Upon Further Review

[Joseph]

So as I said in my (re)introduction post, when I was younger I had an immense amount of love for not just the original film, but also the sequels. Over the years the love for the original has remained, but the sequels? Not so much.

So with the 14th movie on the way, and seeing how I'm attempting to rekindle my love for the series to at least some degree, I've decided to go back and watch all the sequels in chronological order and share my thoughts on them with all of you here.

I realize this may not be the right way to "get back" into the series as the sequels are near universally considered to be inferior to the original. Rest assured though I am rewatching the original to properly get a feel of the characters and the universe of LBT.

Anyway, my goal is to review every single sequel (and episode of the TV series for that matter) before the 14th film comes out. Not an easy task to be sure, but not impossible. Seeing as it's been years since I saw the sequels (not to mention I haven't watched anything after X), I can hopefully come at this from an objective perspective, as opposed to my opinion in the past which was that the sequels were totally flawless. Sadly that's not the case.

Having said all of this, while I will be watching the first movie, I will not be reviewing it. Namely because this is the subforum for the sequels and not the original, and by now everyone has seen the original and knows what they think about it.

But this is mainly a study of the sequels. I want to find out what worked for them, what didn't work, and most importantly:

Of the 12 (soon to be 13) sequels, why didn't even ONE have the same impact as the original?

These are legitimate questions, which I don't have the answers to. And I'm more than eager to find out.

Check back later for my first review.

[Ducky123]

Sounds like a plan I'm sure it's okay for others to comment on your reviews once you wrote them? I think there is a lot of room for serious discussions here. I also think there's a thread for reviews already created but I'm not sure where it's buried

EDIT: Found it!
Found it!

[Ludichris1]

Hmm, interesting

[Joseph]

Absolutely, Ducky! I'm really interested in hearing what other's think of my views on the sequels. Keep in mind that this is coming from someone who used to think they were perfect, but now is coming at them after having kinda soured on them for sometime. So I'd like to think I have a somewhat unique point of view.

Y'all did some great work in that thread there. I think I'll keep my posts to this thread though seeing as how I made the trouble to post it . Also these reviews will be considerably longer and more in depth than just a bunch of bullet points.

Speaking of which, I just finished watching Episode II, so let's get to it while it's fresh in my mind.

Oh and a quick point: I refer to the individual movies in the series as "Episodes." This is mainly a holdover from my network 54 days when I wanted to make the series seem more "epic", but I still use it because the movies to me have an episodic feel, mainly because they're self contained with little to no continuity lockout. Of course the first movie is like this as there probably was never any intention of making a sequel (at least as far as Bluth/Lucas/Spielberg were concerned) but the sequels (with a couple exceptions) are all basically their own thing, to the point where I feel you could pretty much watch them in any order after the original film and still have a (mostly) coherent story.

With that little aside, I do want to say that I really didn't know what to expect when watching this movie. I didn't really get into the series until Episode IV, and while I've seen Episode III several times, for some reason I kept away from Episode II. This movie was a relative unknown to me so I went into this film with more or less a blank slate. In some ways it surprised me and in others it...let me down.

But enough semantics, let's get to the fun.



The Land Before Time Episode II: The Great Valley Adventure (upon further review).

So even though this was the first movie in a deluge of sequels (which not even Universal probably saw coming), it did establish some traits and tropes that were common to the series. One of which was the opening.

The Land Before Time's iconic opening sequence was basically a summation of the evolution of life from single-celled organisms to the dinosaurs, along with some narration to properly set the scene. The sequels, for the most part, attempted to recreate that. Except they focused on the origin of the planet, before switching to the narrator who described the world of the dinosaurs, along with some gratuitous scenes of some of the dinosaurs in question.

One of the criticisms of the sequels is that the animation (at least for the first few) is of considerably lower quality than the original. And when comparing the films, it definitely shows. While the animation is in the style of Don Bluth's work, the drop in quality is noticeable. The colors aren't as dynamic, the backgrounds are more faded, sometimes the same cells are just looped to give the illusion of a quick motion. However the animation does improve as the series goes on, and it still looks decent for the most part. So I give it a bit of a pass.

Then we arrive at the Great Valley. We're quickly introduced to the characters (just in case you didn't see Episode I), and we're told of what an awesome place the Valley is. The Gang of Five, after going through hell in the last film, are living the high life now, and are certainly happy to have a home, their families, and each other. How happy are they? So happy they could sing about it!

Annnnnnnd this is where I sense that the older fans of the original film tuned out.

The Land Before Time was a perfect example of Don Bluth's philosophy towards children's entertainment: that kids could handle a lot of scary stuff but only as long as they got a happy ending. The sequels...sort of adhered to that, but it's safe to say that they replaced a lot of the drama and peril from the original with musical numbers that talked about how much fun the kids were having. And in the grand scheme of things, I think it ultimately detracted from the quality of the series.

Don't get me wrong, there's some good songs in the series, and trust me we'll talk about them. But sadly the majority of the songs are either so generic they're forgettable, or just plain bad.

And the first musical number of the series, "Peaceful Valley", is bad.

It does again establish the relationships of the characters as well as the setting, but that's about the only good things about it. The lyrics are full of one awkward rhyme after another, the singing is flat and off key, and half the time it feels like they aren't even following the beat of the music (which admittedly is very good). Heck, even the animation looks stiff and awkward (more so than the rest of the movie at least), and they don't even bother to lip sync the characters.

It's a real shame because I really did wx ant to like this song. You can tell that this was meant to be a feel good song to really get the kids energized. I even believe that if they did it right, it could've been an anthem for the series to compliment "If we hold on together." But as it is, it's just a really bad song, so much that I was glad that it only lasted maybe a minute, like even the movie itself knew the song was terrible and just wanted to get on with it.

Again, I totally see why quite a few fans of the original checked out. I mean seriously, Universal, this is your best foot forward? You had six years to come up with a sequel to an animated classic and this is how you start it? I understand you were going mainly for the kids, but c'mon man!

Anyway after we get through that we get to meet the villains of the episode: a Struthiomimus due named Ozzy and Strut. The motivation for these two is rather simple (eggs!) and thus they aren't really the most memorable of LBT's villains. But they are probably the most enjoyable part of the episode; these two are absolutley hilarious with their "Pinky and The Brain" style dynamic (the fact that Strut is voiced by Rob Paulsen, who is basically doing his Pinky voice, helps as well).

Speaking of voices, this episode introduced a lot of new speaking roles. The original film wasn't very dialogue heavy (justified in that it was originally meant to be a documentary style film and even then the only big speaking roles were the Gang of Five), but the sequels have plenty of talking characters, namely the adults. Kenneth Mars, Linda Gary, John Ingle, and Tress MacNellie make their first appearances at Littlefoot's Grandfather and Grandmother, Daddy Tops, and Ducky and Petrie's Mothers respectively, and while they don't have a whole lot to do this first time around, they still bring a life to the characters that more or less remain consistent with their assumed roles in the first film: Ducky's mother is nurturing and kind, Daddy Tops is bullheaded, and the Longnecks are the wise mentors who fill in for Littlefoot's absent mother.

The Gang of Five also get new voice actors, with the exception of Cera who is reprised by Candace Hutson, even then though she still makes this iteration of Cera sound distinct from her appearance in the original film. Scott McAfee and Jeff Bennett are absolutely perfect as Littlefoot and Petrie, sounding virtually identical to their counterparts in the first film, with the exception that Littlefoot has something of a deeper voice now, which I do prefer (Bennett also voices Ozzy). The only voice I really have any kind of issue with is Heather Hogan's Ducky. She doesn't do a bad job per say, but she does make her sound a little too young, almost younger than Judith Barsi did. I understand that Ducky is meant to be the youngest of the group (she says so as much in Episode V), but I kept expecting her to devolve into baby talk half the time. Again I know she's young, but I don't think she's meant to be that young.

Anyway, back to the plot.

Littlefoot sees his Grandfather bring a tree down, he tries to do the same on a smaller tree but fails hilariously. His Grandparents say that he still has some growing up to do, which leads us into the theme for this particular film.

One of the things that I do like about the sequels is that they all revolve around a particular theme (other than "adults are useless"). The first movie was basically your typical survival/power of friendship story. The sequels knew they couldn't possibly replicate the peril of the first film (not that they didn't try though in later installments) and they already had the whole power of friendship thing established. So instead they set the episodes around a certain theme or moral that they wanted to teach to kids, and for the most part they kept it pretty subtle and didn't force it to the front.

The theme for this episode is "coming of age." Or rather understanding that when you're a kid, and your parents don't let you do something, it's because they want you to be safe. (This message gets a little undermined in this case, but I'll get to that in a bit).

So the Gang of Five are discussing what to do and Cera suggests they go play in the tall grass. Littlefoot points out though that the only way to get there is to pass through a tar pit, and his Grandparents don't want him going there without their permission. Cera argues that they're able to handle themselves, and eventually the Gang goes along with her, along with Littlefoot although he's reluctant to do so.

This moment established one of the group dynamics that I found the most interesting in the series: the relationship between Littlefoot and Cera. In Episode I, and even for the first couple sequels, Littlefoot wasn't the undisputed leader of the Gang, he very often clashed with Cera over what course of action they should take. And while he did start to assert himself more as the boss throughout the course of this film, it wasn't until Episode IV or V that he really emerged as the de facto leader of the Gang. So seeing these two butt heads (literally and figuratively) over who gets to lead the crew was fun to watch.

So the Gang tries to cross the tar pits, and it goes about as well as one would expect...in other words, not at all. The scene to me felt like an inversion of the tar scene from Episode I, with the crew trying to get Cera out. Except this time they fail and, in fact, nearly drown! (Which makes one wonder exactly how they got out of the tar pits in the first movie.) Fortunately their parents come just in time to save them...but safe to say they aren't too happy with their kids getting in trouble.

But then we leave that plot thread for a while and go check in on our villains. This sequence is mainly to introduce the second song, "Eggs!", just in case the kids forgot just what they were doing here. But honestly I have no problems with this song. It's an improvement over "Peaceful Valley" (though that isn't saying much), but more importantly this song is just fun. LBT managed to do villain songs pretty well, and this one is no exception. "Eggs!" is a hilarious back and forth between the egg obsessed Ozzy (who manages to work in an astounding amount of egg related puns) and the more timid Strut who'd really just rather have some green food.

Back at the main story, Littlefoot is getting a lecture from his Grandparents, who tell him that they just want him to be safe, after all he is the last of their herd. And while I get the intention behind this little moment, this does bring up one of the main problems I have with this movie.

The Gang of Five braved unspeakable horrors to find the Great Valley (horrors that even claimed the lives of several herds as revealed in Episode VII). By all accounts they can handle themselves in the Mysterious Beyond. Their families however are not at all convinced that they are up to the task, which leads me to ask this:

Did they ever tell their families what happened to them when they were looking for the Great Valley?

I mean seriously, if their families knew just what they went through just trying to find the place, then they would probably be a little bit more confident in their kid's abilities to handle problems. Maybe not totally willing, but quite a bit of the conflict in this film at least could've been avoided!

I mean did the kids just not tell their parents what happened? I can understand if they didn't want to talk about it but you would think at some point someone would ask them "So, how was the trip here?" I'm sure they would at least say something like "Oh well we barely had any food or water, we nearly got incinerated by a volcano, and we were stalked the whole time by a sharptooth that we eventually had to kill, but other than that it was a hoot and a half."

Now before you all accuse me of nitpicking, I do have a theory that can resolve this, or at least explain it away.

Like I said in my introduction, the sequels don't have a lot of overlapping continuity. I prefer to think though that they all happened in chronological order. To that end I believe that Episode II begins within a couple days of the end of the original film, possibly the very next morning even.

So given that the kids probably just got some well deserved R&R, they probably haven't yet relayed the tale of their adventure. Furthermore it does explain just why their families are almost paranoid about their safety: they've been in the Great Valley for anywhere up to a year now, and for the majority of that time they've had no idea where their kids were, let alone if they were even alive or not. In that regard, it really wouldn't matter if their kids found time to tell them what went down, they would not want to take any chances in regards to losing them again so soon.

Of course as the series goes on the Gang does get a bit more leeway with their adventures. Part of that is admittedly the adults becoming almost totally useless, but also probably because by then the crew had shown they could handle themselves. By Episode VII, when the Gang heads out, the attitude of the adults is less concerned and more along the lines of "they've done this before, they'll probably be okay."

Anyway, back to Episode II.

Cera calls a late night meeting of the Gang (again showing that she occasionally takes on the role of leader) and they all say they basically got the same lecture from their families (except Cera who got "don't play with longnecks, fliers, swimmers, or spiketails"). During the meeting they see Ozzy and Strut snatch an egg out of Ducky's nest. Cera, again taking charge, has the gang pursue them, thus beginning the tendency of the Gang of Five to directly challenge the villains of the film.

During the chase, the dynamic between Littlefoot and Cera continues to fluctuate. At one point Cera becomes hesitant to continue the pursuit, but Littlefoot urges the gang on, snarking at Cera that "this was your idea." Heck, he even threatens to leave her behind at one point! This again shows how in the early installments, there still wasn't a clear cut leader, but Littlefoot (by nature of being the protagonist) got more instances where he asserted himself as the one in charge.

Eventually the Gang catches up to Ozzy and Strut. In the ensuing chaos they cause a rockslide that dispatches the villains and tears a hole in the great wall that protects the Valley. It also safely deposits the egg back into Ducky's nest (eggs in the LBT verse have incredible luck it seems).

Back in the Mysterious Beyond, the Gang assumes that the egg was destroyed in the rock slide. Ducky is crushed at the thought of losing a new brother (or sister), despite Littlefoot assuring her that it was all part of the circle of life. It was really nice to see Littlefoot deliver these lines, as he knows the feeling of loss better than anyone in the Gang (also if you look closely at the scene of his birth, there are several smashed eggs surrounding his own).

But the Gang finds an egg and assumes it to be the one they lost (despite the fact that it's considerably larger than the egg they were looking for). They fashion up a sling of twigs and ferry the egg back to the Valley. This is another establishing moment for the series: regardless if Littlefoot is assuming the "leader" role or not, he is usually the one who comes up with their plan of action, which makes sense as he's clearly the brains of the outfit (and usually, but not always, the only level headed dino).

When the gang returns, they find the original egg in Ducky's nest. They quickly realize that they must've taken another egg by accident. They don't want to risk returning it to the Mysterious Beyond, so they elect to wait until it hatches, and then send the hatchling along its way. Cera balks at the idea of taking care of the egg until then (which is odd considering her voice was the loudest insisting that the crew weren't babies), but eventually everyone gets excited about the possibility of raising a child of their own.

Until the egg hatches into a sharptooth, and the gang decides "screw this, we're outta here."

Littlefoot eventually realizes that the hatchling isn't a threat and decides to approach the newborn. This is another establishing moment for the series: Littlefoot is usually the first to approach the character introduced in the film. He tells the hatchling that although he isn't really his Dad, he will take care of him nonetheless. He also gives him a name; Chomper.

So Littlefoot goes to his grandparents for advice, and this leads to what I consider one of the funniest moments in the film. He says to his grandparents "I want to know about babies", and the two elderly longnecks exchange an expression that could be modestly described as "shock and horror." He rephrases the question to something that would be considerably less likely to have unfortunate implications, and he's told that babies like to eat a lot. And...that's it. Apparently that's all the advice you need when you're a dinosaur raising a kid.

Littlefoot returns to Chomper and finds that the little tyke has wandered into the tar pits! Thankfully he manages to come out of it none the worse for wear, but Littlefoot still scolds him for running off without him knowing. At this point Littlefoot starts to realize just why his Grandparents are so insistent he stay out of there: they're concerned for his safety. I do really like kids entertainment that takes that angle: they don't just tell them why their parents don't want them doing certain things, they show them why.

During this little sideplot however, the rest of the Gang has been captured by Ozzy and Strut. This is another establishing moment for the series: at some point the Gang gets ambushed by the villains, and they are always unable to take them on...even if they had outwitted them just minutes before. Apparently herbivores were terrible fighters at close range, who knew?

Littlefoot arrives on the scene and safe to say he's rather ticked off about the baddies threatening his friends. Chomper also shows up, and through his giant shadow is able to scare off Ozzy and Strut (it seems that every dino in the series falls for a trick of light and shadow at least once). Littlefoot introduces Chomper to the rest of the gang (calling them his aunts and uncles), and that leads us into the next song: "One of us now."

And while this is the song people probably remember the most from this episode, it has the same problems as "Peaceful Valley."

The music is decent, the vocals are actually more in tune this time, and the overall message is a great one. But once again, the song is ruined by absolutely terrible lyrics. The rhyming is awkward, the structure is confusing, there's one pregnant pause after another, and again it feels sometimes like they aren't even trying to keep the beat. So once again, what could've been a great song if done right is brought down by some rather serious flaws.

Though it's all made up for at the end when Chomper bites Cera's tail. That's actually a great bit of comedy.

But what I don't like is the forced conflict. Suddenly the entire Gang (sans Littlefoot) turns on Chomper. It's almost like their whole song never happened! This is actually something that I've seen in several sequels though: the Gang sings a song that affirms some belief or other, someone (usually  Cera) says something that contradicts that statement, and instantly EVERYONE (except usually Littlefoot) agrees with them, thereby invalidating the message of the song they just sang! I'd chalk it up to more of the co leadership dynamic between Littlefoot and Cera, but I think it's less that and more forced drama.

We did get to see our first Littlefoot/Cera duel of the sequels though, so there's that.

During the commotion Chomper has decided to run off to play on a nearby Volcano (now called a "smoking mountain" instead of a "mountain that burns.") Let me just say that the coloring job for the smoke effects was incredibly low quality. Even moreso than the rest of the animation. I mean the animation at least looks like time was taken to at least bump it to a passable visual style, but the smoke here literally looks like someone just drew it in with a magic marker. I realize this is a bit of a nitpick, but it's just so lazy!

Anyway, Ozzy and Strut corner the kids yet again on the mountain (after suffering plenty of misfortune along the way), and the crew finds themselves in a pickle as they're trapped between the baddies and a lava flow. Chomper again comes to the rescue though, not through the shadow trick again (as Cera had blabbed about that), but by biting Strut on his tail! This gives the Gang the distraction they need to allow Littlefoot to topple a tree so they can escape (this sequence establishes that Littlefoot is the undisputed leader during stressful times). Ozzy and Strut attempt to pursue but they fall off the tree and into a canyon (well Ozzy does, Strut just jumps in after him).

The Gang of Five head back to the Great Valley and find two sharpteeth have breached the outer wall and are causing chaos. They quickly realize that they must've been able to get in because of the hole that was torn in the wall by the rockslide they created. No time for them to feel sorry for themselves as they instantly leap into the fray to take them down. (They probably figured that they took down one sharptooth, how hard could two be?)

All joking aside, there is one small moment here that I really did like. Littlefoot leads the charge against the sharpteeth, and he does it immediately after seeing them go for his Grandparents. He rushes right into the fray, despite his friends telling him not to. I'd like to think that at this moment he was having flashbacks to the death of his Mother. He rushed in headlong because he was resolved to not lose another member of his family to sharpteeth, not on his watch.

Sure enough the Gang of Five do take on the sharpteeth. This is both an establishing moment for the series (the Gang uses a "death from above" tactic against the villains), and also a callback to the original film: Petrie and Ducky attack the sharpteeth using virtually the same tactics (and even moves) that they used against the original, heck Spike even drops a rock on one's head! Unfortunately the combat prowess of the crew is't quite at the level it would be in future installments, and so they're cornered by the sharpteeth. So is it curtains for them already after just two movies?

Hell. No. The grownups step in and start kicking ass!

I'm not even joking. Grandpa Longneck, Daddy tops, Mama Swimmer and Flier, and even Mr. Clubtail start beating down the sharpteeth. The kids are awestruck at this sight, and I don't blame em! These are literally the last people I expected a big damn heroes moment from, namely considering that FOR 13 MOVIES ALL WE'VE SEEN FROM THE ADULTS IS THEM DOING NOTHING BUT BICKERING OVER THE SITUATION. So to see them actually avert the "adults are useless" trope for once and do it in an awesome fashion is just great.

So after chasing the sharpteeth away, the adults figure they got in because of a breach in the Valley wall. They ask the Gang if they know anything about that. The Gang look down at each other for a moment in contemplation, before turning back to the adults...

...and lie their tails off.

Seriously. They try to lie to the adults. Granted they see right through it, but the fact they tried at all is pretty jarring. I mean I would've thought that these chars would've known to never lie about anything (apparently not since later we got an entire Episode about it), so seeing them actually trying to lie their way out of a situation caught me by surprise.

The adults set out to fix the wall and Littlefoot sets off to look for Chomper who disappeared yet again during the attack. After he finds Chomper, he comes across the two sharpteeth again. He realises that the sharpteeth are actually Chomper's parents, and the three tyranosaurs have a nice reunion (punctuated by James Horner's musical cues to great effect). Littlefoot figures all's well that ends well and heads back to the Valley, but along the way he's captured by Ozzy and Strut.

Ozzy and Strut have decided they've had enough of these meddling kids making them the butt monkeys of the movie, and they elect to kill Littlefoot by dropping him off a cliff (Strut actually comes up with the idea). Before Littlefoot is sent to an early reunion with his Mother, Chomper and his parents arrive on the scene, and the two elder sharpteeth chase Ozzy and Strut away, never to be seen again.

(Seeing as how their kid was raised by leaf eaters and turned out okay, why couldn't the sharpteeth have passed on word to leave the Great Valley alone? I know that they didn't exactly get along well with the adults, but by the fact that Chomper wasn't left to fend for himself, they should at least know that not all leaf eaters are prejudiced).

Littlefoot and Chomper say their final goodbyes, with Littlefoot promising they'll meet again someday (in Episode V). Littlefoot rejoins the herds and his Grandfather discusses the lessons that he's learned in this film. They seal up the wall (with Littlefoot even getting to put on the capstone), and Grandpa tells Littlefoot to stay close to the herd from now on.

I think we all know how well that lesson sticks.

Episode II ends with the Gang of Five returning home to their families (again accompanied by James Horner's score), and Littlefoot sums up the film thusly: "I don't mind being a kid, but I can't wait to grow up!"

Interestingly the end credits feature a reprise of "Peaceful Valley." I know occasionally the films had some extra animation played at the end, but this (to my knowledge) is the only time that a musical number got a full reprise. The ending animation isn't really that much, just the Gang of Five playing with dinos that I can assume are their newborn siblings. Littlefoot doesn't get one (he's already had Chomper for over half the movie) but there's new siblings for Cera, Ducky, Petrie, even SPIKE which really took me by surprise. I know the ending is non canon but seeing another Spiketail come literally out of nowhere (especially when there was no reason for there to be one considering Spike's parents are long gone) was really shocking. Heck when I saw it I even wrote down "WAIT WHAT?!" in my notes.

So yeah, that was Episode II. And again, I can certainly see why a lot of the older fans of the original wanted nothing to do with the sequels.

There are some things that I did like: the story was continued in a way that stayed true to the spirit of the original, as well as made sense in terms of continuity. The characters stayed true to their depictions from the last film, the adults were given some depth and life, and Chomper didn't detract at all from the experience. The two villains were enjoyably over the top, and they had by far the best song in the film.

But the other two songs were major letdowns, the animation, while not bad, was a considerable step back from the first one, some of the drama felt forced, a few of the lessons got subverted or outright broken, and overall it just didn't have the same impact as the original.

And again, this movie came out six years after the original, so I can understand why older fans who grew up with the first move may have felt let down. I mean I know it was a direct to video release instead of a big theatrical production like the original was, but that still doesn't give Universal a pass for not trying to put in the same effort, especially when you have a 6 year gap between movies, as opposed to the 1-2 year gap they would have for all the films that followed.

So yeah, whereas the original film was a giant leap for dinosaurs, Episode II was a stumble.

But hopefully they can get back on their feet in time for the Great Giving...

[LittlefootAndAliTogether]

Like I said in my introduction, the sequels don't have a lot of overlapping continuity. I prefer to think though that they all happened in chronological order. To that end I believe that Episode II begins within a couple days of the end of the original film, possibly the very next morning even.

I think it was at least a week or two, I have trouble with the "very next morning" part.  For one, that would mean that the final showdown with Sharptooth was only two days before Chomper appeared on the scene.  One would think Littlefoot would want Chomper dead just because of what he was and because Littlefoot wouldn't have had time to cool down with the pain of his mother's death and also his anger at Sharptooth.

A few weeks would make him run from a baby Sharptooth, but give him enough time to not be so terrified of Chomper that he wouldn't come back.  (Which seems very likely what he would have done had it indeed been just two days.)

[Ducky123]

Wow, that is SOME detailed review  

I won't write a review myself for lack of time to do so but I shall add my two cents to some of the things you say

And the first musical number of the series, "Peaceful Valley", is bad.

It does again establish the relationships of the characters as well as the setting, but that's about the only good things about it. The lyrics are full of one awkward rhyme after another, the singing is flat and off key, and half the time it feels like they aren't even following the beat of the music (which admittedly is very good). Heck, even the animation looks stiff and awkward (more so than the rest of the movie at least), and they don't even bother to lip sync the characters.

In general, I like most of the songs and I'm glad they sing in the sequels (the tv-series is a different story of course...). Not liking them is totally okay but I do like them. Peaceful Valley is one of the songs which are enjoyable but not extraordinarily special. I think they were meant not to be lip-syncronised but I'm not sure.

Anyway after we get through that we get to meet the villains of the episode: a Struthiomimus due named Ozzy and Strut. The motivation for these two is rather simple (eggs!) and thus they aren't really the most memorable of LBT's villains. But they are probably the most enjoyable part of the episode; these two are absolutley hilarious with their "Pinky and The Brain" style dynamic (the fact that Strut is voiced by Rob Paulsen, who is basically doing his Pinky voice, helps as well).

Yep, gotta agree that they're pretty funny and hillarious. Definitely one of the better villains in the franchise if you compare it to... say the Sharpteeth in LBT 13...

The only voice I really have any kind of issue with is Heather Hogan's Ducky. She doesn't do a bad job per say, but she does make her sound a little too young, almost younger than Judith Barsi did. I understand that Ducky is meant to be the youngest of the group (she says so as much in Episode V), but I kept expecting her to devolve into baby talk half the time. Again I know she's young, but I don't think she's meant to be that young.

Heather did a fine job voicing Ducky but she couldn't reach Judith Barsi's level of cuteness and cheerfulness in her voice. Notably, as opposed to Aria Noelle Curzon (whose voice I really like again though maybe not as much as Judith's), Heather never really gets big singing parts in the songs.

One of the things that I do like about the sequels is that they all revolve around a particular theme (other than "adults are useless"). The first movie was basically your typical survival/power of friendship story. The sequels knew they couldn't possibly replicate the peril of the first film (not that they didn't try though in later installments) and they already had the whole power of friendship thing established. So instead they set the episodes around a certain theme or moral that they wanted to teach to kids, and for the most part they kept it pretty subtle and didn't force it to the front.

You're completely right about that. I also like the subtle "lessons" the movies are teaching.

This moment established one of the group dynamics that I found the most interesting in the series: the relationship between Littlefoot and Cera. In Episode I, and even for the first couple sequels, Littlefoot wasn't the undisputed leader of the Gang, he very often clashed with Cera over what course of action they should take. And while he did start to assert himself more as the boss throughout the course of this film, it wasn't until Episode IV or V that he really emerged as the de facto leader of the Gang. So seeing these two butt heads (literally and figuratively) over who gets to lead the crew was fun to watch.

Interesting thought. Cera gets more "submissive" in later sequels indeed.

But then we leave that plot thread for a while and go check in on our villains. This sequence is mainly to introduce the second song, "Eggs!", just in case the kids forgot just what they were doing here. But honestly I have no problems with this song. It's an improvement over "Peaceful Valley" (though that isn't saying much), but more importantly this song is just fun. LBT managed to do villain songs pretty well, and this one is no exception. "Eggs!" is a hilarious back and forth between the egg obsessed Ozzy (who manages to work in an astounding amount of egg related puns) and the more timid Strut who'd really just rather have some green food.

Gotta love these "egg-puns"   The song is really funny and it also shows the personalities of our two villains really well.

It was really nice to see Littlefoot deliver these lines, as he knows the feeling of loss better than anyone in the Gang

Oh yeah, Littlefoot knows too well how it feels to lose someone. Not a direct reference to the Original but a subtle one I'd say (these are rare as it is).

So Littlefoot goes to his grandparents for advice, and this leads to what I consider one of the funniest moments in the film. He says to his grandparents "I want to know about babies", and the two elderly longnecks exchange an expression that could be modestly described as "shock and horror." He rephrases the question to something that would be considerably less likely to have unfortunate implications, and he's told that babies like to eat a lot. And...that's it. Apparently that's all the advice you need when you're a dinosaur raising a kid.

Yeah, that's SOME funny moment I believe they rather told Littlefoot that babies would always eat when they're hungry though. Which, in case of Chomper, is not exactly a positive thing

Littlefoot returns to Chomper and finds that the little tyke has wandered into the tar pits! Thankfully he manages to come out of it none the worse for wear, but Littlefoot still scolds him for running off without him knowing. At this point Littlefoot starts to realize just why his Grandparents are so insistent he stay out of there: they're concerned for his safety. I do really like kids entertainment that takes that angle: they don't just tell them why their parents don't want them doing certain things, they show them why.

I like that as well. If the protagonist learns a lesson, the kids watching the movie might learn it too.

he music is decent, the vocals are actually more in tune this time, and the overall message is a great one. But once again, the song is ruined by absolutely terrible lyrics. The rhyming is awkward, the structure is confusing, there's one pregnant pause after another, and again it feels sometimes like they aren't even trying to keep the beat. So once again, what could've been a great song if done right is brought down by some rather serious flaws.

The things you critisise are not that much of an issue to me but, thinking about it, I guess you do have a point. I like the other two songs a little more, admittedly.

But what I don't like is the forced conflict. Suddenly the entire Gang (sans Littlefoot) turns on Chomper. It's almost like their whole song never happened! This is actually something that I've seen in several sequels though: the Gang sings a song that affirms some belief or other, someone (usually Cera) says something that contradicts that statement, and instantly EVERYONE (except usually Littlefoot) agrees with them, thereby invalidating the message of the song they just sang! I'd chalk it up to more of the co leadership dynamic between Littlefoot and Cera, but I think it's less that and more forced drama.

Again, you do have a point. However, I think it's also interesting to see them sing about something only to get proven wrong or at least to see some doubts and problems showing up.

Let me just say that the coloring job for the smoke effects was incredibly low quality. Even moreso than the rest of the animation. I mean the animation at least looks like time was taken to at least bump it to a passable visual style, but the smoke here literally looks like someone just drew it in with a magic marker. I realize this is a bit of a nitpick, but it's just so lazy!

Absolutely true... they also forgot to animate the lava at one point which looks... not so good.

Anyway, Ozzy and Strut corner the kids yet again on the mountain (after suffering plenty of misfortune along the way), and the crew finds themselves in a pickle as they're trapped between the baddies and a lava flow. Chomper again comes to the rescue though, not through the shadow trick again (as Cera had blabbed about that), but by biting Strut on his tail! This gives the Gang the distraction they need to allow Littlefoot to topple a tree so they can escape (this sequence establishes that Littlefoot is the undisputed leader during stressful times). Ozzy and Strut attempt to pursue but they fall off the tree and into a canyon (well Ozzy does, Strut just jumps in after him).

Yep, also note that Littlefoot manages to push down the tree this time as opposed to at the beginning of the movie (To be fair, that tree was easy to push down!)

He rushed in headlong because he was resolved to not lose another member of his family to sharpteeth, not on his watch.

Littlefoot is very protective of those he holds dear.

Interestingly the end credits feature a reprise of "Peaceful Valley." I know occasionally the films had some extra animation played at the end, but this (to my knowledge) is the only time that a musical number got a full reprise. The ending animation isn't really that much, just the Gang of Five playing with dinos that I can assume are their newborn siblings. Littlefoot doesn't get one (he's already had Chomper for over half the movie) but there's new siblings for Cera, Ducky, Petrie, even SPIKE which really took me by surprise. I know the ending is non canon but seeing another Spiketail come literally out of nowhere (especially when there was no reason for there to be one considering Spike's parents are long gone) was really shocking. Heck when I saw it I even wrote down "WAIT WHAT?!" in my notes.

I didn't know that reprise existed until I bought the movies in english language about two years ago (I'm german) which is because I had a TV recording of LBT 2 in my childhood and the end (including peaceful valley reprise) was chopped off... So my reaction was really similar.

Overall, a really great review

[chomperrules1993]

That was a great review  

[Joseph]

I admit I hadn't really considered the possibility that one of the reasons they were so quick to distrust Chomper was because they just spent an entire movie being hunted by a sharptooth. It's probably likely they're suffering from some PTSD (especially if you consider my headcanon that Episode II takes places no later than a few days after Episode I). So that was a good find for those who picked up on that.

Also I'll try to have the Episode III review up in a couple days. I've been really busy (hell I haven't even had time to watch it yet) but I don't want to keep you guys waiting.

Especially because, in my opinion, Episode III is the start of the brief period where the quality of the sequels actually increased to the point where they could at least be mentioned in the same sentence of the original movie, so I'm really looking forward to this one.

[Daddytops2009]

Interesting.

[Ducky123]

I admit I hadn't really considered the possibility that one of the reasons they were so quick to distrust Chomper was because they just spent an entire movie being hunted by a sharptooth.

Yeah, which means it's actually a reference to the Original, sorta. THough then again, why did they need a whole song to figure that out? First they were friendly towards Chomper but then *realisation*   they figure out he's dangerous (possibly). Meeting a new friend is always exciting so the Gang spent little thought on the consequences of the friendship with Chomper at first.

Especially because, in my opinion, Episode III is the start of the brief period where the quality of the sequels actually increased to the point where they could at least be mentioned in the same sentence of the original movie, so I'm really looking forward to this one.

Quite true Just take your time to review LBT 3.

[Joseph]

Just wanted you all to know that I haven't forgotten about this. I've been pretty busy these last couple weeks between going to Chicago and finishing up my last semester of college.

I finally got around to watching Episode III today. I'm organizing my notes on it now.

I'll tell you right now that my opinion of Episode III will be considerably more favorable than the one I had for Episode II.

[LittlefootAndAliTogether]

Funny, I liked 2 more than 3.

[Coyote_A]

Funny, I liked 2 more than 3.

Me too. The second sequel is actually one of my least favourite movies in the entire series.

[ARAJediMaster]

Well, Joseph, that looks good for a first review. I hope to see the rest when they are available to you soon. Good luck!

[Joseph]

Some of the opinions I'm seeing don't surprise me. From what I've seen, Episode III was a little polarizing. It wasn't really "love it or hate it" but it was either "like it or think it was okay."

As I explained in my intro, my obsession with the series began in earnest with Episode IV. So Episode III was also kind of lost in the backwash, but I was still aware of it, and I always seemed to think good thoughts about the few times I did watch it.

Watching it again, I can safely say that this is definitely a step up from Episode II.

So without further ado, let's get to it.

 The Land Before Time Episode III: The Time Of The Great Giving (upon further review).

So we once again have a space themed opening. Nothing too spectacular, just a fly in shot of what I assume is the Milky Way, and the forming solar system. But then it does something that I thought was pretty cool.

It recreates the opening of the original film.

Seriously, it has an (albeit condensed) almost shot for shot remake of the opening of the original movie, complete with James Horner's score. Hell it even goes a step further, it actually shows the evolution of life! Like the plankton giving rise to the first creatures that left the water, which in turn gave rise to the dinosaurs (and there's of course a gratuitous amount of them in the intro).  

So we get the standard narration with the intro. The Gang of Five is name checked (again just in case the kids forgot who they are), and we're told about just how awesome it is to live in the Great Valley. The usual stuff.

So we open up with the kids playing around with a rock, which is about the size of Petrie (so it raises the question of what he was supposed to do, but oh well). But this nice little moment of zen is brought to a halt when their playtime is intruded by our new characters of the episode, a teenage Hypsilophodon, Nodosaurus, and a Muttaburrasaurus named...Hyp, Nod, and Mutt.

Okay, I won't lie. Even when I was a kid, I thought those names were just dumb. I mean, who even names their kid Hyp. I can understand Littlefoot or Ducky or even Petrie, but HYP?! Even when I did find out that the names were based on their scientific names, I still thought it was dumb!

But on watching it again, I actually realized there was a subtle cleverness here. So subtle it might have been unintentional.

Hyp is the leader of the gang, and he's basically a 80's or 90's teenager in a dinosaur suit. So maybe he's meant to be "hip." But the real genius is with Nod and Mutt, Nod is basically a yes-man (or yes-dino as it may be) and Mutt would be the dumb muscle in any other cartoon, here though he's just more or less the team dog. So I actually think their names make some sense. I still don't like Hyp's name though, it makes me think that his Dad didn't love him enough as a kid...which for all we know he didn't (more on that later).

So Hyp and his crew start to taunt the Gang of Five. Cera of course takes exception to that and wants to brawl. Littlefoot though acts as a mediator and suggest they all play together. This is actually something that is prevalent throughout the episode, and I feel this is the moment that Littlefoot and Cera's characterization really got firmly established. Littlefoot is the cool headed leader and mediator that prefers to negotiate with a threat (but will not hesitate to take action if forced), while Cera is the hotheaded one who prefers to ram first and ask questions later. On a related note, the fluctuation in leadership that we saw in Episode II is not present at all here in Episode III. From the moment that things get serious, Littlefoot is clearly the one in charge. Again, we'll talk about that more later on.

Back to the plot. The little discourse is interrupted by the arrival of a meteor shower. The animation for this is decent, but the presentation is amazing. There's rockslides, explosions, a giant meteor crashing in the mysterious beyond, it actually feels like a really dangerous situation. The kids (even Hyp and his crew) are absolutely terrified and run to their families for shelter. Hell, Littlefoot even gets a tree dropped on him! (But because this isn't the original movie, he's okay). Overall this was actually a somewhat intense scene. It may feel a bit passe to someone who's older and plays videogames where you can knock down a skyscraper onto someone, but I can totally see kids getting pretty scared by all this.

Also it's capped off by a random appearance of the Aurora Borealis. Despite the fact that the color of the background makes it look at one point that the sky was on fire (which I'm actually not holding against the animators because it honestly looked really cool) it's a really pretty scene, a nice way to calm folks down after all the chaos we just saw.

Actually this is one of the reasons I like Episode III better than I did Episode II: the entire movie feels "bigger." When comparing the two it really feels like that for Episode II they were testing the waters, they were trying to see if this was a story that could work with a series of sequels, where could they go? What could they do? They weren't quite sure yet so the first go around had the scope pretty limited; the action was mostly confined to the Great Valley and the biggest hazard was two sharpteeth who wandered in looking for their kid. But with Episode III it felt like they were ready to take on more risks and try some new stuff. The action moves outside of the Great Valley towards the climax, the threats are more dangerous, the characters more complex and interesting, and there's even a couple moments that I felt wouldn't have been out of place in the original film.

It really did feel like that Roy Allen Smith had a real sense of what they could do with the characters and where they could take them. And, for better or worse, it set the tone for the rest of the series.

Anyway, back to the plot. Littlefoot is getting his morning drink when the Thundering Falls suddenly shuts off. I do have a minor nitpick in that I don't think it would instantaneously turn off, probably trickle down to the point where there was nothing left. But fluid dynamics aren't my strong suit, and like I said it's mainly a nitpick. Anyway, Littlefoot recognizes that this is not something that is normal and is very concerned. Grandma tells him to go play with his friends while she and Grandpa talk it over with the other adults.

I think we all know how well that's going to go.

So Littlefoot comes across the Gang of Five who's currently playing hide and seek (apparently Cera is pretty good at this). Littlefoot tries to tell everyone about the current crisis, but they all are more interested in playing. This does lead to a nice moment where Cera scares Petrie who ends up clinging to Littlefoot's nose for dear life. Petrie actually gets quite a lot of slapstick moments in this Episode, arguably the majority.

Eventually Littlefoot does tell them about what happened, and they start to go off to investigate. But Hyp and his crew show up to taunt them again, for basically no reason. And I'm serious, it comes right out of nowhere. Littlefoot tells the Gang to come and see the falls not falling, and Hyp says "why don't you go run and see?" Like, is that supposed to be a taunt? I just don't get it.

But I can forgive that because it results in Littlefoot just getting right to the heart of the manner and asking Hyp why he wants to pick on him and his crew all the time. Think for a second about how many kids entertainment, even today, just cut through all the BS and straight up ask a bully why they're doing what they're doing. And the fact that Littlefoot said it is really great. It wouldn't be out of place for, say, Ducky to ask this, but once again this establishes Littlefoot as a mediator: he wants to at least understand these guys before he decides if they're a threat or not.

Hyp's answer to the question is that he does what he does because he's "bigger." And according to him "bigger is smarter, bigger is meaner, and bigger is better."

This of course leads into "When you're big." And in my opinion, this is one of most memorable villain songs in LBT.

Even today, the song still holds up. The lyrics are great, the beat is awesome, and Whitby Herford does a great job as the cocky Hyp (for those wondering, Nod and Mutt are voiced by Scott Menville and series regular Jeff Bennett respectively). Not only is the song a nice little motive song for Hyp, but it also shows just how great it is to be a teenager from the perspective of a kid. We've all been through our teenage years (some of us are still going through it) and I think we can all agree they were a pretty rough part of our lives. But when you were a kid, you didn't know that. You thought being a teen was the best thing ever. I can tell you that when I was a kid, I thought being a teenager was exactly like how Hyp described (though with slightly less sadistic tendencies). Now of course we later find out that Hyp's behavior is due to other factors as opposed to just being a teenager, but that still doesn't cheapen the message that's sent to kids. Overall, "When you're big" is just a great song.

And not even a second after the song ends Littlefoot totally destroys Hyp's argument with just one line.

"But Hyp, when you're grown up, you won't be big at all!"

OH SNAP, SON!

Seriously, this little moment where Littlefoot and Cera point out that their adult forms will dwarf Hyp's may not be memorable, but it was really great to me. The villains just sang an entire song about how they were large and in charge, and instantly the heroes wrecked their entire argument with just one line. Now yes this is part of the general trend in the sequels about how after a song ends someone says something contradictory and thus the entire message of the song is subverted or outright destroyed, but this is one of the times where I think it really worked.

So after that little number we go back to what I call "movie B." Because let's be honest, the bullying plot and the water scarcity plot are so different they might as well be two different movies. The adults decide that they're going to ration the water. Daddy Tops is of course bullheaded about this and the adults eventually devolve into an argument.

We all already know the precedent that this is going to set for the rest of the series so I'm just gonna skip analyzing this part.

Meanwhile the Gang of Five, blissfully unaware of the water rationing plan, are playing around in the water. It is kind of interesting that they knew about the Thundering Falls stopping but still didn't see a problem with playing in water (especially Littlefoot who saw it happen) but I suppose that being so young they didn't quite understand the seriousness of the matter, so I can let this one pass.

Hyp and his crew show up (okay seriously, how do they keep appearing where the Gang of Five are? Are they using offscreen teleportation?) and demand the Gang of Five leave the watering hole. The Gang of Five (who appear to be more annoyed than frighted at their arrival) stand their ground. Hyp decides to show them who's boss...by kicking Nod into the water...who also lands on top of Littlefoot! (Once again, he's okay).

All the commotion attracts the attention of the adults. Littlefoot is admonished for being careless with water, but he's given some slack by his Grandparents because he didn't know (or at least fully understand) the current situation. Daddy Tops of course is livid about this, and he calls Littlefoot a "bad influence." Grandpa Longneck snaps back at him "THAT'S NOT TRUE!" Considering that we rarely see Littlefoot's Grandparents get mad, it was pretty cool to see that Grandpa is not gonna take any of the crap that Daddy Tops says about Littlefoot.

Daddy Tops says Cera isn't allowed to play with Littlefoot anymore. Considering that this is already a common thing he says (and we're just in the third movie), it's not really that surprising. What is surprising though is that Cera actually tries to stand up to her Dad. She refuses to go along with him, and when she eventually does she's clearly in a bad state. After the Threehorns leave, the rest of the gang is called home by their families. Littlefoot is confused by why Daddy Tops was so angry, Grandpa just says "sometimes fear makes grownups do strange things."

One of the other hidden gems of this movie is the development of Daddy Tops as a character. Sadly the development doesn't stick (for the most part), but we do get to see a nice exploration of who he is as a character as well as his relationship with Cera. This is shown in the next scene where he says Cera needs friends who know how to act. Cera responds that he doesn't want her to have any fun and actually runs off, leaving Topsy at a loss for words. This was a really great moment because Cera responded just like a kid would respond to their parents when they're in a situation they don't fully understand. We also see development on Cera's part, in the past two films she thought that her Dad was infallible and obeyed him without question because she thought he was always right. Now she's not so sure.

The next day, Littlefoot is woken up by his grandparents for an early breakfast. I'll just say here that the animation for this little scene looks great. I don't know if it's the lighting or the colors or whatever, but this really looks like a decent piece of animation. Certainly a cut above what we got in Episode II.

So they go to have breakfast and Littlefoot is dismayed to see that the treestars have become so dry that they crumble at just the slightest touch. His Grandparents explain to him that this is because the Thundering Falls have stopped, and if the water doesn't return soon then their food supply will become critically low, not to mention it's a lot easier for fires to start now. I actually really liked this moment because the Grandparents didn't try to sugarcoat the situation, but at the same time they didn't bluntly say what was happening either. They explained to Littlefoot, like they would to an adult, that right now the situation was looking somewhat grim, and there was a real chance they would have to leave the Great Valley. They love and respect him that much that they're going to tell him straight up what is happening instead of trying to reassure him that everything is fine when it clearly is not.

On that note, the shots of the drying up Great Valley are actually really good. You really get a sense that the herds are in real danger of losing their home, especially when you see a significant lack of vegetation. It doesn't try to brush off this situation as something in the background or not important to the story, the Episode makes it clear that "yes this is a big deal, and yes the herds are going to be in big trouble if things do not improve."

So Littlefoot is thirsty after breakfast. His Grandparents explain that their turn to drink isn't until later in the day, but Grandpa is sure no one would mind if Littlefoot takes a sip now.

Well turns out that Daddy Tops is policing the watering hole, and of course he does mind. The Grandparents argue that the rationing rules shouldn't apply to the kids, but Daddy Tops counters with the notion that everyone is going to have to make sacrifices during these trying times. This leads into his song, "Standing Tough."

A lot of people have called "Standing Tough" one of the best songs in the series, and I see no reason to dispute that claim. This is the first time in the series one of the adults gets a song, and Daddy Tops absolutely kills it. The music is a stark departure from the optimistic/ethereal soundtrack we've had for the last two movies, and sounds more like something from Bruce Springsteen or Bob Seger. The lyrics flow really well (with the exception of "I'm gonna make sure we all have water enough") and really get you pumped up and motivated. And in terms of vocals, John Ingle does an exceptional job, you can tell he's having a lot of fun singing this.

But perhaps the best part of the song is that for the first time in the series we can actually relate to Daddy Tops. Like I said above, one of the hidden gems of Episode III is the development of his character. In his scene with Cera he was humanized when he was shown that he doesn't always have a brash bullheaded comeback. In this song though we start to see at least why he's acting the way he is here. And the best part is that he's right. When the world around you is falling apart, you aren't doing yourself or anyone any favors but just standing around and debating about what course of action to take. At some point you got to get things done, and someone has to be the leader. Heck, he says so himself.

"You can't just run around in circles, wondering what to do. Someone has to be the voice of reason, is it you? Or you? Or you?"

(Ironically the kids would adhere to that advice more than the adults would over the course of the series, but I digress).

Daddy Tops is trying to be the levelheaded guy in a world gone mad. He's not the kind of character to take this stuff lying down, he's going to do what he can to ensure the survival of himself and, most importantly, Cera. While animation errors and the like have made the amount of Cera's siblings a non zero number more often than not, as far as the actual story is concerned, Cera is Daddy Tops' only child (at least until later movies). And seeing as how it's implied he lost his entire family during the original film, he's going to move heaven and Earth to make sure that Cera is safe.

Unfortunately this attitude of his does come back to bite him in the tail later, but we'll get to that in a bit.

Speaking of Cera, while all this is going on she's watching the commotion with Littlefoot. She outright asks Littlefoot "What are we going to do about the grownups? They're acting like babies!" (Which is something that, once again, we will see a lot moving forward).

But the best part of this little moment is when she expresses to Littlefoot how worried she is about her Dad's behavior. She's scared that she won't be allowed to see him or her friends ever again. Littlefoot reassures her that her Dad does love her, and he's acting like this because he's scared as well. Considering these two spent the majority of the last two movies butting heads, it's really great seeing a tender moment between them. It shows that deep down, despite the fact that it seems a majority of the time they annoy the hell out of each other, they really do care for each other.

So while the adults continue to argue ("Can't we agree on anything?!") the Gang of Five calls a meeting to discuss what they're going to do. Spike sleeps through it, prompting a nice little comedic moment where they try to rouse him. Petrie once again gets some slapstick here. ("Spike up!" "Spike down!")

So the Gang decides to find water, with Littlefoot instructing them to sniff it out. We're treated to some more animation showing the dire straits the Great Valley is in, with copious amounts of vegetation dying out. Eventually the Gang finds an oasis near the Valley Wall, and they are overjoyed by this. In addition to finally getting a good drink, they resolve to tell the grownups and thus help alleviate the rationing crisis.

But this moment is interrupted by the arrival of Hyp and his crew (seriously, are they teleporting?!) who claim the oasis for themselves and demand the Gang of Five keep quiet about it. Littlefoot more or less tells him to shove it (not literally but he makes it clear he gives absolutely zero ***** about what Hyp thinks at this point in time) and the Gang flee the scene, pursued by the bullies. Cera wants to fight them, but she's dragged away by the others who exclaim that they simply don't have time. They do eventually lose the bullies (thanks in part to a wasp that Mutt irritates).

On the way back the Gang take a detour and end up outside the Wall. They discover that meteor shower at the start of the movie blocked off the water (specifically the impact walled it up). They deduce that if they can figure out a way to clear the blockage, they can get water flowing back to the Great Valley. (Of course technically the impacts would have most likely vaporized the water, but then again we can assume some time has passed and thus the basin was full of rainwater. Either way, that's just a nitpick.)

During the trek back a storm rolls in. Lighting strikes a tree, and due to the dryness of the plants, it blossoms into a wildfire. The animation here actually looks pretty decent, there's still some stuff that looks phoned in (the spreading of the wildfire is clearly just a rapid looping of cells), but for the most part the animation holds up. Even if it can't hold a candle (no pun intended) to Don Bluth's animation of the volcano in the first film, it's still enough that it could be somewhat frightening to kids. Also the smoke effects, while still crude, are step up from Episode II. They're a bit more transparent and natural now, and don't look like someone just drew over the frames with a magic marker.

The kids get back to the adults and alert them to the fire. Grandpa orders an immediate evacuation of the Great Valley...and he and Daddy Tops argue over who is going to lead the herds out. Littlefoot and Cera glance at each other as if to say "Really? they're going to do this now?" (A sentiment also being expressed by the audience I imagine).

Daddy Tops's escape plan involves him going downwind. Grandpa points out that he's going to be putting himself in danger. Daddy Tops refuses to listen to reason and demands Cera come with him. Cera refuses, but eventually she's dragged along. This time the poor girl is in near tears and everyone else is visibly concerned. Grandpa resolves to go after them to make sure they don't get hurt, while Grandma leads the rest of the herds out.

There are several moments in this film that would not be out of place in the first movie. Daddy Tops and Cera trying to escape is one of them. The two are literally chased by the fire spreading through the valley. It's actually kind of hard to watch, Cera has flames that a literally licking at her backside and she worryingly asks her Dad if this is the right way, and he just says "Yes! I'm sure it is!" Almost like he's trying to reassure himself as much as he's trying to reassure Cera. Eventually they get trapped in a literal ring of fire, but luckily Grandpa Longneck is able to get them out by knocking down a (apparently fireproof) tree for them to use to escape.

Meanwhile Grandma is leading the other herds out. Eventually though the smoke becomes too think for her, and she asks Littlefoot to take the lead. At first he's hesitant, but then he takes his leadership skills he exercises with his crew and applies it to the whole herd, using his voice as a guide to lead them out of the Valley. This is perhaps one of the defining moments for Littlefoot as a character, he's being asked to take on a huge responsibility, the responsibility for the lives of the other herds, and he handles it like a pro. He doesn't panic, he takes charge, and he gets the job done.

This is why Littlefoot is my homeboy.

The herds make it out of the Valley and are reunited with Cera and Daddy Tops, who thanks Grandpa for saving his hide (you don't see that often in the series). The celebration is tempered though when the herds realize what the fire has done. The Great Valley has been severely damaged, and the herds are now without food, water, and a home.

This is one of the reasons I liked Episode III more than Episode II. It didn't try to hide or tone down the threat to the Valley. Keep in mind that the biggest threat the last time around were a pair of wayward sharpteeth who were dispatched quickly by the grownups. This time around they're in danger of losing their home. And they don't just talk about the danger, no, you actually see the scorched and charred valley. Episode III doesn't play around, it lets you know full well that things are serious.

Thankfully the herds only despair for a moment or so before the Gang informs the adults of what happened to the water. Grandpa is worried that the presence of the water will attract sharpteeth, but Daddy Tops says they have to go free the water as they don't have any other choices. Considering that the adults are usually scared to even set a toe in the mysterious beyond, it was nice to see at least one of them (even if it was Daddy Tops) say "Yes it's dangerous, but we have to go out there or we won't have a home to live in!"

But of course the adults start to argue over what course of action to take. This actually provides a nice moment of snark from Petrie of all dinos. Grandma breaks up a fight between Daddy Tops and Mr. Clubtail saying "Stop it! You're acting like children!" and Petrie quips "Ha! We no act like that!"

Meanwhile Hyp and his crew have teleported onto the scene (seriously, I'm going with that, just try to prove me wrong) and decide to go get the water themselves. Nod and Mutt express some serious reservations, but Hyp convinces them to go along, boasting that he can take on any sharpteeth they find. This crazy brave persona does little to reassure Nod and Mutt, but the bullies set out anyway.

The Gang of Five see them head off. Littlefoot is concerned for their safety and wants to follow them, whereas Cera just wants to leave them for dead. The rest of the Gang somewhat agree with Cera, not really understanding why Littlefoot wants to help them after all the abuse they took from them over the course of the movie. Littlefoot explains that, even though they were acting like fools, they were still just kids like they were, and they needed their help. This leads into "Kids like us."

This is perhaps one of the most underrated songs in the entire franchise. I've never heard anyone say it's a bad song, but I also haven't seen people put this in one of their top fives. The music is once again the ethereal soundtrack that we've come to expect from the series, and Scott McAfee does a really great job with the vocals, especially when you consider that this song is just one big solo for Littlefoot.

But my favorite part of the song is the message. It's actually a very mature outlook on the whole situation. Littlefoot recognizes that Hyp and his crew are not so different from the Gang of Five. At the end of the day they have parents, hopes, fears, feelings, and so on. They like to act tough because they're bigger, but deep down inside they're just as scared as the Gang of Five is about the unknown (maybe even more).

Littlefoot says that he has to try and stop them, and actually tells the other dinos they don't have to accompany him on this mission. It shows what kind of character Littlefoot has when he's willing to risk his own skin to save some dinos that don't particularly like him that much, and he respects his friends enough to not hold it against them if they don't come along. But of course since this is the Gang of Five we're talking about, they go along anyway.

Meanwhile Hyp and his crew are out in the mysterious beyond looking for water (we get some nice shots of decaying dino remains as well). Hyp eventually finds what he thinks is a watering hole and jumps in. It turns out though that it's a tar pit and he starts to sink. Nod and Mutt panic and argue amongst themselves about what to do while Hyp struggles for his life.

Luckily the Gang of Five arrives and start getting right to work. Littlefoot tells Hyp to stop moving and he freezes in possibly the most hilarious indignant posture ever. The Gang form up a dino chain and pull Hyp out of the tar pit. Hyp states that he was never in danger, to which Petrie calls him a "big fat fibber!" Cera points out that they just saved his hide and perhaps he should be grateful for the help. Hyp just says "I don't need help! Not now! Not ever!"

Until he sees the herds arriving (apparently they teleported as well, how else could they know where the kids went when they were too busy arguing to notice they had left?!).

"....help!"

Hyp hides behind the Gang of Five as the Grandparents ask them what they were doing out here. Littlefoot explains they were trying to save Hyp from the tar pits.

And then we see why Hyp was hiding.

His Dad walks over and chews him out for running away when they were in the middle of a crisis. And what really sells the scene is Hyp's cowering posture and expression. When he tries to put on a tough face his Dad just smacks him down (verbally). Based on this interaction we can assume that this is a regular occurrence.

I won't go so far as to call this child abuse, but it seems to be that the movie is implying that the relationship between Hyp and his father is...not great.

The end result though is that Hyp, a character we previously felt nothing but animosity towards, instantly becomes sympathetic. Sure we all kind of felt satisfied when Hyp was trapped in the tar pit as he got what was coming, heck we may have even felt dissapointed when the Gang of Five saved him. But the second we see him cowering in front of his father, who's even worse than he is when it comes to behavior, we instantly realize that Littlefoot was right about him just being a "kid in trouble."

And the first adult to realize this? Daddy Tops.

He tells Hyp's father that "If you only react with anger, that's all your son will know, and that's all he'll be able to express towards others." Not only is that a very mature look at the issue, but again this is coming from Daddy Tops, who also goes onto express remorse for the way he treated Cera throughout the film, saying he gets short with her because he's worried about her. Cera says that he doesn't have to worry about her, and does it in perhaps the sweetest and most heartwarming tone possible.

And FINALLY after nearly an entire film, the adults realize that if they ever want to get things done, they can't argue all the time and will need to work together. (This would be a good lesson if it wasn't forgotten BY EVERY SINGLE MOVIE THAT CAME OUT AFTER THIS ONE.)

And what better way to put this newfound trust to the test than by getting attacked by a pack of Raptors?

That's right! A pack of Raptors just happens to show up because Universal remembered that we hadn't had a faceoff with a carnivore yet. While the Raptors don't look as threatening as the T-Rex's in the past films, they still look very cool. Also considering that this movie was released 2 years after Jurassic Park was, I got a feeling the kids watching knew exactly how dangerous Raptors could be.

Like in the last movie the adults actually lead the charge against the predators. Hyp's Dad leads the kids out, while Grandpa and Daddy Tops take on the Raptors. Safe to say they start kicking tail and taking names. It's a really awesome sequence.

The kids flee down a path with Hyp's Dad as an escort. But soon enough they come to a dead end and are cornered by some Raptors. But the Raptors are then cornered by the adults.

Not so clever girls.

The Raptors take on the adults in a fight that sadly is offscreen (but based on the reactions of the kids, it was pretty intense). The end result is the small outcropping they were standing on collapsing in a landslide that incapacitates the Raptors as well as the adults. The Raptors are roused first due to dramatic convention and go to finish off the adults. Hyp's Dad tells the kids to run and he takes on the Raptors by himself. Seriously, he actually manages to take on three at a time, and he does a pretty good job.

It's even enough to move Hyp. When Nod and Mutt talk about what a dork his Dad is for risking his skin (seriously, they actually say something to the effect of "Look at your Dad saving everyone! What a dork!") Hyp actually joins in the fray as well, distracting the Raptors long enough for the other adults to awaken and get back to business.

Speaking of which, this wouldn't be a LBT movie if the Gang of Five didn't get in on the action. Once again using a Death from Above tactic, and with assistance from Hyp and his crew, they bury the Raptors in piles of rock several times. And the Raptors still get up to try and fight them! (Seriously, is everyone just made of iron in this movie?)

Eventually though Littlefoot realizes that the battle has chipped away at enough of the barrier to free the water. He alerts the others and everyone escapes the scene just before a massive wall of water breaks through the barrier. The Thundering Falls instantly switches back on, and the cascade of water puts out all the remaining fires in the Great Valley (and conveniently washes away the Raptors...who survive because why not). Grandpa tells Littlefoot that he and his friends saved the day, Littlefoot just says "No, we all did."

So we get a final montage to wrap everything up, once again set to the original score by James Horner. Realistically the Great Vallley isn't instantly healed, everything is still burnt and charred and there's a real scarcity of food. The Gang of Five is out scouting for food, with the assistance of Hyp and his crew, and Hyp suggests they all share what they found. Nod and Mutt can't believe what they're hearing, and Hyp says "Not sharing is for scaredy-eggs!" (A line that is cheesy enough to work).

We close out the film with a sequence of the Gang of Five + Hyp's crew sharing some treestars, and a closing narration that says eventually this would be known as "The Time of the Great Giving." Not only is that a rare title drop in the series, but it also helps tie the two plots together.

Like I said in my Episode II review, each Episode has a particular theme. Episode II's was "coming of age." In Episode III the theme isn't really as apparent as the two main plots are so different (one is about bullying, the other about survival) that they might as well be two different films, as I stated above. But in the climax of the film, both plots mesh together as one story, and we finally get a revelation as to what the theme is.

The theme of Episode III is "Helping others." And I don't just mean helping people out when a disaster strikes their home, I also mean helping others to realize that there's an alternative to bad behavior. Being big doesn't mean you have to be bad. You don't need to pick on other kids just to feel powerful. And most importantly, you always need friends, even if you don't think you do.

This is the reason I like Episode III a lot more than Episode II. Episode II wasn't terrible, but it was kind of a letdown after all that we saw in the first movie. It feels like that it was just meant to be kind of a proof of concept film, to show that "yeah this is a story that can be continued with a healthy amount of sequels." There was still action and drama and stuff, but it was fairly limited, as the scope of the film was pretty small. I mean it's called "The Great Valley Adventure", that's not just there to sound cool.

Episode III though feels a lot bigger. It feels like Universal finally knew what they wanted to do with their characters and stories. So they upped the ante. They gave us a real danger to the Great Valley that the adults couldn't just drive away with brute force. They gave us some complex antagonists. They explored the characters of our protagonists. Hell they even hit a home run on all three songs! Seriously unlike last time where the songs were hit and miss (mostly miss), I have zero major problems with any of the songs in Episode III.

So on the whole, I really did like this one. And to those that didn't all I can say is:

"You don't like it? TOUGH!"

No, for real, like I said in the intro, this is a polarizing episode for some reason. I don't see a lot of folks calling it terrible, but I do see people saying it's either better than the majority of the sequels or just okay. I can understand why, the bullying plot may feel a little bit shoehorned into a survival story, the characterization arcs may go in directions you may not agree with, or heck maybe you don't like the songs. So if you really don't see Episode III as one of the better sequels, who am I to stop you.

For me, this is the Episode III that I saw. While it's not as great as the original, it is certainly a cut above Episode II in my opinion. It took more risks, it developed the characters, it was a vocal success, it was just a great flick.

And like I said, in my opinion this was the beginning of a brief period of time where the sequels could at least be mentioned in the same sentence as the original.

Next time, we go on a Journey Through the Mists...

[LittlefootAndAliTogether]

You just made me like that one a lot more.  Nice review.  

Anyway, GVA will always be one of my favorites, one as it's got Chomper in it and, I believe, it's the first one I ever saw, as I think my Mother may have gotten me it on video soon after it first came out.  I think I saw the original not too long afterward though.  I saw the two pretty close to the around the same time, but still think I saw film II first, but, being young enough, couldn't register that it was a "2" and so didn't ask about what the original was.  

As for Journey of the Mists, I know that it approaches the original, though my biggest beef is wondering what was so dangerous about the Land of Mists itself.   I mean, Dil and Ichy were in the cave and could have been met had Littlefoot gone through a different tunnel to somewhere else.  

They encounter no other Sharpteeth there personally and one gets the impression that the Old One was just a big coward who got showed up by a bunch of kids.  

[Hypno]

When are you going to make a review for LBT IV?

[Ducky123]

Great review again I must agree that LBT 3 is a better movie than 2. It has more action, slightly better songs (I still liked the songs in LBT 2) and it's just... tough There is not much to disagree on so this response will be a hell of a lot shorter than the previous one, haha  

I wonder if your opinion of LBT 4 is again similar to mine. You seem to like it and so do I

[fanciful_flyer]

I'm probably making a grave mistake to even admitting this, I'm gonna get tarred and feathered, but to each their own, right? I'm the only LBT fan I know who actually liked the 7th movie the best, if not as much as the first. Why? I don't know, I guess the characters left a lasting impression on me.
Offhand, I would say that none of the sequels can top the first film because it had superior animation, and many of us first saw it when we were kids - so it brings back memories, and all that.
It does bring back memories for me, and I know the first time I saw it, I was utterly fascinated. But, I have a very active imagination, and most of the sequels actually enhanced my appreciation for the LBT movies - not lessened it. Yeah the quality wasn't as authentic, maybe even some of the storylines weren't. But like I said, I get pretty absorbed into fandoms sometimes, and since I enjoyed almost all of the sequels, I can easily say that it opened up the LBT world for me, even if they weren't like the first movie.

A few of my thoughts on what made the 7th movie stand out to me:

- It's been mentioned before. The villains are leaf-eaters. Which is interesting, because previously, all of the villains (aside from Hyp and his gang being...well, kinda like villains, but really just bullies) are, of course, sharpteeth. Villains that the characters can talk and interact with are fun, no doubt about it. We get a little glimpse into what their motives are, and why they do the things they do. It's not just some hungry carnivore that Littlefoot and the others have to run away from or "defeat" by tricking. Not that this lessens the others - each sequel has something unique about it. But villains among your own lot are interesting. XD

- Not only is the 'villain' - Pterano - a leaf-eater (I'll save the whole "what do pterodactyls eat" topic for another post...), but he's related to one of our Five; sweet little Petrie. We get the addition of having the would-be bad guy a family member. Another thing we hadn't yet seen in any of the other movies, which puts some emotional weight on Petrie and the others. Also adds some realism, because let's face it, family isn't perfect, and we get a taste of that in the 7th movie.

- May be a smaller note, but I just thought the characters introduced were so darn appealing. XD Pterano, Rinkus, Sierra, the Rainbow Faces, e.t.c. I hear a lot of mixed reviews on the 7th movie. From what I've seen and heard, fans either love it or hate it. I love it to death, and I certainly don't expect everyone to feel the same way about it as I do, but I've treasured it all these years, and I know I'll continue to do so - probably until the day I die!

[Ducky123]

^I'm pretty sure you're not the only one whose favourite sequel is LBT 7 I know many like it (including me) so it might be some member's favourite sequel. Mine is LBT 8 which probably goes back to my childhood days but I'll explain that more in detail when Joseph has written his review on that one