The Land Before Time

IMDB
First time viewed: No
Current Release: No
Watched With: Myself

Ahh nostalgia.

It's been a long time. And yet I still seem to remember every line and music cue. Horner's score is pretty damn great. I think I watched this the most out of the Don Bluth animations when I was younger. But I still think An American Tail is his best.

This film spawned a thousand direct to video singalong sequels. I guess if you couldn't get into Disney this is where you'd want to be, with the Disney renegades.

Man there's some pretty scary stuff in this one. Those Sharptooth's are angry. An everyone probably remembers being traumatised by Littlefoot's mother being killed at the start. But the animation is great and coupled with the music can be surprisingly emotional at times. Maybe that's just the nostalgia but I bet kids would still love this today. There's something very economical and simple about the set-up and story telling. And the characters are all unique and easy to differentiate. It's a good group dynamic, so it's no wonder there are thousands of others, they are probably very easy to write for.

It's rare in kids animation that the filmmakers allow for stillness and thoughts. It makes these character come to life so much when you can almost see the thoughts going through their heads, instead of trying to rush to the next joke. If you've only ever seen Disney animations you must check out Don Bluth's work. It's generally all great stuff, especially the stuff he did with Speilberg.