The transtion from LBT 4 to LBT 5 was a rough one in my opinion, but that is to be expected when a new director takes over; however, I have found that from LBT 5 onward, Cera has been a somewhat less likeable additon to the Gang, some moment aside.
I have always found Cera's personality fascinating, but I was somewhat disappointed to see how her character was carried out in some of the later sequels.
In the original LBT, Cera was growing up with her sense of pride, but eventually she accepted, and even adored, her friends, as they made their way through the "Mountains that Burn" to the Great Valley. Her roots of a proud threehorn remained with her, but her tolerance has improved greatly since her birth.
LBT 2 shows Cera in a frazzled state when she believes the adults are treating the Gang like babies. Frazzled, yes, however she was still an interesting character with a unique viewpoint, and she carried that off to the rest of the Gang in a strong, effective manner. They held a meeting, and talked over the issue.
When the Gang was thrown into the Mysterious Beyond, Cera was genuinely upset, and not afraid to show it. This moment was probably a moment of realization for Cera, when she had second thoughts about wanting to take care of things on her own.
Shortly after Chomper was hatched, he saves the gang from the egg stealers, and he is accepted into the gang...until he bites Cera. Cera, naturally, is upset, and justifies her reasoning why Chomper can't stay with them. Ducky, and to some extent even Littlefoot (who is a natural leader), accepted what Cera had to say, yet Littlefoot couldn't help feeling it was wrong to let Chomper wander on his own.
By the end of the movie, Cera comes to the realization that Chomper is truly one of them, and *almost* (as we see in LBT 5, which is partly why I have some arguements against that film) accepts him as a friend, for who he is.
In LBT 3, Cera is bothered in this movie, but only by relatively major issues. Her father doesn't allow her to be with littlefoot anymore, as he is considered a bad influence after "wasting water." Her friendship with Littlefoot can be shown, when she disobeys her father to meet with littlefoot. Cera's most serious issue in this film is her Father, secondly, the lack of water, and lastly, the Bullies. Yet somehow throughout all of the tragedy in her life, she still stays a likeable character, not yelling every 2 sentences, not making her friends angry at her, too. She rationalizes the situation, and gets the gang together to try to Solve the Problem, and she does so without getting needlessly worked up over little things in the process.
In LBT 4, Ali is Cera's primary issue for much of the film. In the introduction, Cera is a very likeable character, remaining cheerful, and acting proud when she does something clever (like knocking all the leaves off the tree in the early scene), which is certainly part of Cera's character; she is known to be proud of who she is. Cera's behaviour becomes interesting when Ali meets with the group. Now the interesting thing with this scene, is the fact that Littlefoot introduces Ali has his "new friend," yet Cera is willing to greet her politely, with a friendly "Hello, Ali!"
Mind you, this content feeling about Ali is brief, but it almost seems like the primary issue that Cera has with Ali, is not the fact that she's jealous towards Littlefoot, but the fact the Ali can't accept the group for who they are (see the "crush?" topic, also on this board). Cera has learned acceptance on their journey to the Great Valley, and is bothered when she met someone who was still under the "old school" mindset of keeping different herds seperate. I suppose there isn't hard evidence that Ali is "racist;" Ali, could merely be afraid, like she states in the film....
Anyways, this is about Cera, not Ali, so I shall move on:
After learning that Ali was willing to accept Cera, and the gang, for who they are, Cera was more content, even happy, to be Ali's friend. This also makes me think that the idea of jealously plays less of a role than we may think.
From this point on, Cera was a kind, robust, strong addition to the movie, and even during the time when she was upset with Ali, Cera remained "Cera-ish", and didn't take out her frustrations on the world. When the Gang was asking Cera to help them find Littlefoot, Cera was angry at littlefoot for not asking them to come, but I feel that's understandable. Cera, deep inside, obviously cares for Littlefoot, as she soon changed her mind about not helping. The scene where Cera was turning down going to help Littlefoot, didn't feel like a weak scene. You could Feel Cera's frustration, and she didn't take it over the top. She spoke clearly, didn't yell, and spoke her mind. Eventually, her mind changed, after likely feelings of guilt, then a feeling of warmth for her friend, whom she may never see again. She had to go.
Now, moving onto Cera's later character, staring with the beginning of LBT 5.
The first scenes of LBT 5, I thought were very weak. The characters were getting worked up over little things, which had Never been seen since perhaps the Original movie, when they were all very young and it was understandable. For example, Littlefoot and Cera were constantly fighting over whether or not Sharptooth was dead or not, and they got into a bit of a fight about where the Great Valley was, where they were getting into a bit of pushing and shoving.
Anyways, back to LBT 5:
The characters were chasing after the last treestar, tripping over each other, biting each other (Spike biting Petrie), Cera was running with Ducky on her back. Ducky was losing her balance, hurting herself at times, and Cera was completely careless and oblivious to this.
A serious example of Cera (and Littlefoot in this case) becoming more aggressive, was when the Gang was in the desert, and Grandpa was arguing with Mr. Threehorn. Littlefoot suddenly turns to Cera and says "You father can't talk to my grandpa like that!"
Cera's response: "He can talk Any way he wants!"
And a fight pursues. We haven't seen them FIGHT since the Original movie! Where did this come from? I suppose we are to believe everyone is cranky from lack of food and water, but this scene just felt odd for these characters, at this point in time. I suppose it's like any relationship - at first, nothing you do can upset the other person, but as time goes on, you start to pick up on things that annoy you. The most logical explantion, I guess, is the fact that they're tired and upset from lack of food and water, so they are attacking each other with words.
I have an issue with Cera's lack of acceptance towards Chomper in this film. I know it adds something else for the movie to talk about, but I didn't like the fact that Cera seemed alright with Chomper after LBT 2 was over, yet she suddenly has a grudge with him again. Perhaps she is worried that he wouldn't think of them as friends, since it was so long ago, but I just didn't feel comfortable with how this idea was protrayed.
Also, I've noticed that Cera tends to take serious matters as a joke, and tends to take lighter things too seriously. For example,
LBT 5: The gang is on the raft, when Petrie is dunked under the water and sees a swimming sharptooth. Cera doesn't believe a thing when petrie tries to warn them. And of course, 10 seconds later, she's swimming away from it.
The exact same thing happens in LBT 6, when she thinks the gang is making up the fact that there is a sharptooth behind her,
Yet they Ran Into a Sharptooth in the same place on the way To Saurus Rock! Even Cera's interaction with the Twins seemed a tad cruel. She was easily frustrated with them, and hardly showed any guilt after telling them to get lost, even after Ducky scolded Cera for it.
LBT 8, I had serious issues with Cera, in parts, as well. She acts like she's the Queen of Mad, yet we had never Once seen her do anything that she demonstrates to Ducky in her song, in any previous event. Cera never really acted "mad" per se; aside from the moments in LBT 1, and the weird fights in LBT 5, many of which were unnecessary.
In LBT 9, she took her frustration out on Mo, which I felt was un-called for. From the first time she met him, her "greeting" was, in a snotty voice "You're not from around here, are you??"
I can see being upset, but why didn't she just Talk to littlefoot about what he thought about Mo. She concealed her frustration, and left the rest of the gang confused. As a result, Cera was an angry character for much of the movie, until they cool off, near Big Water. However, I it did surprise me to see Cera jump into the water after Mo, when he pretended to be stuck - considering who Cera had apparently become in the film, I was happy to see her do something nice
LBT 11 was almost painful to watch Cera's emotions. She verbally attacked Littlefoot when he asked about Tria, than ditched him on the spot. Cera's reation when Ducky referred to her Dad as "Topsy" was also extreme. She was obviously Very emotional about the situation between her Father and Tria, but let's go back to LBT 2 for a moment. At that point, I honestly think Cera would have Wanted to talk about it, just like she talked about the adults treating them like babies, and just like she approached Littlefoot to "do [something] about the grownups." Advance to LBT 11, and Cera conceals all her feelings inside, and just gets mad at everything.
I feel that Cera's character was almost more Mature in the earlier films. She had reasons to justify what she did, and was willing to discuss the matters with the Gang. Even the Ali issue, Cera states her thoughts; she didn't just get angry. She Said that she thought Ali was stuck-up, and if Littlefoot would rather spend his time with the stuck-up brat, then she wants nothing to do with him.
The reasoning is somewhat elementary, but consider the fact the Gang isn't very old. However, in the later films, Cera's answer to a number of problems is simply to yell at it or physically fight it. I think Cera was a more interesting, more likeable character shen she was willing to talk to the gang, or at least Littlefoot. The redeeming part of LBT 9 was when Cera Finally approached Littlefoot after they thought Mo was gone. From this point on, I thought Cera's character was as strong as any of the earlier ones, but just the way she handles conflict in the later sequels, bothers me.
Anyways, that's my Very long analysis of Cera's approach to problems. I hope I made some sense, but I'm going to bed now
