Could the sequels have been made darker?

[jansenov]

What's OK? Thinking that the Land of Mists is a dark, ominous place that would be great to visit? Damn right it's OK! I wouldn't mind going there myself, albeit not alone under any circumstances.

[Bruton the Iguanodon]

Thanks. As I said before, I think it's pure awesomeness and am infuriated that it has not been revisited once when the mysterious beyond appears like all the time and the big water appeared twice...but the second time rather briefly.

Either way I want to see it again and think they had so much potential to make the journey through it even longer and more darker.  

I agree, that the Land of the Mists was a somewhat gloomy place and even a little scary.

How can they use was? It still freakin' exists!

I mean the last shot we get in this awesome place is this:



What??!! Not a cool overhead shot fading out to black?! Not a nice shot of the scenery? Not even a nice shot of the whole freakin' gang in the place? This is the last time we're ever gonna see this awesome place and this is how we say goodbye to it!!???? What!!!??? The?!!! Heck?!!!

I'm sorry, but that's who I am. I critique things.

[jansenov]

Now you're really overreacting.

[DarkHououmon]

What's wrong with using the term "was"? They weren't saying the land of mists doesn't exist anymore. "Was" doesn't always indicate "not around anymore". I don't see why you reacted like that. Nobody here ever denied the land of mists not existing after LBT4.

[Malte279]

And quite frankly, I believe that this is among the kind of attitutes that can discourage people from giving responses in threads where you are demanding them Bruton.
We are talking of a fictional (as in not physically existing at any time) place in a fiction that is defined even by its very title as the land before time. Throwing such tantrums over the word was (a word that can also be used as a means to differentiate hypothethis from facts rather than differentiating present from past) is seriously over the top.

Quite frankly, personally I didn't find the land of mists so mysterious or scary a place at all. Perhaps there was just a bit too little time for the place to be sufficiently presented. We got a little mist (mist which I must point out was conspicuously absent after the mist had dones its job in getting Cera lost), we got a group of eggeaters (two of whom resembled Ozzy and Strut without any further indication that this was intentional) rushing past the gang and jumping into the water without visible reason or harmful intention, we got two domeheaded dinosaurs banging their heads against each other, we got some slimy centipode scaring Cera (but not posing any real danger whatsoever), we got Cera runing the risk of drowning (as she might do anywhere else in a river if she settles for an edge over the river as a place to stay), we got a friendly, fluffy mouse (not exactly scary), there is one longnecked sharptooth which conveniently attacks the poor sighted crocodile and her better sighted bird friend who more likely than not are from the land of temporarry mists.
Don't get me wrong, I love LBT 4, but for a movie titled "Journey through the mists" we saw rather little of the mist or the land named after it and in terms of scary places I must say that the Mysterious Beyond of the original or the early sequels came across as at the very least as intimidating (if not more so).

[Bruton the Iguanodon]

Alright but I'm still disapointed that was the last frame we'll ever get in the place...is kinda weak

[Bruton the Iguanodon]

You got whole sets that look just like the Elephant Graveyard from the Lion King!


That's what the Mysterious Beyond looked like in the second movie. After the gang were caught in the rockslide they found themselves in a place that had the word "death" written all over it. Now, compare it to later sequels such as the 6th or 7th. The Mysterious Beyond is just an enormous barren territory. Depressing maybe, but not as scary.

I'd be lying if I said I liked this comparision. I don't really like "The Lion King" and the trek into the Mysterious Beyond in the second movie is one of my favorite action sequences in all of LBT---not to mention be my 2nd favorite LBT film. That part is perfect for watching late on a pitch black night.  

So I think both movies should be their own thing, since one might love one and dispise the other, making it a bit of a "broken base" comparision.

Also, it's not really even that depressing in the later sequels...I mean, in 7 we see it's green in places and in 6, well, it's not that bad either. And don't get me started on what it looks like in 9!

as you say with number 5, it seems like a pretty serious, almost dark movie, until they run into Chomper. After that, it's clearly kiddy.

I agree. I like the first half, and thought the second was a bit of a disgrace to it. Please don't bash me for thinking that. :unsure:

[Bruton the Iguanodon]

But did that have to be the last shot in the place? Why?  

[DarkHououmon]

Because that's what the creators decided on. They don't really need a deep reason. Showing them going back isn't really necessary. Showing more of the Land of Mists wasn't necessary after they found the flower. What would have been the point of seeing more when they already accomplished their goal and the antagonists defeated? What would the movie have benefited from showing scenes of the gang just walking through the Land of Mists?

[Bruton the Iguanodon]

My happiness. Doing that would have accomplished my happiness cause I think that would have been awesome.

But as we have it---THIS as the last shot ever? Without even the whole gang?!

[DarkHououmon]

Your happiness is not an important enough benefit for the directors to show more of the Land of Mists after they found the flower and beat Ichy and Dil. It wouldn't be good storytelling for them to continue walking through the mists, plus it would have wasted time. The movie was already reaching the end.

With storytelling, you should not make scenes longer than they need to be, and you should not add unnecessary scenes that are nothing more than an area exploration of an area we already know about. This is like an author describing the same exact location twice; it's not necessary and it becomes redundant.

Ultimately, showing more of the Land of Mists is completely pointless once they find the flower and Dil and Ichy were defeated. By this point, there's not much left in the movie. After this, the best thing to do is for them to wrap up the movie so it doesn't become too long. That means excluding details that are not important, such as showing more of the land they are in.

[Bruton the Iguanodon]

But the movie was already pretty short as it was.

And why just show two members if you're gonna make that the LAST FREAKING SHOT?

[Bruton the Iguanodon]

It wouldn't be good storytelling for them to continue walking through the mists

This is the Journey Through the Mists.

The least you could do is include everyone. And make it a good shot of the Land of Mists.

I'd love more scenes of them there, but I'd still be fine with the amount we have if they had a good last shot of the place.

The closing shot of movie 4 itself...Grandpa Longneck's side filling the camera?  :blink:

I don't think so.

[Littlefoot1616]

Even journeys must come to an end. Otherwise the entire LBT saga would have to have permanently in the Land of Mists and the initial mission of finding the Great Valley would be made completely redundant. Also, point to note, the departure from the Land of Mists was not the end of the story. In a lot of cases, we see the gang all huddled together in the final scene of the LBT movies as a signing of their friendship and overcoming of unfavourable odds. I'd say that that scene was a focus moment between Spike and Ducky because Spike performed a feat he's never accomplished before (not in the proper sense of the term 'talking' as we'd define it anyway) as well as Ducky being saved by Spike's yell thus Ducky has 2 counts to be happy. The close up of the pair of them accentuates their closeness and bond as brother and sister (adopted) which is actually quite a nice moment if you consider it in that light.

Btw, the closing of LBT4 where Grandpa strafed in front of the camera is called a passing cutaway. It's used in plenty of other films and tv shows as a way of transitioning from one scene to another, in this case, to end the film. It's not the only time it's occurred in LBT. As an example, in #7, after Cera has her little rant about always being at the back of the line, Littlefoot's body is used to cutaway to the next scene where we see the gang actually traversing the canyon on the vine.

All these points are purely subjective and it's down to personal taste whether you like them or not. But one man's word is not absolute. Everyone is entitled to their opinion and if you don't like it or don't agree with what's been said, you don't have to. But you should still have respect and acknowledgement for what has been said and take on board the discussion. That's how discussions develop and move on. Brooding over a singular point just leads to tail chasing and conversations go nowhere. Greater acceptance is found in open mindedness.

[Ghostfishe]

As far as the grass growing in the Mysterious Beyond... TBH the Mysterous Beyond always seemed to me to be rather like a label slapped on anything "beyond" (read: outside of) the Great Valley, rather than a specific isolated location. I'm not sure if they ever mention it as being distinct from other outside regions. Perhaps someone else can correct me on that if I'm wrong--I don't have the movies on hand to double-check.

I definitely think it would have been neat if they'd stayed true to the original color scheme, like Allicloud said. I never was able to put my finger on it before, but it did add a lot to change the ambience and overall flavor. Look at Mo, for instance... pretty sure his coloration was based on the Ophthalmosaurus from Walking With Dinosaurs, but they went and made him bright Sunny-D yellow. Yipes.

And for what Malte279 and Allicloud said about the skeletons... definitely. I mean, what about the scene in the first movie in the region with the tar pits? I seem to remember more than a few bones and more than a little screaming (generally from Cera). Sure they were younger then... but what about LBT V when they come across the Parasaurolophus skeleton and Ducky's mother tells her not to look... I can think of a few other instances as well. Seems like they just ignored the shock value at times when it was convenient, but at the price of consistency.

[Petrie85]

Yeah I knew for a fact the Movie 1 was very dark for a kids movie. It had some frightening parts in it.

[Bruton the Iguanodon]

In a lot of cases, we see the gang all huddled together in the final scene of the LBT movies as a signing of their friendship and overcoming of unfavourable odds.

But our final shot in this film isn't of the gang, it's Littlefoot and his grandparents; which is sad cause I prefer the former

[Bruton the Iguanodon]

But like I said previously, if they had made more variety, rather than just the slow, ballad songs and the bouncy, silly songs. In fact, I think Standing Tough is the only exception to that rule. It's not slow and peaceful, but it's trying to be serious.

Major bump but I just thought I'd mention yu forgot Very Important Creature. Also the version of Big water in 5 I guess.

Also, Look For The Light seems to be another exception. It's not slow but it sounds like it takes itself seriously enough.

[StardustSoldier]

I agree with many of the points that were brought up here already. While I enjoyed most of the sequels, I too feel that they could and should have been made darker. We get occasional glimmers of dark moments, but as Bruton said, it did feel like Universal was holding back. The sequels still had a lot of good character development to make up for it. But Littlefoot never went through the same struggle that he did in the original film, and I wish that he and the other members of the Gang had.

I don't think it would've been hard to make the films a bit grittier; the same basic plotlines could've still worked. And in fact, there's aspects of said plotlines that would lend themselves well to darker scenarios. Like in LBT 2 with the very concept of the egg-stealers and Chomper's parents, or in LBT 3 with the Great Valley facing a drought, or in LBT 5 with the whole dilemma of "Will Chomper turn on us?" Heck, even LBT 13 with the dinosaurs searching for Berry Valley, which parallels their original Great Valley journey from the first film. I could go on and on, but there's plenty of examples.

In particular I noticed that the concept of death is never really explored again, at least not to the same capacity. Certainly nothing like some of the gut-wrenching scenes we got in the original film. Aside from the occasional Sharptooth getting defeated, seeing the odd skeleton littered around, or the one-off flashback to Pterano's doomed herd, there were no more character deaths. Littlefoot's mother herself is seldom brought up. It's not that I feel characters needed to die off constantly, but at the same time I think there was some missed story potential there, and it could've made aspects of the sequels more intense and emotional. Especially because there are odd implications here and there; as Malte said earlier, cases of disappearing relatives, like with Cera's mother.

It's also an unfortunate symptom of why most of the Sharpteeth in the sequels didn't feel all that threatening or dangerous; after a while you just know that they're not really going to accomplish anything.

As for the songs, I don't think they needed to be taken out entirely, but I do think there could've been a bit less of them, or that they could've been made more serious and/or some of the sillier ones removed.

[Chomper123]

Well that would have been an interesting touch but, since it was changed from the first movie the creators intended it to be aiming more toward Kids and the songs were as well more towards Kids, and making it darker would probably not be good for kids due to psychological fear, but it would be a bit interesting if it was done a bit darker but it might not be good to be jumpscared by the sharptooth for some people in general audiences that are more sensitive to that sort of thing