of the greatest sequel sharpteeth, the animation and art being high-quality and 'No One Has To Be Alone' being a strong number, but, without using the B-word, I'll say that there is a song in the movie that sums up the picture very well. Besides that, Mo is annoying, the tone is generally very light, and the song 'Imaginary Friend' stands out to me as the single worst song in the movie series. Even the climax, which is generally pretty strong, is ruined by Mo randomly showing up, inexplicably having survived what could have been an emotional gut-punch and a potential savior for what was otherwise a slugfest, and explaining that he escaped the sharptooth swimmer off-screen. As a whole, I don't think that this movie deserves anything more than a 2.5/10. Just watch the episode of Walking with Dinosaurs that this episode feverishly ripped off took inspiration from, 'Cruel Sea'.

- #13) The Land Before Time XIII: The Wisdom of Friends (2007) - Plenty have said their pieces here, so I'll be brief; the story plagiarizes the first movie's, the yellowbellies  (especially Doofah) and their special brand of "humor" are atrocious, the protagonists are so unlikeable that they make the horrifically-treated sharpteeth look like the real heroes by comparison, 'Say So' is lyrical garbage, and not a single exciting thing happens in the movie's runtime. I liked two things - the opening scene with Grandma and Littlefoot and a small joke with Littlefoot and Cera - and I thought the other two songs were so-so, but nothing can save this thing from a 1/10.

So, that's it from me; if there's a thread like this for TV series episodes, maybe I'll share my thoughts on the 12 episodes I could stomach to watch, who knows.
Title: Re: Sequels Personal Ranking
Post by: HotelValleyfornia on April 15, 2022, 11:50:07 AM
Here's my personal ranking of the 14 movies, including the original:

And I think my movie ranking would go somewhat like this
14. LBT VI: The Secret of Saurus Rock (snore)
13. LBT V: The Mysterious Island (First half was good. Second half is literally everyone except Littlefoot and Chomper being unlikable little snots)
12. LBT XIII: The Wisdom of Friends (Infamous one. This one just kinda bored me, though the Yellowbellies had their funny moments)
11. LBT XIV: Journey of the Brave (*Scott the Woz voice* It was fine)
10. LBT XI: Invasion of the Tinysauruses (*Scott the Woz voice* It was fine)
9. LBT II: The Great Valley Adventure (*Scott the Woz voice* It was fine)
8. LBT IX: Journey to Big Water (*Scott the Woz voice* It was fine)
7. LBT IV: Journey Through the Mists (Nice stakes, funny villains and cool new characters, but not as memorable)
6. LBT X: The Great Longneck Migration (Pretty surprising plot twists and a fun climax)
5. LBT III: The Time of the Great Giving (Great character focus and nice songs)
4. LBT XII: The Great Day of the Flyers (Awesome songs, nice Petrie and Cera focus and introduces my favorite character)
3. LBT I: The Land Before Time (Don Bluth :p )
2. LBT VII: The Stone of Cold Fire (A fascinating plot that differs from the LBT norm and great new characters)
1. LBT VIII: The Big Freeze (FINALLY gives Ducky a chance to shine, great songs, fun new characters, an emotional plot and just overall a great ride :duckyhappy )
Title: Re: Sequels Personal Ranking
Post by: LittleDas75 on August 05, 2022, 08:28:21 PM
1. The Wisdom of Friends (I had only recently decided that this is my favorite LBT sequel)
2. The Great Longneck Migration
3. The Great Day of the Flyers
4. The Stone of Cold Fire
5. Journey Through the Mists
6. The Time of the Great Giving
7. The Big Freeze
8. Journey to Big Water
9. The Great Valley Adventure
10. The Mysterious Island
11. Journey of the Brave
12. The Secret of Saurus Rock
13. Invasion of the Tinysauruses
Keep in mind that this is based on memory because I haven't seen the sequels in a while besides XIII. I think I may have a problem.