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
Directed by	Don Bluth
Written by	Judy Freudberg (story) Tony Geiss (story) Stu Krieger (screenplay)
Produced by	Don Bluth Gary Goldman Kathleen Kennedy George Lucas Frank Marshall John Pomeroy Steven Spielberg
Starring	Gabriel Damon Candace Hutson Judith Barsi Will Ryan Pat Hingle Helen Shaver Burke Byrnes Bill Erwin
Narrated by	Pat Hingle
Edited by	John K. Carr Dan Molina
Music by	James Horner
Distributed by	Universal Pictures
Release dates	November 18, 1988 September 7, 1989
Running time	69 minutes
Country	United States
Language	English
Budget	USD$12,300,000 (estimated)
Box office	USD$84,460,846 (worldwide)

Template:Infobox movie certificates The Land Before Time is an animated film, produced by Steven Spielberg's Amblin Entertainment, and directed by Don Bluth. It was originally released in movie theaters in 1988 by Universal Pictures. It features anthropomorphic dinosaurs living in a somewhat fantasy-based version of prehistoric earth.

The film's plot concerns a young Apatosaurus named Littlefoot who becomes orphaned after the death of his mother, caused from injuries suffered while battling an antagonistic Tyrannosaurus ("Sharptooth") and the effects of an earthquake. Littlefoot flees famine and upheaval to search for the "Great Valley", an area which has been spared devastation. During his journey, he encounters four young companions: Cera, a Triceratops; Ducky, a Parasaurolophus; Petrie, a Pteranodon; and Spike, a 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.

The film was a critical and financial success and spawned numerous sequels, merchandise, and a TV series.

Plot synopsis

The film opens with an underwater scene of fish swimming with other creatures. The narrator explains that there is a drought, and the dinosaurs are heading west for the Great Valley. During a storm, Littlefoot (an apatosaurus) is born from a last lonely egg. He is then protected by his mother, grandmother, and grandfather... all that remains of his herd.

When Littlefoot is older, his mother explains that the land is changing, and that they much reach the Great Valley. She gives him a single tree star as a gift. Later, Littlefoot encounters Cera (a triceratops). She chases an insect, which sprays her in the face. Littlefoot laughs, which angers Cera. But Cera's father interrupts, saying that "Threehorns never play with Long Necks." Littlefoot's mother explains every species keeps to itself, but reassures Littlefoot that there will be other Longnecks in the Great Valley for him to play with.

That night, Littlefoot is awoken by a "hopper" (frog). He chases it through a cave and meets Cera. They are attacked by Sharptooth (Tyrannosaurus rex). They hide in a thorny growth, and Sharptooth crawls on his belly after them. Littlefoot gets caught in some thorny vines and as he breaks free, it snaps back accidentally strikes Sharptooth in his right eye, blinding him. Sharptooth leaps after them, but Littlefoot's mother arrives and engages the carnivore. Sharptooth and Littlefoot's Mother trade blows as an earthquake erupts around them, and she is seriously injured when Sharptooth leaps on her back and rips out a tract of flesh with his jaws. However, she manages to rescue Littlefoot and Cera, casting the meat eater into a deep ravine opened up by the earthquake.

After the earthquake, many herds and families are separated. On a rainy night, Littlefoot calls for his mother. He finds her lying on her side, suffering from her injury. Too weak to get up and close to death, she asks Littlefoot if he remembers the way to the Great Valley, and reassures him that she'll always be with him, even if he can't see him, and then dies.

The next day, Littlefoot, sad, angry, and confused, slides down a ravine and falls on an armoured dinosaur named Rooter. He explains that his mother's death was nobody's fault. A pterosaur offers Littlefoot a cherry, but he's to upset to notice his hunger. Later, as he crosses a desert, a gold light shines upon him. When Littlefoot peers into his reflection, he hears her voice telling him where the great valley is. He understands, and leaves the desert. He finds Cera and asks her to join him. She refuses and slides down a chasm.

Littlefoot is greeted by Ducky (a baby Parasaurolophus, also separated from her family) at a lake. Littlefoot says that longnecks don’t speak to other species, so Ducky pretends to be a Longneck. The two journey together. When Littlefoot tries to eat a raw tree, Petrie the Pterodactyl, who is unable to fly, falls.

Meanwhile, Cera, while exploring the "big underground", encounters Sharptooth, on his back and comatose. Believing him to be dead, she charges at him mischievously. However, her badgering awakens the Tyrannosaur, who slowly rises to his feet as Cera runs off.

Later, Littlefoot tries to force Petrie to fly. They find Cera, but Littlefoot dismisses her warnings about Sharptooth. Cera, while describing her encounter (embellishing the story to make herself appear less cowardly) accidentally flings Ducky into a patch of grass, where she meets a hungry stegosaurus hatchling whom she names Spike.

That night, Littlefoot settles down by himself, but soon Ducky and the others (even Cera) huddle with him for warmth. In the morning his treestar is crushed when Sharptooth attacks. They escape through a mountain cave, and emerge next to a rock shaped like a longneck. Littlefoot believes they are going the right way. Soon, ash falls from the sky, and they come to a volcanic wasteland. Exhausted, Cera opts for an easier path, and Littlefoot attacks her after she utters a specisist slur at his mother's expense. The two fight, and Littlefoot leaves the group, but he goes back to save Spike, Petrie and Ducky from a tar pit.

Meanwhile, Cera is being terrorized by a group of aggressive Pachycephalosaurs. Littlefoot, Spike, Petrie and Ducky arrive, stuck to eachother, covered in tar and and resembling a huge monster, frightening Cera and the Pachycephalosaurs. The Pachecephalosaurs run away, and Cera, ashamed and embarassed about leading her friends into danger, runs away.

Later on, as Littlefoot, Spike, Ducky and Petrie are frolicking in a pond, they spot Sharptooth in the distance. In order to stop him once and for all, Littlefoot formulates a plan to use Ducky as bait to lure him into the deep end of the pond, hoping to drown him by dropping a large rock on the edge of a nearby cliff onto his head. Ducky succeeds in luring Sharptooth, but Littlefoot and Spike are not strong enough to move the rock. Ducky and Petrie attempt to keep him distracted, but Sharptooth notices the trap and leaps on top of the rock. Balanced precariously on the edge, he snaps at them, but in the nick of time, Cera arrives. She crashes into the rock, knocking it off balance just enough to send it and Sharptooth over the cliff and into the pond. Sharptooth attempts to drag Petrie down with him, but Petrie manages to escape by a narrow margin, to Ducky's relief.

After the battle, Littlefoot is on the ledge of a mountain, lamenting at his inability to find the valley, when his mother's soul appears in the form of a sauropod shaped cloud. He yells for her not to go, but as she dissipates she leads him through a cave and onto a cliff, where her soul shines a light that reveals the Great Valley. Littlefoot returns for the others, and they rejoin their relatives and live in peace for generations.

Voice cast

English voice cast

• Gabriel Damon .... Littlefoot
• Candace Hutson .... Cera
• Judith Barsi .... Ducky
• Will Ryan .... Petrie
• Pat Hingle .... Narrator/Rooter
• Helen Shaver .... Littlefoot's Mother
• Burke Byrnes .... Daddy Topps
• Bill Erwin .... Grandfather

Crew

• Directed by Don Bluth
• Story by Judy Freudberg and Tony Geiss
• Screenplay by Stu Krieger
• Executive producers Steven Spielberg and George Lucas
• Music by James Horner
• Music performance by the London Symphony Orchestra
• If We Hold On Together performed by Diana Ross

Box office

The film was a box office success, grossing $48 million, as well as beating the Disney film Oliver & Company for the Number 1 spot during its opening weekend. It has since brought in a box office total of nearly $50 million during its domestic release, more than Don Bluth's previous film, An American Tail. The movie became a hit worldwide, grossing nearly $84 million worldwide, which Oliver & Company did not surpass.

Sequels and spin-offs

Main article: The Land Before Time (series)

The movie generated many direct-to-video sequels. The sequels depart from the style of the original significantly by adding "sing-a-long" musical numbers akin to Disney animated films and more transparent lessons of morality.

Don Bluth and his animation studio have no affiliation with any of the film's sequels.

A recent Television series has been released in North America, and like the sequels, contain lessons on morality, and new less than two minute songs, plus short remakes of songs from the previous movies.

Editing of the film

Like Disney's The Black Cauldron, which was made three years earlier, and Warner Bros./Zoetrope's The Outsiders, which was made five years early and starred Matt Dillon, Ralph Macchio, and C. Thomas Howell, 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. Around 10 minutes of footage, a total of 19 fully animated scenes, were cut from the final film. A lot of the cut footage consisted of the Tyrannosaurus rex attack sequence and sequences of the five young dinosaurs in severe situations of peril and negative stress. Don Bluth was unhappy with the cuts, and fought for the footage, but in the end he had to settle on a final running time of 69 minutes, one of Don Bluth’s shortest; in fact one of the shortest feature films ever produced (depending on how "feature film" is defined).

As of today, the original cut of the film with the removed scenes has not been released on video or DVD. In fact what actually happens in the scenes is not known because Don Bluth says that the scenes have been thrown away.

Another part of the movie that was going to be eliminated was the death of Littlefoot’s mother. However, it was thought that if the scene were removed it would simply produce problems in explaining why Littlefoot had to journey to the Great Valley alone. In the end, psychologists were shown the scene and gave feedback to the production team. The character of Rooter was brought in to the story to soften the emotional blow, and teach Littlefoot and the audience that although loved ones may die, they are always with us in the lessons we have learned from them.

Some scenes with the characters in the movie screaming were revoiced with them having milder exclamations.

Production notes

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. It was George Lucas's idea to make Cera a girl.

The end credits for the film featured the hit song "If We Hold On Together" by Diana Ross, the only lyrical song in the original film.

Animation Production took place at Sullivan Bluth Studios in Dublin, Ireland. <object width="425" height="355"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/mAK42zZQDX8&rel=1"></param><param name="wmode" value="transparent"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/mAK42zZQDX8&rel=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" wmode="transparent" width="425" height="355"></embed></object> video of ending of land before time

External links

• The Official Land Before Time Site
• The Land Before Time at IMDb
• Detailed Info on The Land Before Time (including plot detail)
• The Land Before Time at RetroJunk.com