I too vividly remember Land Before Time being one of my first Don Bluth films. It's kinda funny that most critics bashed Toy Story 3 for containing an insane amount of drama and dark elements. Have they ever saw any of Bluth's movie? Both Land Before Time and An American Tail were really dark, especially since the victims were little kids who were left to fend for themselves. But in an odd way, it is truly inspiring. As someone that was severely bullied as a kid, it certainly gave me hope that everything would work out in the end, and pardon me for my silly sentimentalism, that is a great message to tell kids: that despite all the struggles we face growing up, eventually everything will work out.

That was a great review, Marz! Though I've noticed some editing mistakes here and there.

Seriously the 80's and 90's were great, animated films didn't talk down to kids and actually contained dramatic storytelling.

I often wonder if the critics saying that the intense scenes "traumatize children" are actually talking about themselves as the ones that react strongly to these scenes are adults that get the subtlety of the messages (like Toy Story 3's message of growing up and leaving behind your past).

I mean I have read the infamous article where the guy condemns Pixar for creating Up, which made him cry and love his kids more.

In short, we adults are a bunch of pussies :p XD . Just kidding!

I believe that the reason stuff like that happens is because people are not used to thinking of modern films as being works of art. It is in my experience that people only see movies to be entertained, but every film has the possibility of effecting someone's life. Whether it causes one to look at their lives/behavior, or bring to light a truth that we should not forget (just as an example).
Sadly, it's not as common for "thought-provoking" films to be popular, but I have noticed that people are seeing "thought-provoking" films more and more recently. *hack* Inception *hack*.

Hey, don't dis Inception :P

Cannot agree more with the sentiment though. All of my favorite movies from my childhood were somehow thought-provoking, and not terribly obvious with their message, if any. I'm sure I watched a lot of movies to be entertained back then, but I simply don't remember those.

The way I see it, if a movie doesn't try to leave an impact, then it isn't cinema. That's why Pixar keeps knocking them out of the ballpark - their movies establish a REAL connection to all audiences (admittedly mostly kids). Critics be damned, we remember those films because of that connection.

Cars seemed bland by comparison because we grew used to Pixar striking that note and reaching for those difficult themes. But at least the critics didn't say anything about how it was traumatizing their kids!

You look like you have lost some weight you look even prettier than usual. I can see you are looking for getting on this acting thing like Spoony and other, I'm sure that you can do it well if you work hard, you are a very smart girl. Good luck honey.

Love you Kaylyn, you know.

Hm, I guess it was just the 80's. Children's movies in the 1980s tended to be darker in nature. Hell, some of them even say "shit", which half the time movies today can't say twice without getting an R rating. Wasn't just the animated films either. I do hope we don't enter another Animation Age Ghetto... (as TV Tropes puts it.)

But, to be fair for Toy Story 3... I guess people were surprised because it was so dark, not just for kids films, but when you compare them to the other Toy Story movies. People and critics probably expected it to be more like the first two, but it really seems to be made for the audience of the first two, who were children when they saw them and are now all grown up.

On a side note... Has anyone here ever watched a movie when they were a kid, then watched it again when they were older and thought "Man, this is really dark and/or sad!"? Because honestly, when I was a kid I did see many of the darker films, but I didn't even realize they were than dark up until I was older. Hell, a few months ago I watched The Land Before Time for the first time in like, seven years and I almost cried, something I never did all the previous times I watched it. Bluth is right, kids really can handle a lot more than we take them for. Hey, when I make stories now, I even follow his same philosophy: make it dark and sad as can be, but it's fine if there's a happy ending. XD

Great to see you're finally doing this Marzgurl. I really love The Land Before Time and even some of the sequels. I stopped after Part 5 though...by the rate the series was going, I'm kind of glad I did :/

The sequels can go die in a hole. And by hole, I mean ditch alongside a lonely desert highway. Tears actually welled up when I saw a trailer for the most recent one. Why? The line "Just up with you tush, and you look like a bush!" If there's so many different types of wrong incased in a single line of dialogue, then the rest of the movie was going to be worse. It's sad to see awesome Don Bluth movies get chewed up by the sequel machine.

Ah. I LOVED Land Before time. 1st movie to ever make me cry. And I loved it for all it's worth.

For some reason I have seen all the good don Bluth Movies when I was a kid except Secret of nhim. I realy need to fix that.

=/

I actually saw one of the sequels to this movie first. I was very young and actually liked it. I actually liked all of the Land Before Time movies, up until there were so many that they stopped numbering them. I think I liked all of them up until number 7 or so. I forget which one i saw first (though I know it wasn't the first one) but I do remember that I liked all the ones I saw. I was only a little kid, like 6 or 8 or something, and looking back I can see how the original was a lot better and mature, but, I don't know, I'll always consider all the sequels as a part of my childhood. I'm not saying anybody else should like them, I'm not even saying that they're good movies. but I liked them as a kid and my memories of them are good ones. though that was probably because I was so young.

Land Before Time (and it's sequels) where my LIFE for the first 6-7 years of my existence.

Dinosaurs are FTW.

The Land Before Time was the first movie I was ever taken to see. My sister and I used to watch it at home all of the time and cheer during the opening (the reason why has been erased by the hands of time).

Oh man, this brings back some of the most AWESOME memories ever. Seeing this as a little kid...man, the animation is just burned into my head due to AWESOMENESS!

I...honestly don't think that many children have the same mind set as you did. At least I pray that they don't..

Well you might as well hate Disney movies like Bambi and The Lion King if that's your reason.
(A pretty stupid reason)

The Lion King is not as dark? Um, Simba actually nuzzles his father's corpse, is blamed for his death, is chased into the wilderness by hungry hyenas, and passes out in the desert sun. I know some kids who were terrified of the final battle between Simba and Scar. I suspect the reason you don't find it to be as dark is that you were older and more emotionally experienced by the time you saw it.

Bambi's mom and Littlefoot's mom were both pretty painful for me to watch as a kid, but by the time I saw The Lion King, I was in high school and had already encountered enough real death that the movie was tearjerking, but not traumatic. Cheesy horror movies were much more distressing when I was young.

You know, after reading the comments, I have to say that, unlike a troll who would just say "This movie sux and all the people who worked on it were idiots" you gave a logical reason as to why you didn't like the movies. While I disagree on you, considering that this is one of my all-time favorite children's movies, I can see where you're coming from. Different people have different interests, and you seemed to respect that fact. Which is not something everyone does, I'm sad to say.

I dunno, I don't see why kids entertainment has to be a veneer of goodness and happiness where no one is ever sad ever ever and the world is made of gumdrops and rainbows.

I preferred movies with darker content as a kid (hell one of my favorite movies was The Last Unicorn), maybe because I was an intelligent child. But I think it teaches important lessons. When people are spoonfed their entire childhood by happy shmappy Disney-brand entertainment glop I think they suffer for it in their adult lives.

They won't suffer from that as adults, they'll learn. My funnest days were when I was a kid, and I didn't know how messed this world can be. Now as an adult I know of all sorts of things that go on here, and it's a much grimmer reality where there are worries and anxieties. I still just get on with life. As a kid though, I was carefree man, even with bullies and punks in school, it didn't matter. I had friends, we played in the park, we played super mario all stars in basements, I had cool parents, it was a good time.

Now I'm older, I learned the grim stuff gradually. I still don't see it as a learning experience to watch disturbing movies or that it is something that will make you more intelligent. Scaring a kid to tears isn't going to make them more well rounded. I'm not trying to argue my point, that's just my opinion.

Also it's worth noting that Land Before Time is actually a better movie than some of Bluth's other work (like Nimh, or worse, American Tale). Especially stuff with kidnapping, I hated kidnapping when I was a kid. That was a huge fear in life, and even disney movies like The Rescuers Down Under bothered me for this reason.

I loved the darker movies. I didn't have a sunshine, rainbows and kittens childhood so the darker stuff appealed to me.

I was never scared to tears and I doubt that many kids are, they are usually reacting to the sadness and that's why they cry.

I also really liked haunted houses when I was a kid and now I worked at one.

I always knew the difference between reality and fiction and that could be why some kids don't react well to "scary" stuff.

I knew it was fiction, but we sympathize with the main characters and are suspended in disbelief when we see these movies. And I don't know, my parents were always cautious people who warned us about the danger of kidnappers, and told us never to stray away from them, take candy from strangers, etc you know the usual stuff.

So when you see a kid trapped by some abusive ruthless criminals that would make a fully grown adult nervous, you think "man, this is horrible. What a miserable situation", and you know it can happen in real life. It doesn't help that you are emotionally tied to this character, and can very well be seeing and hearing with his/her eyes, making that person essentially you, as you watch the movie.

I can't say I watch these movies now that I'm older, but I'm sure if I rewatched some of these I would still get that bad feeling. Like I was out all day walking in a dirty slum, and need a shower.

Honestly, I grew up in L.A. and had to learn quickly that the world was a dark and grim place, something that I am proud of. My parents never lied to me about what the world was so that when I grew up I had no illusions. I am raising my daughter in a similar fashion and I know she will grow up to be a stronger person. I think growing up on the darker side of life allowed me to have a greater appreciation for my life and what I have. I learned early on "Life is Not Fair" and have yet to be disappointed.

when I was a kid I never watched kids shit because it normally was shit. I watched stuff made for adults because it didn't call me stupid it just told a story

I would not recommend showing adult movies to young children until they are old enough to understand what they are watching, and more importantly, old enough to know not to try to emulate it. Pre-pubescent children can't really understand emotions like lust or passionate love (which is portrayed very superficially in kid movies) because their hormones haven't created that desire yet. Also, kids often try to do "grown up" things that can really get them into trouble because they don't understand all the social cues to know when it's appropriate to do certain things. It's not a matter of "they gotta learn sometime". People's minds work differently when they are babies, toddlers, middle children, teenagers, and adults. A few people develop early, but they are the exception, not the rule.

Also, when you were a kid, how often did you watch a scene in a movie and have no idea what the characters were talking about, only to get it years later? Stories aren't as good when you don't get them.

Finally, your parents must have had very good taste in movies if you only saw grown up movies that told a story and treated you like an intelligent person. There is a lot of stupid shit out there marketed to adults.

I think you were more traumatized by the girl crying than anything else. I think that's why you are the only one on this forum reacting to Bluth's movies this way. I hated movies with sad endings and I hated scary movies as a child. However, I still enjoyed Don Bluth's films even though they made me a bit sad, because the endings were somewhat happy. I understand your reasoning for why you don't like these movies, but I don't think you should HATE him. Hate is such a strong word. My bf doesn't say he HATES DOn Bluth just because All Dogs Go to Heaven was too dark for him as a kid. He says that he didn't like it because it was too dark for him as a kid. In the end of the day, Bluth's movies were brilliant and many of my friends and family enjoyed them.

OMG! I used to love this movie. The only DB movie I liked better was American Tail 2. I thought the original AT and TSoN were good, but they didn't really hold my attention as well as dinosaurs and the old west.

Though the first American Tail was done by Bluth, An American Tail 2 did not involve Don Bluth at all, sorry to say. :X

I remember the first time I saw land before time, it was one of the first cartoons I ever saw and still remember the name of. I was about four years old then, and it seemed like almost every chance I got to watch cable (because this house only had it in one, and there was then three adults who had the remote)it would be on tv. I definitely remember crying when I saw Little foots mother die, it hit close to home for me. I didn't realize it when I watched it as a kid, but that movie has some gorgeous scenery. To be honest I didn't hate the sequels, but I was a little kid and I did only see two and three, I think.

ah, one of my beloved childhood dinosaur movies (along with King Kong and Valley of Gwangi).

And yes, nothing made it out of the tar pits. So far we can say that: 3600 dire wolves, 2000 saber-tooth cats, 15 mammoths, 200 bison, and so much more did not make it out alive!

Valley of Gwangi! Also a fond childhood memory of mine. I thought I was the only one.

The first Land Before Time is a straight up fantastic film, in my opinion.

You can't say that nothing ever made it out of the tar pits, because we wouldn't know about them. Merely listing things that didn't make it out doesn't mean nothing did.

Marzgurl, you're a great reviewer, and this is one of the greatest movies of all time (IMO), but I just can't watch this review without bawling my eyes out. I've never watched this movie without crying since I was 2 years old.

this movie prompted my long lasting and loving relationship with paleontology and dinosaurs. when iwas little my parents got me every single one of the special puppets that were being given out at Pizza Hut at the time. I have shared this movie with my niece and hope to share it with my other nieces and/or nephews when the time comes.

Thank you for giving this movie the love and respect it deserves. ^_^

I remember those things! I had the VHS copy of this movie that had the Pizza Hut promotional commercial at the beginning of the tape. Ah, that's pretty nostalgic there!

You mean this commercial?

http://www.youtube.com/ watch?v=z4065smJLXk

Something I've always loved about Bluth's movies was that they could get me so wrapped up in them. I could always get a good cry from watching them. Not only that but the animation in his movies amazed me and was what really got me into wanting to become an animator myself and what keeps me drawing to this day.

Land Before Time was the one Don Bluth film I never saw as a kid. I went through a huge dinosaur obsession after seeing Jurassic Park and didn't watch Land Before Time because I thought talking dinosaurs would be lame. I regret that now.

An American Tail will always be my favorite one though, but there isn't a Don Bluth movie I don't like at least a little (even Rock-a-Doodle and Thumbelina are fun to watch for a laugh).

Believe it or not, The last time I saw this movie (last summer), Don Bluth was actually in the same room!

It was a special screening at a film festival in Montreal (FantAsia). You can probably guess that it was already one of the most memorable days of my life.

What made it even BETTER is that I got the courage to get my copy of Secret of Nihm signed by him AND I gave him a drawing of Fievel I did. There's even a photo of him holding it! ( http://www.flickr.com/ photos/ fantasiafilmfestival/ 4814865534/ ).

I guess that's the kind of story I could tell my future grand children with pride. XD

What? You mean Fantasia showed Land Before Time?? Man, I attended Fantasia back in 2005 and it was an awesome experience. I wish I could have been there, that sounded like a great evening!

You lucky man you...wait...you're a guy right?

Ho boy. Land before time. I remember that (vaguely). That was the first movie that I ever thought was stupid. I specificallt remember Longneck was arguing with Threehorns because Three horns insulted Longneck's mother, and it made absolutely no sense to my four-year-old self that two animals would physically fight over something one of them SAID.

(Of course, back then I didn't understand things like pwnage.)

Actually, The first land before time movie I saw was the 11th one.
I remember because One of the dinosaurs (sarah's neices) had my name.

It was cool to hear my name in an animated film to say the least...

But i DO remember watching the orginal at one point... because I can completely memorize Little Foot's mother's death speech, but nothing else from that movie except maybe ducky, peetree, spike and the leaf.

This was quite possibly my FAVORITE movie as a kid. It was definitely one of my top favorites. I still have the old VHS cassette that I got for Christmas waaaaaay back in the 80s.

I could probably still quote the Pizza Hut commercial at the beginning of that tape. I watched it that much. And you're totally right about that song at the end, Marzgurl--this was the first movie that I would watch all the way to the very end of the cassette because of the music during the credits. Heck, I'd even watch the Amblin Entertainment commercial after the credits!

Little Foot's mom dying scarred me for life. I actually saw this movie before BAMBI, when I was just 4 or 5 years old. Sure, Bambi was sad, but Little Foot's mother literally stopped breathing on screen, right in front of you. There was no question about her not coming back. Worse, there's a scene almost directly after this (which I find sadder now that I'm an adult) where Little Foot sees his shadow projected onto a rock wall and thinks its his mom. He gets excited, runs along the wall, runs up to it and licks it, all the time asking his mom why she won't wait for him. The look on his face when he realizes what's going on is heart rending. It's also totally realistic. I could see a little kid acting that way.

As for the sequels... Less than fuzzy memories. The only one I technically *own* is the second one. My sister (who was 6 years younger than me) was the perfect age for the LBT, and she loved the first one, so my mom got it for her birthday. We were excited. This... Didn't last long. The real crime is that my original VHS cassette is in such a poor state because we watched it to death, while this stinker is still in near mint condition, still in its box.

Lackluster animation, a lack of returning voice actors (though now that I know what happened to Ducky's VA, I understand why hers was replaced...)--and the worst offender... SONGS. TERRIBLE, TERRIBLE SONGS.

The Land Before Time was unique in that it had no song and dance routines throughout the entire movie. I'm hard pressed to name another kid's movie from that era that didn't have at least one (even NIMH had the lullaby). The movie was all plot and substance. Visuals without the need for jazzy song and dance. And of course, that beautiful score.

The second one was just another canned sequel, along the same lines as NIMH 2. Unnecessary and painful. I can only assume it got worse from there. If you're going to do all 12, I'm sort of morbidly looking forward to see how horrifying it can get.

I guess this movie is to you as An American Tale: Fievel Goes West is to me XD (Oh wait, that one wasn't by Don...but it still had Steven Spielberg! :D So I guess All Dogs go to Heaven then for me *nod nod*)

Still I really liked this movie- I never watched the sequels either. (Well, maybe snippets of 1 or 2 of 'em, but still!)

Not sure if it's as dark and sad as you're makin' it out to be XD Even if it were, it's not like children seeing all that is a bad thing~

Anyway thanks for that little trip down memory lane :)

thank you

I stopped watching the sequels after 11...
I'm really difficult to disappoint...

OH CRAP! IT'S THE EVIL VENUZGURL!

One of my favorite movies when I was a yongin'.

This in my opinion is Don Bluth's best film. I rewatch it like last week and actively cried during the movie.

I loved land before time. My mom did to. I have watched most of the sequals. We ended up getting them for my younger cousin when she came over to watch so we ended up getting almost the whole entire collection lol.

I dunno why they just didn't go straight to doing a TV series after the first movie. Why did they have to make so many sequals. James Bond couldn't keep up with this many.

By the way...NO MORE ARCH-ENEMIES FOR ONLINE CRITICS! IT'S GETTING BORING!!!!

No more arch-enemies? Surely you jest!

Like many I have also seen this cartoon movie long time ago when I was kid. It was one of saddest cartoon movies I have ever seen long side with An American Tail. When I was kid those two were only cartoon movies from Don Bluth that I saw back then.

(at 4:16)Sharptooth wasn't a nickname, its what they named the T-Rex. If you notice they call Little Foot a Long neck, and Cera a three horn.

The T-rex wasn't given a name, but is been a while since i seen it. Also, sorry if this came out a bit rude. Just trying to point this out.

Yeah, but the main characters didn't constantly refer to one another as what kind of dinosaur they are. I should know, because this movie was burned into my mind during childhood.

I was a big fan of dinosaurs, so for a while "Land Before Time" was actually one of my favourite movies. My parents even got me all of the sequel movies up to VI, I remember liking them but I also knew they were different to the first film (back then I didn't know Don Bluth was only involved with the first one).

What happened at the 6:20 mark? shot of you looking away reading your notes. kind of a weird thing to put in.