Review of The Land Before Time (1988) by Gavin C — 05 Sep 2011

We all love dinosaurs, do we? Being the most prehistoric creatures in the planet, we'll always be desperate to learn about them in earth science. So with that in mind, it was really great to see hollywood making movies about them. Two of them were Steven Spielberg's epic film of the 90s "Jurassic Park" and Disney's mega-budget from the early 2000s "Dinosaur", but before all of that, there was Don Bluth, who directed his magnum opuses "The Secret of NIMH", "An American Tail" and "All Dogs Go To Heaven", but later teamed up with Steven Spielberg and Star Wars creator George Lucas to create this animated prehistoric masterpiece known as "The Land Before Time".

It tells the story about a young brontasaurus named Littlefoot who is orphaned when his mother is killed by a Sharptooth. He then flees famine and upheaval to search for the "Great Valley", an area which has been spared devastation. On his journey, he meets four young companions: Cera, a Three-Horn Ducky, a Big Mouth, Petrie, a Flyer and Spike, a Spike-Tail as they try to avoid the sharptooth while going into dangerous places in a tale of survival, love, friendship, and teamwork.

Aside from the 70 minute length, there's a lot of good things to offer. The animation in this movie is shockingly impressive, the acting is amazing especially the child actors who portrayed the kid dinos. The music score from James Horner is the best and it was innovative and very emotional. Even the song "If We Hold On Together" performed by Diana Ross was brilliant. The tone of the movie was as dark as Bluth's previous entries in the 80s that drives the movie with drama, suspense, and very touching moments.

The Land Before Time is one of Bluth's magnum opus that has adventure, suspense, conflict, and emotionally sad moments and will go down as one of the greatest animated movies ever made. Recommended it to kids, adults, and teenagers who are in desperate need for nostalgia.

10/10.