Released in 1988, Don Bluth’s “The Land Before Time” – besides being the first movie I ever saw on VHS – becomes the third film in this year’s ‘Animated April.”
While the film preceded a number of sequels, this first film, featuring now-dated animation and a short run-time, had a better emotional element and scope than some of its more fun predecessors. The film is rated G (clearly aimed at children), is trying and sad through most of the movie, but resolves in a nice way that should please adults watching the film as well.
Don Bluth, (a chief animator for Disney after Walt Disney’s death), is no stranger to animation, and it shows here. He also brings in several effective elements to make this film – clearly a kids’ film – more poignant and morose than one might expect. For instance, there’s the film’s narration by Pat Hingle (Commissioner Gordon in 1989’s “Batman”), and the fact that Hingle’s facial features are inserted into a later character the main characters encounter.
There’s also the scope of the film – set millions of years ago in the time where dinosaurs ruled the Earth – that Bluth casts in tepid depression. A period of starvation has befallen the dinosaurs (mostly the herbivorous ones), who find themselves faced with a lack of plants to eat and hungry carnivores to contend with (the most notorious a T-Rex named “Sharptooth”). A cataclysmic earthquake and and other family-separating events pit a group of young dinosaurs alone against the world, where they must find their way to the ‘Great Valley,’ a place where food is purported to be in great abundance, and reunite with their families.
The opening scenes of the film are doused with dark colors and doleful music, and the film is all the better for it. While the film’s main characters (Littlefoot, Cera, Petrie, Duckie, and Spike) are cute, much of the film is not, and shows us its serious side right off the bat. Of course, it helps that the musical score is done by James Horner, who ads to the film in sound what Bluth has done in visuals.
The theme music of the movie is solemn at times and dangerous, peaceful, or dramatic when it needs to be. And the end song, “If We Hold on Together” sung by Diana Ross, is a uplifting and nice way to end the movie.
Story-wise, “The Land Before Time” holds up, even if it is simple in its execution. For instance, the bonding that the group undergoes as they attempt to reach ‘The Great Valley’ is par with other buddy comedy/dramas, and the constant run-ins with Sharptooth make for an above-average story.
Some of the nicer scenes involve Littlefoot (the de facto hero of the story), forging an alliance with the others, or trying to rescue one or the other from peril along the way. Also, the film follows the standard buddy drama motif: one-by-one additional allies are found by the group that become inseparable parts of the movie as it progresses.
The film also ads some additional elements, such as a terse grudge between Littlefoot and Cera (a stubborn Triceratops), even if it is only set up to resolve at the end. “The Land Before Time” is at heart a coming of age and survival story, and the film is well done in this regard.
The production elements of this film are extremely well done, even if the animation looks a little dated by today’s standards. The animation looks more cartoonish (something similar to the 1986 film “An American Tail,” and not the animation giant of today’s Pixar films such as “Monsters, Inc.”). Additionally, one could complain about the run-time of 69 minutes, but it really doesn’t do the film any harm. Kids will surely feel as if it’s the perfect length (and busy parents might also feel the same).
“The Land Before Time” is basically a solid film. It features drama, action, and emotion, is acted wonderfully by its voice actors, and has a decent plot and progression. It’s visuals wont bring you to “Avatar”-esque heights, but that’s okay. This is cute film whose characters act much older than they appear. A painless way to spend an hour with some nice take-a-ways to boot.
