The Land Before Time (film)

This article is about the 1988 film. For the series in general, see The Land Before Time (series).

The Land Before Time
File:Landtime.jpg Theatrical release poster
Directed by	Don Bluth
Written by	Story: Judy Freudberg Tony Geiss Screenplay: Stu Krieger
Produced by	Don Bluth Gary Goldman John Pomeroy Executive Producers: Steven Spielberg Kathleen Kennedy Frank Marshall George Lucas
Starring	Gabriel Damon Candace Hutson Judith Barsi Will Ryan Pat Hingle Helen Shaver Burke Byrnes Bill Erwin Frank Welker
Narrated by	Pat Hingle
Edited by	John K. Carr Dan Molina
Music by	James Horner
Production companies	Amblin Entertainment Sullivan Bluth Studios Lucasfilm
Distributed by	Universal Studios
Release date	November 18, 1988 (1988-11-18)
Running time	69 minutes
Country	United States
Language	English
Budget	USD$12.3 million (estimated)
Box office	USD$84,460,846 (worldwide)

The Land Before Time is a 1988 American animated film directed and co-produced by Don Bluth (with production based around his Ireland-based studio), and executive-produced by Steven Spielberg and George Lucas. Originally released by Universal Studios and Spielberg's Amblin Entertainment, it features anthropomorphic dinosaurs living in a somewhat fantasy-based version of prehistoric earth. The plot concerns a young Longneck (Apatosaurus) named Littlefoot, voiced by Gabriel Damon, who is orphaned when his mother is killed by a Sharptooth (Tyrannosaurus Rex). Littlefoot flees famine and upheaval to search for the "Great Valley", an area which has been spared devastation. On his journey, he meets four young companions: Cera, a Three-Horn (Triceratops); Ducky, a Swimmer (Saurolophus); Petrie, a Flyer (Pteranodon); and Spike, a Spike-Tail (Stegosaurus). The film explores issues of prejudice between the different species and the hardships they endure in their journey as they are guided by the spirit of Littlefoot's mother. This was the only Don Bluth film in the 80s in which Dom DeLuise did not star.

The film was a critical and financial success and spawned a multi-million dollar franchise with twelve direct-to-video sequels (without association with Bluth, Spielberg, or Lucas) as well as merchandise (toys, video games, etc.) and a television series.

Plot

A drought is occurring and some dinosaurs are heading to the "Great Valley", an area with lots of leaves. A "Longneck" (Apatosaurus) herd gives birth to a single baby, named Littlefoot (Gabriel Damon). Cera (Candace Hutson), a "Three-horn" (Triceratops), plays with Littlefoot for a while until a "Sharptooth" (Tyrannosaurus Rex) attacks. During their escape, Littlefoot accidentally blinds the Sharptooth in one eye with a thorn. Littlefoot's mother (Helen Shaver) intervenes, battling with the Sharptooth and suffering severe injuries, but managing to defeat him by pushing him into a deep chasm. At the same time, an "earthshake" (earthquake) occurs, opening a deep ravine in the ground, which swallows up the Sharptooth and a great deal of other dinosaurs, and separates many herds, including Littlefoot's and Cera's. Littlefoot finds his mother when the earthquake ends, but she is mortally wounded, and near death. Before dying, she tells Littlefoot that she will be with him and gives him instructions on how to get to the Great Valley. She instructs him to follow the "bright circle" (sun) past the "great rock that looks like a longneck" and then past the "mountains that burn" (volcano).

Cera finds the Sharptooth's body, and thinking him to be dead, pokes fun at him until he awakens, having only been in a coma, causing Cera to flee in terror. Littlefoot meets a "Bigmouth" (Saurolophus) named Ducky (Judith Barsi), who asks to join him. As they travel, and try to find food along the way, they encounter an aerophobic "Flyer" (Pteranodon) named Petrie (Will Ryan), who joins them on their quest. Cera bumps into them and warns them of Sharptooth, but Littlefoot does not believe her, since he is convinced that Sharptooth is dead. As Cera describes the encounter (exaggerating her bravery), she accidentally flings Ducky near a patch of grass, which has a hatching egg containing a baby "Spiketail" (Stegosaurus). Ducky names him Spike and brings him into their group.

The Sharptooth attacks them in the morning, but they escape through a cave-tunnel too small to admit him, and discover the Longneck-shaped monolith mentioned by Littlefoot's mother. Although they pass other landmarks she mentioned, such as a string of volcanoes, Cera grows impatient as the search begins to yield no results. She quarrels with Littlefoot, causing a schism in the little herd. Littlefoot continues in the direction he was told, while the others follow Cera, who goes another way. As Ducky, Spike and Petrie fall into danger involving a lava barrier and a tar pit, Littlefoot comes and rescues them. They find Cera being harassed by a pack of Pachycephalosaurus, and, having been coated in tar, scare them away. Ashamed and humiliated, Cera, still unwilling to admit that she had gone the wrong way, goes off to be alone.

Later, while frolicking in a pool of water, Littlefoot and his friends spot Sharptooth off in the distance. Surmising that Sharptooth cannot swim, Littlefoot formulates a strategy to defeat the carnivore by luring him into the deep end of the pond, using Ducky as bait, so that he and Spike can use large rock on top of a nearby cliff to force him into the water. The plan nearly fails when Sharptooth leaps on top of the boulder, until Cera rejoins the group, allowing Littlefoot and his friends to push both Sharptooth and the boulder off the cliff and into the water below. Sharptooth nearly drags Petrie down with him, but Petrie manages to escape.

Littlefoot then follows a cloud that looks and sounds like his mother. Her cloud leads him to the Great Valley, where the children's surviving relatives are already settled. Littlefoot calls to his friends, and tells them they have found the Great Valley. Petrie and Ducky rejoin their families, and Ducky's family adopts Spike. Cera reunites with her father, and Littlefoot joins his grandparents. The friends happily run around, and splash in the rivers. The group then races to the top of a hill and they hold each other up.

Cast

File:TheLandBeforeTimeScreen.jpg

Littlefoot, Cera, Ducky, Petrie & Spike Together

• Gabriel Damon as Littlefoot, a baby Apatosaurus who is one of the film's protagonists. Littlefoot is young, impressionable, but brave and a born "Long Neck" leader. Guiding his new found friends to the Great Valley, very little can upset his optimism. Still hurting over the loss of his mother, he uses her memory to keep going.
• Candace Hutson as Cera, a Triceratops one of Littlefoot's companions and one of the film's protagonists. She is short tempered and as stubborn as her father is. When she is separated from him during the great earthquake, Cera is pitted for the first time against her hidden, frightened side. She often tries to bully her way through the others, but eventually softens and learns to care more for her friends than she does for herself.
• Judith Barsi as Ducky, a Saurolophus and another of Littlefoot's companions. A "Bigmouth" whose optimism is only overshadowed by her enjoyment of a good swim. Her quoted phrase is "Yep, yep, yep!" which usually follows a positive statement. When saddened she is known to otherwise say "Nope, nope, nope." in a very unenthusiastic way. She becomes Spike's "big" sister when her family adopts him.
• Will Ryan as Petrie, a Pteranodon who is aerophobic. Petrie is a timid, somewhat cowardly character. Afraid of heights, and in fact being incapable of flying, he prefers to spend his time on the back's of one of his friends rather than walking at his/her side. He eventually learns to fly and, with this power of flight, he develops a new bravery, which he uses to defend his friends in ways of which he never thought he was capable.
• Pat Hingle as the Narrator and Rooter, an old but friendly Sauropelta.
• Helen Shaver as Littlefoot's Mother, an adult Apatosaurus who is killed by Sharptooth (Tyrannosaurus Rex), though she helps Littlefoot reach the Great Valley in spirit form.
• Burke Byrnes as Daddy Topps, Cera's father, who says "Threehorns never play with Longnecks."
• Bill Erwin as Grandfather, Littlefoot's maternal grandfather.
• Frank Welker as Sharptooth, a Tyrannosaurus Rex and the main antagonist of the film. He kills Littlefoot's mother during the early stages of the film. He has a brutal and determined nature, pursuing the protagonists during their journey to the Great Valley. He becomes (unintentionally) blinded in his right eye by Littlefoot in their initial encounter (though it is sometimes seen open in close ups.)
  • Domeheads, a Pachycephalosaurus pack that chases Cera and serves as minor antagonists.
  • Spike, a Stegosaurus who is always hungry and became a younger, but big brother of Ducky's. Sometimes people mistake him as a Gastonia.

Development and production

An early working title for the film was "The Land Before Time Began". Steven Spielberg and George Lucas originally wanted the film to have no dialogue, like The Rite of Spring sequence in Fantasia, but the idea was abandoned in favor of using voice actors in order to appeal to children. The film was originally planned for release in fall of 1987, but the production and the release date were delayed by a year due to the relocation of Sullivan Bluth Studios to Dublin, Ireland.

Editing

Throughout production, The Land Before Time went under a severe cutting and editing of footage. Steven Spielberg and George Lucas thought that some scenes in the movie would appear too frightening or could even cause psychological damage to young children. About 10 minutes of footage, a total of 19 fully animated scenes, were cut from the final film, to attain a G rating instead of a PG rating. Much of the cut footage consisted of the Tyrannosaurus Rex attack sequence and sequences of the five young dinosaurs in severe situations of peril and stress. Some scenes with the characters in the movie screaming had to be revoiced using milder exclamations by voice over artist and singer Lucy Mitchell. It was felt this would be more suitable for young children. Though Don Bluth was unhappy with the cuts, and fought for all the footage, he had to settle on a final running time of 69 minutes, one of his shortest. However, the uncut version has aired at least in Finnish television in the years 1995 and 1998, by mtvmedia. This means that the uncut version still exists somewhere, though Bluth has stated that the original elements were possibly destroyed.

The sequence of Littlefoot's mother's death was also going to be eliminated; however, it was thought that if the scene were removed it would complicate explaining why Littlefoot had to journey to the Great Valley alone. The scene was shown to psychologists who gave their feedback to the production team. The character of Rooter was added to the story to soften the emotional blow, and teach Littlefoot and the audience that even after loved ones die, they are always with us in the lessons we have learned from them. However, brief portions of the scene which involved the mother's neck and back being bitten have since been edited out of home video releases and television airings, though this footage was present both in the theatrical cut and on earlier VHS copies of the film.

Later editing of the film was presumably done to bring the tone closer to that of the nonviolent and child-friendly sequels and television series that the franchise has become known for.

Soundtrack

The theme song "If We Hold On Together" was sung by Diana Ross, and became a successful single. It reached #1 in Japan.

The soundtrack was released on November 21, 1988.

Track listing

1. "The Great Migration"
2. "Sharptooth and the Earthquake"
3. "Whispering Winds"
4. "If We Hold On Together"
5. "Foraging For Food"
6. "The Rescue/Discovery of the Great Valley"
7. "End Credits"

Reception

The film was a box office success, grossing $48 million, as well as beating the Disney film, Oliver & Company, which was released on the same day, for the #1 spot during its opening weekend. It brought in a box office total of nearly $50 million during its domestic release, slightly more than Don Bluth's previous film, An American Tail. The movie became a hit worldwide, and while Oliver & Company had grossed over its domestic earnings, The Land Before Time grossed nearly $84 million worldwide, which the Disney film did not surpass. Siskel & Ebert gave The Land Before Time "two thumbs up". Gene Siskel gave Oliver & Company a "thumbs down".

At the film review site Rotten Tomatoes it holds a 71% Certified "Fresh" from critics while the movie's fans gave it a higher score of 85% Certified "Fresh".

A review in the Motion Picture Guide 1989 Annual notes that the film "has been called a sort of prehistoric Bambi", and considers it to be more in the style of a classic Disney film than Oliver and Company.

Analysis

In Children’s Films: History, Ideology, Pedagogy, Theory, Ian Wojcik-Andrews sees Littlefoot as a prophet and religious leader guiding the other characters to a garden of Eden. Andrews also notes relatively common children's film motifs such as how Littlefoot and Cera become surrogate parents to the others.

Legacy

Main articles: The Land Before Time (series) and The Land Before Time (TV series)

The film generated many direct-to-video sequels. Currently there are 12 sequels in circulation. The sequels depart from the style of the original significantly by adding "sing-a-long" musical numbers akin to Disney animated films, and toning down the intensity seen in the original film. Don Bluth and his animation studio have no affiliation with any of the film's sequels.

A 2007 television series was released in North America. It follows the style of the sequels in terms of the morality and the musical numbers (with some of the songs being shortened, reworked versions of songs from the sequels).

External links

• Official website
• The Land Before Time at IMDb
• The Land Before Time at AllMovie
• The Land Before Time at Box Office Mojo
• The Land Before Time at Rotten Tomatoes