I've finally managed to watch it last night. I must confess my expectations were pretty low, not because I thought it was going to be bad, but only to prevent myself from being disappointed. Luckily, Journey of the Brave was a very pleasant surprise, and it now ranks as my 7th favourite sequel of all time, on par with The Great Day of the Flyers.
The most important thing about this movie is that after almost 9 years we finally got to see a new story with our favourite gang. Most of us didn't believe it could ever happen, but it did. As another user said, someone cared enough about The Land Before Time to make another. And, whatever the result, it's always a great day when we get to revisit our friends and see them go through a new adventure.
Story wise, it's not that complex, it's a simple journey/rescue mission, with some shout outs to the original film, and some of the sequels. It's action is on point, although the sharpteeth in this movie were way too cartoony. I get it that they're trying to make the dinosaurs a bit more scientifically accurate, but giving them feathers when there were none before is just silly. They could've just stuck with good old T-Rexs and Raptors. Nobody watches TLBT to see the new Sharptooth.
The Carnotaurus design was just weird. I don't mind the grey colours, but they could've at least straightened out the horns.
The Hanna Barbera sound effects were a bit much, and very unnecessary, as was the CG, but thank goodness they didn't use much of it.
As for Shorty, I only realized he was missing after reading some of the comments. I don't really care for the character, but truth be told the plot didn't really need him, it would just add another subplot, and an extra character in an already crowded ensemble. Granted, if it was written well, we could've seen Shorty and Littlefoot grow as half-siblings, maybe it would make more sense for the two of them to be fighting, instead of Littlefoot and Cera, but then Cera wouldn't get enough screen time, and it wouldn't justify Littlefoot's friends leaving them.
Petrie and Wild Arms as comic reliefs were also on point. Especially seeing Petrie become King of those tiny dinos. Wild Arms was a bit much, but he didn't get a lot of screen time, which was a good choice on the director's part.
Etta was great. A bit reminisce of Archie from Journey through the Mists, but in a more comedic and helpful role.
The songs took a page out of the TV Series, and, apart from Look for the Light, served as plot devices and replacements for dialogue. It's not something we haven't already seen, so, even though I personally don't care for it, it's in the tone of TLBT sequels.
I really wished they drew Chomper with only two fingers. Is it just me or did he have 2 fingers in some scenes and 3 in others? I know the 3rd finger is drawn in a way that it's smaller and can hide like a thumb, but I think the artists just got it wrong.
Would've loved to see more of Ruby and Chomper, they were only thrown in there for fan service, but still, at least we got to see them again.
All in all, it's a good movie, and I believe it will do well in sales. I hope they start releasing it on DVD outside of the US as soon as possible.
Maybe we'll get to see a few more sequels, maybe not. But at least we got a better ending to the franchise than Wisdom of Friends.
Did any of you got the chills when "The Land Before Time" titled popped up in the opening sequence like I did?
