The Land Before Time (1988)

User Rating:

6.9/10   

Director:

Don Bluth

Writers:

Judy Freudberg (story) &
Tony Geiss (story) ...

Release Date:

18 November 1988 (USA)

Genre:

Adventure | Family | Drama | Animation

Tagline:

The adventure that started it all!

Plot:

Four orphan dinosaurs travel the ruins of their world, while grieving the loss of their families and banding together to face the odds of survival.

Plot Keywords:

Dinosaur | Brontosaurus | Anthropomorphism | Prehistoric World | Tyrannosaurus

Awards:

2 nominations

US TV Schedule:

Mon. July 20

6:00 AM

HBO

Cast

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

Runtime:

69 min

Country:

USA | Ireland

Language:

English

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby

Certification:

Canada:G (Manitoba/Nova Scotia/Quebec) | Canada:PG (Ontario) | Brazil:Livre | Iceland:L | South Korea:All | Portugal:M/6 | Australia:G | Finland:K-6 | France:U | Sweden:7 | UK:U | USA:G | West Germany:6 | Singapore:G

Company:

Amblin Entertainment

Trivia:

The role of Ducky was Judith Barsi's favorite of her own film roles.

Goofs:

Continuity: The scene in which the baby pterodactyls fight over the cherry uses two backgrounds, one for the vertical pan, another for the horizontal. The two backgrounds do not match exactly; particularly, the sky changes color, and a knothole in the bottom of the screen disappears and then reappears.

Quotes:

[first lines]
Narrator: Once upon this same earth, beneath this same sun, before you, before the ape and the elephant, before the wolf, the bison and the whale, before the mammoth and the mastodon, in the time of the dinosaurs. The dinosaurs were of two kinds. Some had flat teeth...

Movie Connections:

Referenced in "The Fairly OddParents: Land Before Timmy/Cheese and Crockers (#7.8)" (2008)

Soundtrack:

If We Hold On Together

The most beautiful dinosaur movie ever to appear on the big screen

I saw this movie when I was 8 (I am now 18) and I loved it. It is one of the few movies I see which have great sentimental value to me and unlike most other children's movies can be watched on two different levels. When the children see it they will watch a movie about how 5 baby dinosaurs find their way to the great valley, while older people will view it as a movie based around how an abandoned orphaned child copes with the loss of his mother. The symbolism is great for example the dark rainy scene, but I have always cried when I see it.

For once A GIRL is seen as the the 'strong' character, Cera the triCERAtops (why does she only have one horn?) is headstrong and prevents female sterotyping. I think most people who can see movies with an open mind (hey it IS a kids movie so don't expect it to appeal to adults) will love this movie. Incedently my favourite character was Littlefoot, his birth was absolutly wonderful and unlike the other characters he actually looks like he has grown.

Unfortunaly due to space I cannot go into detail about the brilliant design of the backgrounds, characters and music but if on a rainy day you have nothing to see go and see this. The LAND BEFORE TIME was made by Don Bluth.

Unfortunaly none of the other follow on moives BASED on the 5 characters was ever is good as this one they are just too childish.

I love this movie 10 stars....