The Land Before Time

The Land Before Time not only succeeds in being the best animated dinosaur movies ever made, but also manages to be another brilliant film in the line-up of the great animation director, Don Bluth. While Dinosaur films have become a dime a dozen in more recent years and with the advent of films like Jurassic Park picking up a new personality and narrative that they can follow (which even then was repeated over and over again), most dinosaur-based films nowadays follow a similar pattern in storytelling to this film and has yet to create one as strong as it even years later. In prehistoric earth when dinosaurs ruled the earth, the film follows Littlefoot (voiced by Gabriel Damon), a newborn longneck who after a frightening attack by a T-Rex is separated from the rest of his family and loses his mother to said attack. After an earthquake shatters the ground beneath them, Littlefoot, as well as several other children are separated from their parents on the way to The Great Valley, a safe haven for non-carnivorous dinosaurs where T-Rex’s (or sharpteeth as they are called in this world) can’t reach them. Eventually, Littlefoot comes across the other lost dinosaur kids, which include a three-horn named Cera (voiced by Candace Hutson), a swimmer named Ducky (voiced by Judith Barsi), a flyer named Petrie (voiced by Will Ryan), and a non-talking spike-tailed named Spike. Even though each were told to stick with their own kind, and some find that they have trouble working together (particularly Cera and Littlefoot), all of them decide to stay together and form their own herd so that they can find The Great Valley and reunite with their families, all the while being stalked by the same Sharptooth that killed Littlefoot’s mother. Led by an animation legend, and feature executive producing credits from people of an equal pedigree like Steven Spielberg, George Lucas, Kathleen Kennedy and Frank Marshall, this film set the standards for dinosaur travelling movies to beat and has even to this day, never been topped in terms of quality, timelessness, and pure engrossment in this bygone era. It balances the fun uplifting magic of watching dinosaurs on-screen with the harsh realities of survival, death and overcoming disturbing struggles in order to reach your goals, made even more effective through the lens of children. With its likeable characters, breathtaking animation, simple yet engaging story, charming morals, and timeless feel, it succeeds in being a brilliant, animated film that never gets old.

The set-up created by story writers Judy Freudberg and Tony Geiss, around following young dinosaurs traversing a harsh landscape in order to find their home and escape the dangers of being eaten was relatively new for the time and is presented in a manner that is very digestible for younger audiences but has enough atmosphere and mature pacing so that audiences can appreciate it as well. It has a very easy-to-understand motive and goal for all the characters to achieve and due to the more mature nature of the time-period, narrative, and even to some extent the characters, it doesn’t waste time on usual kids’ film tropes and is instead solely focused on this one goal, leaving no room for lame kids’ film cliches. It’s almost like a road-trip movie where the characters come across little diversion on the way to their end-goal, but each moment impacts them in a meaningful way and it always carries this worrying sense of dread around every moment, like something bad could happen if they stay calm for too long. The film has a grand mystical feel throughout, being able to watch the majesty of the prehistoric era feels fresh and unique even for movies of today’s era, and they capture this magical way of seeing dinosaurs through the film’s emotion-driven narrative, its wide-eyed yet realistic feeling characters, it’s almost spiritual atmosphere, and its breathtaking visuals. The film does have awkward transitions between scenes, often jumping ahead in time with no establishment, but it’s more of a mild confusion than an actual issue. The film has a fair amount of heart and goofy child-like moments, but always has an underlining dark tone throughout that Don Bluth films are known for, with his other examples like An American Tail and The Secret of Nimh being prime contenders of that. When it is isn’t being charming and sweet, it feels like a race against death at every turn. The happy ending is earned instead of delivered because of the gritty realism and scarier moments the movie features heavily throughout, making it all the more joyful when they reach said goal. It went to extremes that even Disney at the time didn’t do, including a death scene that is given ample time to sink in. The film is completely timeless, being able to watch it at any time and not feel a specific generation. The drawing style, animation and tone may feel very much like an 80s product, but the characters, writing and atmosphere never feel dated, and it can appeal to both children and adults, with elements to suck in both.

All these characters are likeable, memorable, and relatable. Each has an element of childhood that everyone can identify with and each one acts the way average children would act. They all have childish attitudes and speak like prideful kids, but some have harsh mean-spirited words that do reflect ways kids argue and fight. Cera can be bratty, and Littlefoot can be stubborn but neither come off as annoying because they feel like genuine kids and act their appropriate age. All of them have distinct personalities, designs, colors, and motivations and the five do have a good comradery about them and feels believable when they all come together. Considering that the story set up this idea of ”staying with your own kind”, this could’ve easily turned into a preachy message-based story, but the film never feels like that, and it just gets across its message easier by just presenting it in a believable way. The voice acting in this film is pitch perfect, every role is performed amazingly, and it feels 100% realistic. All the kid actors are very good, each one hits the perfect emotion and tone for every scene and the adults capture a rugged gruffness to their voices that come across as wise and mature, feeling very mythical and almost spiritual. The dialogue handled by screenwriter Stu Krieger is very casual and feels much like how kids talk, but it has an adult edge that makes it more realistic and engaging. The made-up words for common objects in the current world like the dinosaur names, tree stars for leaves and the bright circle for the sun gives the film its own identity and innocence that is childish, but the established characters and world they inhabited made it fit in much easier. This could again become incredibly irritating and feel like it’s pandering to its audience, but through its delivery, it never comes across as demeaning and more like its portraying a window into how others could interpret something outside of our viewpoint, it works out quite well.

The animation is classic Don Bluth animation, and it looks unbelievable. The style matches with the time period with bleak colors, saturated lighting, and strong defined lines. The films glows with beautifully flowing movements and expressions, giving a lot of personality without much dialogue and allows for plenty of powerful moments that don’t require words to get that across. With the backgrounds being much darker featuring colors like browns, blues, and blacks, not only does that make the environment seem that much more desolate and the dangers more uncertain, but the characters pop much more because of their strong brightly coloured designs. The colors always matched the tone and mood of the scene that it’s in, when it’s dark and sad, it has harsh shadows, dark colors, and moody lighting, but when it’s an uplifting scene, the lighting turns golden, the colors are amazingly vibrant, and the sceneries are outstanding. At times they can reuse animation which can be a hint odd, but it’s very minimal and not very distracting. The music done by James Horner truly captures the size and weight to this story and produces a powerful memorable score. The score does repeat and is reused even in the film’s non-connected sequels, but every piece has a distinct tone and gives a lot of scenes a great deal of atmosphere and importance. It illustrates the grandiose nature of the dinosaur period, capturing both the wonder and fear but the simple beauty of this prehistoric era.

The Land Before Time is a staple of dinosaur travel stories and it’s portrayed in the best possible way. The characters are incredibly distinct and enjoyable as well as realistically portrayed, the animation is gorgeous and beautifully composed, the story is easy to understand and lends its way to several great scenes, it’s perfectly dark in areas and positive in others, the music is incredibly epic and cinematic, the writing is charming and unique, and it can be viewed at any time without getting old. It captures the fears and uncertainties of childhood, but always remembers to show the light at the end of the tunnel after all the turmoil’s life throws at them. It’s truly an exceptionally crafted, beautifully endearing film that is complete worth the time.