My thoughts on “The Missing Fast Water Adventure” are as follows: It put some nice emphasis on the fact that Chomper is growing up. Sure, it shows enlarged chest muscles since movie V, but this episode really shows how his mindset is progressing. In the fifth movie, when Cera would constantly put him down with her words, Chomper would either dismiss it or start crying. He was somewhat of a pushover when it came to standing up for himself. Sure, he fought that adult for his friends’ sake, but that was a life or death situation. Many children would jump into a mess if it involved one’s life. Defending one’s self, or better, one’s pride, is an entirely different matter. It poses no eminent danger, merely hurts.
In this episode we see that Chomper is maturing, as he would take neither Topsy’s nor Cera’s insults sitting down. He expressed his anger without holding back against Cera, something that is very rare for the others to do. I can’t say for certain that it is Chomper’s courage that has grown or not. Being a Sharptooth, fighting is in his blood, so perhaps he is merely learning to get defensive on instinct. Either way, Chompe’s mental state is maturing in some way, which was a plus of this episode.
It was rather disappointing how the grown-ups just gave up on the fast water. After saving it in movie III, you’d’ve thought that they’d try doing so again. “Well everyone, we saved the water before, but this time, let’s all give up without trying!” “Sounds good to me!” “Me too!” Yes, three cheers for giving up!” “Hip hip hooray!” Seriously…? When the male Rainbow Face told Littlefoot in VII that he had a very sharp mind, he wasn’t kidding. There was an earthshake then the water vanishes. Is a young child in a large group really the only one who can make such a connection?
Okay, to be fair to the grown-ups, I’m sure in their lives of growing up outside the Great Valley, they’ve had to learn to accept change. Fictional examples: They can’t find food- that must be accepted. Their children die- that must be expected. They get injured by Sharpteeth- that must be accepted. Perhaps after living in a way where things can’t be changed, they’ve hardened their hearts to even trying anymore if they donët have ti. In III, they had no choice. Their water supply was depleting and fast. In The Missing Fast Water Adventure, most of the water remained, so they didn’t find the situation dire enough. It would be like us humans going to the market. If we have almost no food left, we’ll get our rears down to the store. If we are missing crackers but still have many other things, we may be like, “Meh, I don’t need to go yet.”
Maybe I’m missing something, but isn’t there a time discrepancy with Mo’s visit? I mean, when the gang went with Mo to the Big Water from the Great Valley, didn’t the trip take over a day? It seems like not much time passed since the earthshake, and boom, there he was in this episode. Unless he’s some gold medalist swimmer, I don’t see how he possibly made it to the valley from the Big Water so quickly. In my opinion, they should have had the earthshake later in the day, nearly before dark. That way, the gang would have had to sleep a night before going. That would have given more ample, logical time to get back.
I found it amusing that Littlefoot’s grandfather gave Mr. Three Horn a look when the children saved the day. I mean, even he said, “Everyone seems to agree with you, Mr. Three Horn.” I assume “everyone” meant his grandfather as well. His grandfather did no better than Cera’s father. He didn’t formulate any argument, just went along with her dad. Followers are just as guilty as the leader. If something is being ignored by a leader, others can step up to take action. I was disappointed in his grandfather. It’s like he reverting in mental strength. In movie III during the fire, when her dad wanted to go the wrong way, his grandfather insisted very strongly to the others that that was not a good idea. In this episode, he just gave in to her father’s despair. Not a very good example for a child, but Littlefoot’s wisdom shined again regardless.
I too liked the songs here. Even better than a few movie one’s actually. Nice rhythm, good flow of words, nice singing, the songs really had things going for them. Perhaps it’s just the years of wear, but in my opinion, Rob Paulsen did a lot better as Mo during movie IX. His voice here just seemed a bit more wavy. Oh well. Overall, I did enjoy the episode. The formula of someone wishing he was bigger only to find that being small has its benefits is very clichÈ, but it played out nicely. It showed some very logical scenes and added a sense of danger in entertaining ways. On a scale of one to ten, I’d give it a seven, I suppose.
