Land Before Time Retrospective #19
Rewatched the film today so I could try and better articulate my thoughts. I can definitely say I enjoyed it more the second time around. Initially I ranked it below Saurus Rock, whereas now I’d probably put it above (but still below Big Freeze, and I’m undecided on where Great Valley Adventure would go right now). Similar to how I initially put Mysterious Island below Mists, but then I swapped their positions when I rewatched those.
I’ve grown to appreciate Rinkus and Sierra, and especially Pterano, for being unique villains. Every film after this just used Sharpteeth as the bad guys. You could see the problem starting to emerge with Saurus Rock, but Big Freeze is where the trend really began. Films 1, 2, & 5 were really the only ones to get Sharpteeth right, imo (although I thought the Sharptooth quartet in #13 had potential). Here, however, they went for a different approach with the villains and it worked out well. The flashback to Pterano’s herd is also a genuinely chilling moment.
Other assorted thoughts:
This is the first film with the new digital art style. It looks crisper and cleaner and smoother than the previous sequels, but the more traditional style has a charm of its own. Undecided on whether I prefer the style/look of 2-6 or 7-14, although the original still looks the best of them all.
It’s interesting that, instead of the usual narrator, this time around it’s Petrie who does the opening narration. I think this is the only time something like that ever happens in the series. (Update: Actually, I looked it up. Saurus Rock is the sole other exception, being narrated by Grandpa.)
Early on when the dinosaurs are discussing the Stone of Cold Fire, Topps says to one of the others, “There’s no reason to get all huffy.” Yeah, Topps of all dinos is the one saying that.
More irony: Pterano berates Rinkus for the idea of threatening the young ones and putting the elders on alert. Then soon after they abduct Ducky. Speaking of which, I found that part to be a bit nonsensical. It just seemed like a boneheaded thing for them to do if they were trying to keep the other adults off their back. It didn’t really seem necessary from a narrative standpoint either, since Ducky soon escapes from them anyway and rejoins her friends.
And speaking of that, why do the other adults spend so much time arguing about what to do? What is there to argue about? Just go rescue Ducky already! On the other hand, I do like that Mr. Threehorn gets called out for his belligerence.
But once the adventure gets going, then it’s a lot of fun. I noticed that, when the Gang meets up with the Rainbow Faces inside Threehorn Peak, there’s a brief reprise of the music where Littlefoot imitates Doc (from the sixth movie), one of my favourite cues in the series. There’s also a cute moment near the end when Mama Flyer catches up with them and she hugs Petrie, then hugs Ducky as well.
Lastly, one other nitpick I have is that, while I still enjoyed the Rainbow Faces, I kinda wish that all of the Gang could have seen that they were aliens, not just Littlefoot. That bugged me for some reason.
Overall, I give this film 6 out of 8 tree stars.
