Pros and Cons of land before time movies

[Malte279]

In this thread I'm going to point out some thoughts on the positive and negative aspects of some of the land before time movies and invite everyone to do the same. It is largely opinion based though in some cases it may be possible to be specific about the reasons for an opinion. The purpose of this thread is not so much an indepth discussion of the individual movies, but perhaps it will bring forth some points which can be discussed more elaborately in other threads. The recent thread on LBT 6 with the different assessments of the quality of the Secret of Saurus Rock made me think that such a thread may spark some other discussions.

The land before time
Pro: The one movie that started it all came with extremely emotional scenes. It had a somewhat sinister setting in which the meaning of the Great Valley stood out a lot more than it has in any other movie and it was likely this darker setting that makes this movie the one where one could make the best point when claiming for it to be made not for kids only.
Con: I do believe that some of the scenes cut from the movie could have improved it significantly. Littlefoot's returning to get the other others after finding the Great Valley would have been a lot more meaningful than his just happening to find it after everything else had been told. The oasis scene (which for all we know may have never gone beyond the written draft) would have stressed the topic of racism / speciism a lot more which has been kind of watered down with Cera being the only one in the gang to actually show any of that trait.

The land before time II - The Great Valley Adventure
Pro: This sequel came with some very emotional and powerful scenes. And it was helping that rather than relying only on the newly introduced singing they also used many themes from the original movie again. With the extremely sinister depiction of the mysterious beyond there was a degree of continuity in the depiction of the Great Valley as the one save harbor. I am a bit split about whether Chomper would be regarded a very positive point about LBT 2 if it wasn't for his later roles (I'll write more about that point in the cons).
Con: In spite of the aforementioned continuities there is also no denying that already the very first sequel was a very shar breach with the original movie in many ways. The debate about the inclusion of singing dinosaurs will never be resolved and while I think that some of the songs from other sequels were really worth it I can't say I found the songs of LBT 2 particularly inspiring. The animation while it had some great moments too (during the thunderstorm for example) had some severe weaknesses (e.g. the lava during the volcanic erruption didn't look like anyone was even trying to make it look like real lava or fire). Most importantly however I feel that what may be a great strongpoint of LBT 2 may also be its great weakness, namely the plot. The inclusion of a purple colored sharptooth into the plot was not just a break of style. Now don't get me wrong, I really like Chomper, but first of all we never learn much about him in LBT 2 and to this day there are many plot holes about him. What I consider a real pity is that they never ever made any reference to Littlefoot's mother and that they just depicted Cera in a bad light for bringing up some very valid concerns. In a sense I feel the makers wanted to use that hot iron of a herbivore - carnivore friendship, but then didn't dare to really touch that iron. Also while Chomper's parents came accross as really tough and scary in several scenes they at the same time also had some of the "Sharptooth Slapstick" scenes in LBT 2 the worst excesses of which we were to see in later sequels.

The land before time III - The time of Great Giving
Pro: A very interesting story scenario that came with both some funny and some emotional moments. I like this movie more than the shortness of the pros compared to the cons suggests, but it is a lot more difficult to pinpoint the pros about this one than the cons.
Con: Unfortunately the telling of the story had some weaknesses. While some characters worked out alright in the setting of the story they (the bullies in particular) were extremely clishee. It would have helped if they had taken a little more time in making these characters a bit less archetypical and a bit more individual. I think the worst flaw of LBT 3 is that it became way too preachy. Especially towards the end (but also in some earlier scenes) they were really drumming in the morals with a big club where it would have been a lot better if only they had managed to bring them across with a little more subtlety. With regard to subtlety I think it would have also helped if they hadn't exaggerated the extreme dualism of "stupid quarreling adults" vs. "smart problem solving kids" as much.

The land before time IV - Journey through the Mists
Pro: This one probably holds a special place in the hearts of many LBT fans with the final words, the promis that the gang would indeed meet Ali again one day, having been something to cling to in times when there was uncertainty about whether or not there would be any further movies. The discussion whether those were "just words" or an actual promis had been going on for a long time and the expectations were consequently so high that most people were disappointed with Ali's return in the TV series. As for the pros of the movie, it does come with an interesting story scenario again and in spite of showing green landscapes outsite the Great Valley it still corresponded nicely with the original movie by bringing up the topic of the changing lands. The somewhat gloomy but also hopeful ("...maybe we'll all live together some day.") atmosphere of this kind of setting is something that I feel Charles Grosvenor never managed to capture in his LBT movies. Including the first ever other young longneck since Littlefoot's mother had promised many of those in the first movie undoubtedly sparked a lot of interest and no mistake Ali was an interesting character. The movie also had some extremely emotional scenes which by themselves were a great pro, while I'm afraid I need to list their integration into the movie among the cons.
Con: I'm afraid LBT IV had the potential to be a lot more than it was. If we look exactly at what we got it is hard to deny that we barely get to know Ali at all. It would have been awesome if we had learned a little more about her and her background (we barely get to know anyone from her herd with the Old One being just the narrator of the earlier travels). How come for example that Ali is clueless about the looks of the flower? How exactly was her upbringing? Was she really afraid of the others from the gang after they (including Cera) had just introduced themselves in a perfectly friendly manner? I don't have any problems with the characters Archie and Tickles, but they too remain relatively annonymous and it is odd how nevertheless they managed to tie some of the most emotional scenes from the movie to these characters. My guess is that the use of music played a very large role there. Perhaps they could have used the time to bring in (but not really introduce) Tickles and Archie better if instead they had used it to let us get to know Ali a little more. As for the villains, I like the general idea of their dependency on each other but once again LBT stuck to the clishee of villains necessarily disliking each other. I'd love to see a pair or group of LBT villains for once who formed a group with a comradship similar to that of the gang.

The land before time V - The Mysterious Island
Pro: We got to see Chomper again in a powerful story including the first ever mention of Littlefoot's mother since the original movie as part of a beautiful song.
Con: The story came with many unanswered questions (how does Chomper know leafeater language) and once again refuses to seriously address the problem of the sharptooth leafeater relationship. Again Cera is "the bad one" for addressing a problem against which Littlefoot doesn't have any other argument than thinking differently and being right because he is Littlefoot. It is also sad that in spite of mentioning Littlefoot's mother in the song always there the makers didn't have the courage to also include the mention of her fate. I guess once again it was an iron too hot to touch for the makers of LBT V to let for example Cera bring this point up when arguing with Littlefoot about Chomper. As the first LBT movie done by Charles Grosvenor this one already came up with some of the elements which I disliked about the animation and plots in Grosvenor's movies. With regard to the animation it would be the disregard for realistic colors so long they are extremely colorful (whereas the movies by Roy Alan Smith often had scenes with not so strong background colors which fitted a lot more to the slightly gloomy setting). The worst manifestation of this is in my opinion the over the top turning everything red in case of danger which we got to see in LBT V for the first time. As for plots I am refering to Grosvenor's carelessness about details (if he needs a tsunami to roll from the coast towards the open sea then it will be made so without any further questions) and a certain weakness for "deus ex machina" moments (in this case in the shape of Elsy).

The land before time VI - The Secret of Saurus Rock
Pro: Among those movies made by Grosvenor LBT 6 has not many major flaws. Others may think differently, but I didn't have an issue with Dinah and Dana for example (though they sure could have told a bit more about where they came from and what happened to Cera's mother). Those parts about the story which may be difficult to swallow (legend of the lone dinosaur, badluck etc.) are told in such a way that it is up to us to decide how much of it we buy. At the end of LBT 6 we are left to decide whether to think of Doc as "THE" lone dinosaur or just some lone dinosaur who happened to be at the right spot at the right time in the movie. I like the interaction between the gang members in this movie.
Con: While it didn't have any major flaws LBT 6 didn't seem to have any of the extremely powerful emotional scenes that I love so much about many other LBT movies either. The movie softened up the image of the Great Valley as the special location it used to be in the original movie for good: "This place is nice but there are others just as nice out there somewhere...". One thing which I cannot help but feel irritated about is the way Doc and Littlefoot's grandpa executed the unconscious sharpteeth by burying them alive while the gang was cheering as the carnivores were smashed and suffocated. Compared to the morals of the movies including Chomper this really didn't fit in. Had the sharpteeth been killed in the fight or if there had been any explanation for it (and in any case no cheering during the killing) it might have worked out, but the way it was done it really left an odd aftertaste.

The land before time VII - The Stone of Cold Fire
Pro: Inclusion of an interesting character, with an even more interesting background story reminding of the darker setting of the original movie.
Con: I got to admit that LBT 7 was the first LBT movie I had serious issues with right after watching it. While they did have some interesting ideas they barely bothered to lay them out to us. While the "mysteriousness" worked out in case of Doc and Littlefoot's enthusiasm for him the total vagueness about that "Stone of Cold Fire" didn't work out at all as far as I am concerned. We are never really told what exactly that thing is supposed to be and in the end we are told that what Littlefoot saw was not a Stone of Cold Fire anyway leaving out any explanation whatsoever on why that flying rock, as Littlefoot pointed out, had looked totally different from any others he had seen. Also, why on earth did the adults none of whom had seen it, make such a fuss about hearing that Littlefoot had seen an odd flying rock? It just didn't make any sense at all why the next day they would gang up to put Littlefoot before some kind of court of inquiry to basically tell him "YOU DIDN'T SEE THAT ROCK AND DON'T YOU DARE TO CONTRADICT!" Then out of nowhere came the rainbowfaces to mention that stone of cold fire nobody had ever heard about (why would they do it aware as they apparently were that whatever Littlefoot saw was NOT a stone of cold fire?). And what on earth that they said made Pterano who was sneaking up think that the stone of cold fire would make everyone do his bidding (Pterano's actual aims too remain very vague in spite of his song "Very important creature" being among the most informative and very characterizing songs throughout the entire series). The sudden secretiveness of Littlefoot about where the stone of Cold Fire landed made as little sense as the whole sent Petrie as a spy plot. It could have worked out splendidly if only they had bothered to provide a solid basis for the plot point. Unfortunately they continued to ignore sensibility with the plot. While right amidst unusually sound sleeping dinosaurs Pterano tells his plan Ducky overhears it all and is abducted as a consequence... WHY?
Why on earth did the flyers take Ducky along? From all we had seen and heard so far Pterano could have loudly announced to the whole Great Valley that he was going to get the stone of cold fire and most likely he would have earned no more than a collective shrug. Only by taking Ducky along for absolutely no reason did he get anyone interested at all. The plot continues to suffer from extreme weaknesses such as the implausibly slow flyers being unable to make it to threehorn peak long before the gang, the gang making it up to the top with the help of (deus ex machina) rainbowfaces and an extremely implausible "geysir elevator" after they had been in a cave with green lava (why was it green?). After finding out that there was nothing special at all about the stone they made it down from the mountain with a (deus ex machina) flyer conveniently and unrealistically large enough to carry Littlefoot, Cera and Spike who can just stand firm on that flyers back without any way to even cling to anything at all. The final departure of the rainbow faces in a Star Trek beam was just kicking the corpse in my opinion. Frankly, I think that a character as interesting as Pterano would have deserved to be put into a story that made any sense at all.

(Too late to continue now, but I may before long).

[Malte279]

The land before time VIII - The Big Freeze
Pro: The general plot idea doesn't have many great weaknesses. There are some very emotional scenes. There was a lot of potential for more.
Con: I always considered LBT 8 to be some good ideas very poorly realized. Unlike in case of LBT 7 I didn't have any major issues with the plot, but there seemed to be limited effort to make it good. I liked the focus on Ducky and Spike plot element, but they could have made a lot more from it. It really would have been a lot more powerful if they had made Tippy and actual character rather than a spiketail shaped teletubby. The coloring too had it odd moments (deep green sky, characters looking gray all of a sudden etc.). Also I think this was the first time we had a sharptooth who seemed to consist of slapstick only without any moments where it appeared really threatening. A movie that could have been great if only they had done a little more to make it great.

The land before time IX - Journey to Big Water
Pro: For me this one is the best of the sequels done by Charles Grosvenor, though it is difficult for me to pinpoint why. The song "No one has to be alone" ranks among my all time favorites from the series. There are some very powerful scenes such as Mo's presumed death and the talk of Littlefoot and Cera in the aftermath. It was in my opinion the last time we got an impressive sharptooth though one which seems to hardly do any effort to really go after the prey. Also the animation work in this one seemed better to me than in other LBT movies. They managed to integrate the photo realistic water rather well into the world of the movie whereas in other LBT movies the CGI stand out very distractingly from the rest.
Con: It always continues to astonish me how well the movie worked out in spite of the fact that the plot is extremely simple. The main plot is to get Mo back to the back to the big water and the resulting story consists mainly of rather random sequences of events on the journey.

[oogaboo]

I’ll briefly discuss what I feel about these movies.
TLBT – Pros: It’s original, perilous, and mature. This movie is not afraid to show the harsh realities of life.
Cons: Too short.

TLBT2 – Pros: Introduces an interesting scenario between a carnivore and an herbivore.
Cons: Loose continuity, change in tone of this movie compared to the original, weak “villains”, and unnecessary singing. There is no point of adding songs if it does not provide any impact into the actual story nor will it progress the plot. It is just a waste of time. Animation has taken a step down from the original.

TLBT3 – Pros: The peril factor picks up after the second and it has a decent battle scene against a bunch of raptors.
Cons: Incredibly slow in presentation and throughout. The bully as “villains” is a poor attempt to add conflict against the protagonists. Parents are, unfortunately dense than the children. I thought these adults were supposed to be wise…

TLBT4 – Pros: Atmosphere is somewhat similar to the original film, but not entirely. Good amount of emotion. Interesting characters. Good sense of teamwork.
Cons: Too many characters with little to no character development. Weak and incompetent villains. The potential in this movie could not be reached.

TLBT5 – Pros: Effort has been into this film. Chomper returns and seems to have grown compared to the rest of the gang. Decent songs.
Cons: Story is somewhat convoluted. Overuse of the red colors in the sky. The characters show more emotion than the sky itself. The sky is overacting. Perilous moments are quickly dissolved after many convenient moments. For example, where did Elsy come from?

TLBT6 – Pros: …Admiring a hero I guess?
Cons: Like the fourth film, we are introduced to characters that have little to no character development. Dinah, Danah and the lone dinosaur are plot devices to fill up this hour long “adventure.” This film has a very weak story and is not entertaining.  The peril factor is slowly going down.

TLBT7 – Pros: Very interesting villains. Decent character development in most characters.
Cons: Good ideas, bad execution. Lack of information about this meteorite and why it is the focus of the main characters. At this point, the gangs’ parents aren’t even parents anymore. They served no purpose, whatsoever. The story overall is confusing. Why was Ducky Duck-napped and why was there an extraterrestrial presence in this film?

TLBT8 – Pros: Decent development of Spike, finally. Introduction to perilous snowstorms. Decent cold atmosphere.
Cons: Another film with potential, but weak execution. Tippy is pointless and gender is somewhat undetermined for a child that may not know if  it is male or female due to its voice pitch and color scheme. These Sharpteeth are slowly, but surely becoming a joke the further these films go on.

TLBBT9 – Pros: Mo and big water. …that’s all I got. Okay, CGI animation was introduced.
Cons: This film is dragging its dinosaur-sized feet. Too many pointless fillers and it is incredibly boring. I thought the third film was slow, but this film takes the cake. The plot isn’t even inspiring. This film is tired. If you analyze certain shots and scenes, you will notice how slow the film actually is. Mo’s supposed death is passable.

TLBT10 – Pros: Decent animation compared to the last film. Certain characters were introduced quite well. Good sense of adventure. Dads are an important part of the family.
Cons: Bron’s appearance and the fact that he is Littlefoots father is vague and unnecessary.  The motives of these longnecks was pointless. Lack of logical reasoning for the longnecks ambitious adventure.

TLBT11 – Pros: Great voice actors. The colors have improved somewhat.
Cons: This film is the start of many things that should not be suppressed: maturity, character development, action, peril, emotion and entertainment. Where and why is there tiny dinosaurs?  Ver little effort was put into this film.

TLBT12 – Pros: …I can’t think of any.
Cons: Completely forgettable. The film is okay, but it is still forgettable.

TLBT13 – Pros: …
Cons: Why is Cuba Gooding Jr, one of my favorite actors a yellow belly? Why are their yellow bellies? Why is the quality of this film so bad? Why did the gang even tag along with these fools? This film is an epic fail.  

[Bruton the Iguanodon]

I'm going to so love doing this...but it may take a while.

[Almaron]

Me too...although I might need to have a refresher course of the films first!

Tippy is pointless and gender is somewhat undetermined for a child that may not know if it is male or female due to its voice pitch and color scheme.

Heh, that point even made it to TvTropes:
'DudeLooksLikeALady; People's first reaction to finding out Tippy from VIII is male was "So many Fan Fics suddenly got much, much gayer."'

[OllyDirectioner]

Original


Pros: Beautiful story, amazing animation, great score, and (generally) enjoyable for the whole family. The one that started it all. It's about overcoming obstacles, getting past prejudices, and most importantly: never giving up on your dreams.

Cons: It's about 20 minutes shorter than it SHOULD be. In fact, it's roughly the EXACT same length as Bambi, which I think is one reason why people call it the "dinosaur version of Bambi."


The Great Valley Adventure


Pros: It's a good follow-up to the original. It shows that the journey didn't have to end after the original feature.

Cons: While the first couple songs are okay, I hate Hate HATE "One Of Us Now!"   It gets stuck in my head, like most LBT songs, which are usually a guilty pleasure for me, but not that one. I used to love it, but now I just find it nonsensical and a bit annoying.


The Time of the Great Giving


Pros: This is actually a huge improvement to the second sequel, which while it wasn't horrible, it was a bit lackluster. This one has more drama than the second movie, almost near as good as the original.

Cons: I can't really think of many cons about this, other than the part where they scream "AAHHH!" is kind of annoying and pretty silly. But other than that, it's one of my favorite sequels.


Journey Through The Mists


Pros: I like the fact that they finally made a beloved character almost die from being sick. It adds an emotional twist to the story.

Cons: Like The Great Valley Adventure, it is a bit lackluster. Also, Grandma's Lullaby gets stuck in my head. >.<


The Mysterious Island


Pros: I like the fact that they finally made the dinosaurs leave the Great Valley and venture into the Mysterious Beyond for an extended period of time. Also, Chomper returns!  

Cons: It's a bit overrated I think. This is kind of my own fault, but I've seen it too many times.   Also, Chomper's parents would probably have eaten the gang in real life.


The Secret of Saurus Rock


Pros: I like the spookiness of it. Many people are bothered by it, but I think it's an interesting story.

Cons: Can't really think of any. Once again, another favorite of mine.


The Stone of Cold Fire


Pros: We finally get to learn a bit more about Petrie's family, particularly his uncle. Also, Rinkus and Sierra are an interesting duo. I also liked the animation style. I know alot of people didn't, but I did for some reason.

Cons: I know I spoke about being realistic when speaking about number 5, I kind of wish that the Stone would have actually been magic. It would have made the story more interesting.


The Big Freeze


Pros: Unusual weather, eh? I thought it was cool (literally   ) to finally see snow in the Great Valley, as well as the fact that the Great Valley itself is NOT perfect.

Cons: I thought the part where Spike falls under the ice at the end was kind of unnecessary. I mean, it was okay the first few times I watched it, but I think now that it seemed more like filler.


Journey to Big Water


Pros: We finally get to see some rain in the Great Valley. After watching Journey Through the Mists, I thought that the Great Valley NEVER got rain. Idk why   I always found the songs enjoyable, even the Imaginary Friends song. Petrie having a toothless sharptooth was actually kind of cute. The best song is No One Has To Be Alone though. The "Boring" song is good too.

Cons: OMG Where do I BEGIN??!?!??? This is one of my least favorite movies, 2nd least fave only to 13. First of all, I hate how Littlefoot called Mo his "best friend" after only knowing him for 10 minutes.   Also, while Mo can be cute at times, he is kind of annoying. I was annoyed most by the part where he pretended to die only to freak them out. In half of the movie, the voice acting is HORRIBLE!!!!!!   The sentence "We can figure something out" said by Littlefoot to Cera has always bothered me. Also, the part at the end when they are grieving over Mo. First of all, I thought it was dumb to assume that Mo was dead just because he was being chased. Then, their little pity party after they thought Mo died had some pretty horrible voice acting as well. The Big Water reprise always gets stuck in my head and I HATE it However, the thing about the movie that bothered me the MOST was the grasshoppers. That part was just stupid. They aren't SHARPTEETH FOR CRYING OUT LOUD!!!!!!!!!   There's PLENTY of bugs in the Great Valley I'm sure. One last thing, it's actually an error: In the closing credits, the "Boring" song is written out in some other language, which I never understood


The Great Longneck Migration


Pros: My ALL time favorite sequel! Even my LBT-hating sister thought it was funny at times. The best thing about this sequel is that it has a bit of continuity to the original feature, like the earthshake that separated Littlefoot from his grandparents. Also, I liked learning about Bron. Also, I like how Bron was called "Littlefoot" when he was younger, meaning that Littlefoot, while yes his name is cute for a YOUNG dinosaur, he won't have that name forever.   The sharptooth part followed by the "great circle" part was probably

Cons: The only thing that bothered me is that they didn't necessarily "Save the world" when all that really happened was a solar eclipse, but I guess that's because I already knew what a solar eclipse was when I saw this movie. Also, the fact that dreams are suddenly called "sleep stories" was kind of odd.


The Invasion of the Tinysauruses


Pros: I just LOOOOVE the tiny longnecks, especially Skitter! I've always just wanted to take home Skitter and keep him as a pet!!!!!!!   <3 I love him. His voice is adorable, and his name is cute too. I also like the story because the moral of the story is similar to the orignal as you should never judge someone because they are different, but this one is different in the fact that it means that you should never judge someone by their size. I also liked the whole Tria storyline. It finally showed the sweet side of Cera's father, or "Topsy." Tria was also a nice addition to the cast. There were quite a few LOL parts as well. It's the funniest movie in my opinion.

Cons: Nothing in this movie really bothered me. I thought it was pretty solid overall.


The Great Day of the Flyers


Pros: I loved the part where Mr. Threehorn/Topsy fell into the mud.   I also loved when Grandpa Longneck was like "I only wish Grandma could have seen it." I had no idea he had a sense of humor

Cons: I couldn't really find much to complain about here either.


The Wisdom of Friends


Pros: (as if there are any) But yes there are a few. This movie means well in trying to teach lessons, or "wisdoms". While it fails at that, there are a few funny parts, like when Cera says "Here's a wisdom for you: DON'T EVER WAKE ME UP AGAIN!!!!!!!"

Cons: Do I even need to say it? Just about EVERYTHING was wrong with this movie! Littlefoot has turned into a party pooper. The animation is terrible. The part where Grandma Longneck falls off the edge in Littlefoot's dream bothered me for some reason. The yellow-bellies, while comical at times (and even sometimes reminiscent of the FAR more awesome Dory in Finding Nemo), are just annoying. The stupidest part of the movie is when you see the silhouette of Grandma Longneck at the end and they thought she was a sharptooth. In my opinion, it SHOULD have been a sharptooth, with the adults coming to save the day. Probably would have saved me from hating it so much.


Well, there you have it!

[pokeplayer984]

Okay, since certain members here already pointed out most of the things I want to say, I will only do a few movies.  Plus, I will only do Pros for some and only Cons for others.  Note that this will only show things I want to add to stuff others have already stated.

The Land Before Time 2 - The Great Valley Adventure

Pro: Many often forget one little thing about this movie, (Or they never knew about it to begin with.) and it's that this movie sparked enough interest in LBT that it made us get 2 more sequels.  Remember, when 3 came out, it had a preview of 4.  This told us that the 4th movie was already being made.  Quite an accomplishment for a lackluster sequel, if you ask me.

The Land Before Time 10 - The Great Longneck Migration

Pros: BEST SONGS 4 A SEQUEL EVAR!!  Seriously, they are the only thing that keep me from completely hating this movie.

Cons: Oh boy!  Here we go!

In all honesty, I'm surprised that I liked this movie so much when I first watched it.  Really, there's a lot that kills this one.  The biggest being that Bron's backstory has a lot of plot holes.  Not to mention, when you really dig into it, it just makes him look bad all together.  Really, it seems to be something the writer put together just to get it out of the way, but I digress.  Still, bad backstory that doesn't work.

Tried my best to defend the fight scene, but at the end of the day, you can't ignore the fact that the way Shorty tripped a sharptooth is just illogical.  It's a wonder he's not flattened. :

On top of that, a weak plot and storyline.  I think they only made this one to try and give Littlefoot a "father figure" after so long.  However, couldn't Grandpa Longneck have been one, or was he just too old for the writers?

The Land Before Time 12 - The Great Day of the Flyers

Pros: Good enough to give us both 13 (Worst LBT movie ever!) and a TV Series.  Though what it gave us was very lacking, that's quite an accomplishment for a movie that we weren't even sure if it was going to be made at all.

Not to mention, has a good side-story of Cera becoming a step-sister.

Cons: Talk about a movie that missed a big opportunity in fleshing out the relationship between characters.  Let me present Ducky.

In the movie, you can tell that she wants to help her friend, Petrie, with his problem of being so nervous for his big day.  The reason she doesn't, is because the writers just shoved in a comedy-relief gliding lizard that has amnesia.  The reason for the amnesia is simply because they didn't want to give him a backstory.

I imagine if he wasn't in the movie, we would've gotten more information about what the real relationship is between Ducky and Petrie. (*sarcasm* Because us fans have been doing SUCH a good job of it ourselves. */sarcasm*) As I said, just a big missed opportunity.

Not to mention that sleep walking scene that goes on too long, was put in there just to shove in the "Sharptooth of the movie" for us.

Simply, stuff that was obviously just shoved in and missed a big opportunity that could've made it so much more.

I don't want to get into the others, so I'll stop with this.

That's all I have to say for now.

See ya later!

[StrutEggStealer]

I don't think I would have the patience for a project like this, but I liked the thoughts presented by the majority here
@Malte: you gave an interesting analysis - myself, Big Freeze has never been a favorite of mine; I found it so depressing, but I agree that it's powerfully emotional.
Journey to Big Water was also another favorite of mine, though as you said, it presented several simplicities :3
I'll be interested to hear your analysis of LBT 10

[Bruton the Iguanodon]

Alright...

Movie 1

Pro: Brilliant score, brilliant story, emotionally effecting, great use of browns, oranges and yellows being the main colors; very intense and dark, great characters, realistic portrayal of life, and all over all an amazing movie!
Cons: Too short! Having one character grow from a baby to a kid in 7 seconds. Unrealistic portrayal of hearing a dead character's voice (I'm sorry, I'm just not sure about that one). No explanation about Cera's mother or sisters or Petrie's dad. The narrator constantly saying things we can easily figure out.

Movie 2

Pro: Very enjoyable. Brings on a good kind of nostalgia. Not bad for a cheap direct to video product. Great score.
Con: The idea of making a sharptooth good feels questionable, since movie 1 taught us to hate them. Having one as a baby doesn't help. The songs, though quite listenable here, are questionable after movie 1. Without basing it on the first movie however, I can't think of anything, really.

Movie 3

Pro: This one is perfect.
Con: Nothing that stands out enough to smear it. Except...could be a little longer.


Movie 4

Pro: Much of the same as 2 and 3. Brings on a good kind of nostalgia. Has likeable characters, good songs, and (this goes as pro for all the movies) great settings. Great score, too.
Con: What could be emotional moments are downplayed. Would have been better if Littlefoot and Ali had been trapped together---yeah, you could say it wouldn't work, but the others were going to go after them anyways, so really it could.

Movie 5

Pro:

[Amaranthine]

Since I've wanted to rewatch the movies anyway, this will be a great thread to use as something of an encouragement to brain storm some ideas for future projects.

I'm tempted to post reviews in video or audio format, one, because it's actually quicker for me to speak it on a recording than write everything down, and two, I'd like to make use of my youtube channel.

[Bruton the Iguanodon]

That's a good idea. I'd like to do that, too.

[Daddytops2009]

I was Ulrik way back then.

Criticism of land before time movies
September 12, 2002 by Guest in the land before time forum
Hi Ulrik!
What is it you don't like about the third land before time movie?
I think that it is a good discussion topic for everybody here: Was there any land before time movie you didn't like so much? Or anything special you want to criticise about an LBT movie even if you liked it generally?

I for my part was not so enthusiastically about the seventh land before time movie for although it had some really good ideas I didn't like several elements that didn't really seem to fit in the land before time as far as I sensed it. Although the rainbowfaces were interesting characters I thought that they should have been a bit more mysterious than they are in the end. I also didn't like some other elements in the movie. Although we are accustomed to saurianshaped rocks from the other land before time movies (the rock that looks like a longneck in the first and saurus rock in the sixth movie) "Threehornpeak" looked a bit exaggerated and unrealistic for my taste and some of the lava in the caves at its base was green, certainly not the color lava is supposed to have. The way they came to the top of threehornpeak was also a bit too extraordinary for my taste and also the central theme, the stone of cold fire, seemed to be a stopgap because the story-writers didn't have any new ideas that could be realized within the limits that had been in the previous LBT storys. Of course all that criticism is only my opinion and I would gladly discuss with somebody who does not share this view.

[Dino-Mario]

LBT Franchise pros:The great music,the vast diversity of mesozoic animals and the wonderful scenarios

Con:The most recent movies (except X)