Thanks, I really am! It's almost surreal to be watching a new LBT film, but I'm enjoying every second of it.
61. lol, how Grandpa Longneck and Topsy can just walk over it.
62."Of all the stunts these wild young ones have pulled, this is the worst." Would be a nice time to bring in some continuity nods, but oh well.
63. Wow...the scene with them sleeping really reminded me of the original film...
64. Just the look Grandpa Longneck and Topsy give Wild Arms! Too hilarious.
65. Wild Arms trying to hi-five Topsy!! Again, comedy gold.
66. Wild Arms fainting and Mr. Threehorn carrying him!! God, the writers are on fire humor-wise when this guy is involved!
67. Spike's stomach growls...for the first time in the entire series, ironically enough. I actually made a topic noting that not too far back.
68. "But how come we can't find it?" Pretty stupid question.
69. Cera tells Littlefoot she doesn't think he knows where he's going and they should have gone her way...nice nod to the original.
70. Horrible CGI rock-surfing.
71. Holy shit...are Littlefoot and Cera gonna fight? Even scenery-wise, this is SERIOUSLY a homage to the original!!
72. Littlefoot lashes out at the others...um, wow.
73. Oh my god...it's uncanny how much this scene resembles the original, Like...there's no way this couldn't have been intentional.
74. "Better Off Alone" (or "I feel Fine", if that's what it's called) is great. Pure Michelle and Amanda LBT music. The split-screen was kinda cheesy...espicially towards the end when it looks like Littlefoot and Cera share both ends of a body, a la "Catdog" (a Nickelodeon show from a long time ago you might have seen) but it helps this solo duet. I gotta say, this will probably be my favorite song of the film.
75. Sand clouds...that's new!
76. "Don't tell me you're thinking about going back out there!" Reba has arrived!
(It took 45 minutes, but no biggie.)
77. I gotta say...Littlefoot being seperated from the others actually makes this pretty emotionally well-done. He only was for a short time in the original (we never really saw him on his own). I could sort of see from the clips that something like this might happen, although I didn't give a ton of thought to it.
78. ...and now Petrie goes missing.
79. Those eyes...those things! So creepy!! (I typed this after watching a bit further in, but at the moment I was like, "WTF??")
80. OMG...all of them respecting him!! "More! More"
I wonder if they'll talk like him...
81. Oh, so it's pronounced "Eh-tuh". I thought it was "Ee-tuh".
82. And now an earthquake traps them. I gotta say, this movie is doing a better job putting challenges on it's characters than
any other LBT sequel. That shows how much the writing has improved!
83. Those diggers are too hilarious!
84. Lol, Petrie as the leader!
BTW, notice the sound effects as Cera opens her eyes to see him. What's with all the sound effects?
85. The music that plays anytime the diggers eat the fruit...so funny! Great job, Tavera!
86. Petrie calls the tune for once! Cool.
87. Aw...Petrie saying goodbye to the diggers was so sad. But at least they found a new leader.
88. And here's the last clip we'd already been shown.
89. Wait...did Shorty make it out OK? Littlefoot doesn't mention him to Etta.
90. So that's why the middle of Etta's arms are colored differently.
91. I thoroughly enjoyed "Look For The Light". Great visuals, great melody, great lyrics, great performance. Great job, Michelle, Amanda, and of course, Reba!
92. SHARPTOOTH WITH FREAKIN' HORNS!!!
93. A lucky coincidence, the others end up near enough for Littlefoot to hear at exactly the right time. This movie does a great job challenging the characters but doesn't make it too hard on them, like the original. That's really good writing.
94. Etta's singed wing prevents her from being able to fly. Interesting.
95. So Etta's a "bigbeak"? Huh.
96. "I'm so happy we're altogether!" Me, too, Littlefoot. Me, too.
97. "Well, what are we waiting for? Let's go!" Alright! Gotta make sure I enjoy the last 15 minutes of the movie, in case they're the last of the entire franchise.
98. The ride down the crystal tunnel was just
awesome.
This is what LBT should be. THIS is what we've been missing!
99. And then they come out into such a pretty place! I love how Ducky's like "I want to do it again!", since I actually immediately rewatched it, it was so good!
100. As the grand 100 commentary note, the freaking epic shot of them looking up at the fire mountain from the trailer!
101. No...they wouldn't kill off Bron...would they...? (BTW, some of the ridges here look a lot like in the original!)
102. Oh...my...god. Bron on the lava. I had to show my dad, who was in the room and he was like, "Is that where they got the idea for Star Wars?" (Refering to Anakin and Obi-Wan's fight in Revenge Of The Sith)
103. I had to take a screenshot of it and when I looked at it more...holy sh**, is Bron missing a leg? Did it get...
burned off??!!104. Oh god...Bron's accepting that he's gonna be
burned alive?? Also, is he just weakened or is that a terrible voice actor?
105. Finally, back to the others.
106. Does anyone but me hate how they make the music all funny whenever Wild Arms is onscreen? It's not Tavera-ish at all.
107. I hope those creatures that distracted the sharptooth are ok.
108. Oh god, the blurring around Wild Arms when the others glare at him is creepy.
109. The sound effect as Cera shakes her head...again.
110. Water hardening lava...pure awesomeness. This whole plan to rescue Bron makes for a fantastic climax.
111. Horrible CGI tree.
112. Leaping across lava. Wow.
113. Bron's design is a little different, I'm noticing. The top of his head isn't dark brown.
114. Wild Arms: "Finally! Someone who's sensible!"
115. The Gang of Seven, finally together in film.
116. The ending...just...awesome way to cap it off.
117. "Look For The Light" playing over the credits. Great to hear it again. Even better in this longer version. (BTW, my dad turned out the lights just as the song was finishing!)
118. And then we have to hear "Hot and Stinky" again.
Final thoughts:
This was a really good movie. Like, better than LBT has had in quite a while. Not only was it a huge comeback after Wisdom of Friends (which I never saw and never plan on seeing, it was that bad) but a huge comeback for the franchise in general. It gives me serious hope that this franchise has a good future ahead. But if that's the last of it, well, it's a pretty darn good way to go out---espicially better than Wisdom of Friends, which for so many years, we were sure was the end of it all.
What else is there to say? There was a lot about this movie I loved. The new characters were fantastic, and it was truly great to see our main five (plus Chomper and Ruby) again. There were plenty of funny moments. The Petrie and the diggers storyline, Wild Arms, Etta, and so forth. I loved how the climax was done. It didn't rely on some fight against a sharptooth as so many other LBT sequels have in the past (I think 7 was the only one that truly didn't.) The new songs were mostly good, and Tavera's score, while not quite as memorable or beautiful as it was in the early sequels, was still good. The writing was good, the pacing was good, the animation, for a DTV and a world that now lives in 95% computer animation, was good.
So what was bad? Well, like I said, I didn't like the replacements for Grandpa Longneck and Topsy. Bron's replacement wasn't great either, and why were Mama Swimmer and Mama Flyer replaced? Was Tress unavailable? I dunno.
"Hot and Stinky" obviously wasn't the best song, but I don't think it was the absolute worst. There were a few filler moments, like Spike and Ducky's siblings hatching (they must have like, 30 by now) and the Sharptooth going after the search party only to be distracted. Chomper and Ruby being there wouldn't make sense if you hadn't seen the TV series, which itself brought them in rather suddenly. Oh, and where was Shorty? He must have made it back with the herd, but did he care at all what happened to Bron? It was quite odd that the writers seemed to have forgotten about him.
Other than that, though, the film was pretty much a hands down great LBT sequel. I really can't give it any less of a praise than that. Even if Marzgurl tried to critique this one, I'm sure she wouldn't find as many flaws as she does with some of them. So is it the best? Well, that's kind of hard to say. There was so much that was good about it, yet that's asking me to put it over 3, 4, 5 and 7, all watermarks of my childhood. Writing wise, however, I'd say it ties with 4 and 7 (and I guess 10) as the best sequel of the series.
Well, that's pretty much everything to cover. I hope this isn't the end of LBT, and if it is, I'm at least happy knowing I made my contribution trying to prevent it being the last by purchasing it on itunes. It's the first Itunes movie I've ever bought, by the way.
