The Land Before Time

"Petrie, do not feel sad. It is alright. Many things cannot fly. Rocks, trees, sticks, Spike..."

A drought has devastated the greenery and the dinosaur herds seek the "Great Valley."  The Great Valley is supposed to be lush, but the trip is filled with dangers.  The herds stop to allow their eggs to hatch before continuing the journey.  Longneck Littlefoot (Damon) is the only baby in his herd, which consists of his mother (Shaver) and grandparents.  One night he plays too far from his herd and he and Threehorn Cera (Hutson) are attacked by Sharptooth, a Tyrannosaurus Rex,  Littlefoot's Mother rescues them and fights the Sharptooth.  As they recover from the fight, an earthquake separates the kids from the rest of their herds and Littlefoot's Mother dies.

Littlefoot is devastated, but decides to keep seeking the Great Valley to reunite with his grandparents.  Cera wants to find her own way back to her family.  Littlefoot stumbles across chatty Big Mouth Ducky (Barsi), terrified and flightless Flyer Petrie (Ryan), and late hatcher Spiketail Spike.  Together with Cera, they start the journey to the Great Valley.  Can they survive the trip and follow the signs to their families?


I remember watching this film decades ago when it was first released.  We even had cups that featured the characters.  I didn't remember anything about the film, except that the main characters were children.

When I discovered the film was available on Netflix instant streaming, I decided to watch it.  My nephews love dinosaurs and I wondered if they would enjoy this film.  But I'm not sure it is the right time to show it to them.  It is sadder and darker than I remember.  Apparently the film was even scarier, but the producers convinced director Don Bluth to remove 19 minutes, mostly involving Sharptooth and the main characters in peril.

All of the types of dinosaurs are identified by their physical characteristics: Longneck, Threehorn, Flyer, Spiketail, etc, instead of their official names: Apatosaurus, Triceratops, etc.  These descriptions extend to nature and natural disasters.  It is cute, but doesn't teach the kids the real names of the dinosaurs they love.

The film was popular enough to spawn a franchise.  To date, there are 13 direct-to-video sequels which all feature the main cast.  A few new characters have been added since this film.  There was also a TV series that ran for 26 episodes in 2007.

It is a heartfelt film that has cute moments.  The characters are entertaining, especially Ducky.  It isn't the best animation, the best script, or the best characters, but it is cute for what it is.

The Land Before Time (1988) 69 minutes
Director: Don Bluth
Starring: Gabriel Damon as Littlefoot
Candy Hutson as Cera
Judith Barsi as Ducky
Will Ryan as Petrie
Helen Shaver as Littlefoot's Mother
Pat Hingle as Narrator / Rooter