[[quoteright:300:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/the_land_before_time_movie_poster_1988.jpg]]

->''"All that remained of his herd was his mother, grandmother and his grandfather. He knew them by sight, by scent, and by their love."''
-->-- '''Narrator'''

''The Land Before Time'' is a 1988 animated film directed by Creator/DonBluth, and his second collaboration with executive producer Creator/StevenSpielberg (following ''WesternAnimation/AnAmericanTail''). Creator/GeorgeLucas was also one of the executive producers.[[note]]Interestingly, this is the only project Spielberg and Lucas have officially worked on together outside of the ''Franchise/IndianaJones'' series.[[/note]]

In the original film, a group of dinosaurs leave their disasters-stricken home lands for the Great Valley, a place of promise and opportunity. Along the way, a young brontosaurus ("Long Neck") named Littlefoot becomes separated from his group and watches his mother die to protect him from a ''Tyrannosaurus Rex'' ("[[CallARabbitASmeerp Sharptooth]]"). Littlefoot meets up with other young dinosaurs of different species as they try to get back to their families.

The first film, made at the dawn of UsefulNotes/TheRenaissanceAgeOfAnimation, is well remembered for its excellent character animation and arresting visual atmospherics (both hallmarks of Creator/DonBluth's work), surprisingly complex themes and [[SugarWiki/AwesomeMusic memorably bombastic soundtrack]] by Music/JamesHorner. It was also the first major dinosaur film made after the Dinosaur Renaissance reached popular culture a few years before Spielberg's own ''Film/{{Jurassic Park|1993}}'' carried the torch in live-action, and features the refined image of dinosaurs since then (see ShownTheirWork below). A major financial success, the film was nonetheless narrowly bested by Disney's competing offering, the now-comparatively obscure ''WesternAnimation/OliverAndCompany'', arguably foreshadowing Disney's imminent resurgence as a hegemon of theatrical animation.

Due to the original film's success, a continuation was inevitable. The film released its first DirectToVideo sequel in 1994, and Universal Cartoon Studios ended up making a sequel almost every year up to 2007, for a grand total of twelve. These sequels (featuring no involvement from any of the original film's creators nor its voice actors, save for a notable RoleReprise by original Cera VA Candace Hutson in the first three) took a much LighterAndSofter tone than the original film, incorporating vibrantly-colored visuals, a more leisurely pace and three or more musical sequences per film. [[FanonDiscontinuity These changes would alienate them from many of the first movie's fans]]. Still, others embrace these sequels into the canon of the series and see them as enjoyable, harmless, and frequently heartwarming kids' films that contain unexpectedly deep, complex themes and moral lessons. The series also had a short-running TV show in 2008 that lasted for one season. When this show ended, the series seemed to be headed towards a hard-earned retirement. [[{{Uncancelled}} But]] on February 2nd, 2016, a fourteenth movie was finally released, and it is the last installment for the series to date. With so many sequels, it would be an unorthodox way to teach kids Roman numerals, [[Franchise/StarWars alongside]] [[Franchise/FinalFantasy some]] [[VideoGame/{{Minecraft}} other]] [[UsefulNotes/SuperBowl franchises]].

The sequels are:
[[index]]
* 1994 -- ''WesternAnimation/TheLandBeforeTimeIITheGreatValleyAdventure'': The gang find a mysterious egg just outside the Great Valley and hatch it, discovering it to contain a hatchling Sharptooth they befriend and name "Chomper".
* 1995 -- ''WesternAnimation/TheLandBeforeTimeIIITheTimeOfTheGreatGiving'': A drought hits the Great Valley, and the dinosaurs within begin to crack under the strain. Simultaneously, Littlefoot and his friends are tormented by a trio of adolescent bullies.
* 1996 -- ''WesternAnimation/TheLandBeforeTimeIVJourneyThroughTheMists'': Grandpa Longneck gets sick with a deadly illness. With the help of [[DistaffCounterpart fellow Longneck Ali]], Littlefoot and his friends journey to find the "night flowers" that are the cure.
* 1997 -- ''WesternAnimation/TheLandBeforeTimeVTheMysteriousIsland'': When locusts consume all the green food in the Great Valley, the herds leave to find more food, but Littlefoot and his friends get stuck on a strange island populated by Sharpteeth... and their old friend Chomper!
* 1998 -- ''WesternAnimation/TheLandBeforeTimeVITheSecretOfSaurusRock'': Littlefoot meets Doc, an elderly longneck voiced by Creator/KrisKristofferson (the first [[invoked]]CelebrityVoiceActor to feature in any of the sequels) he assumes is the folk hero "The Lone Dinosaur," and accidentally damages a very important stone, bringing bad luck to the Valley.
* 2000 -- ''WesternAnimation/TheLandBeforeTimeVIITheStoneOfColdFire'': The gang, in addition to two mysterious outsiders, must race Petrie's vainglorious, morally-dubious uncle [[Creator/MichaelYork Pterano]] to find a meteor allegedly imbued with magical properties. Notably the first of the sequels to be animated via digital inking, coinciding with a conspicuous AnimationBump.
* 2001 -- ''WesternAnimation/TheLandBeforeTimeVIIITheBigFreeze'': The Valley is once again put in danger, this time by a massive cold spell, while Spike meets members of his own kind and must decide whether to leave the Valley with them or remain with his adoptive family (and thus Ducky). Meanwhile, the remaining gang are increasingly led to question the credibility of their elderly teacher [[Creator/RobertGuillaume Mr. Thicknose]].
* 2002 -- ''WesternAnimation/TheLandBeforeTimeIXJourneyToBigWater'': When the Valley floods, Littlefoot meets a swimming creature (technically an ichthyosaur) called Mo and helps him get back to the ocean (the titular "Big Water").
* 2003 -- ''WesternAnimation/TheLandBeforeTimeXTheGreatLongneckMigration'': Littlefoot and his grandparents, following an instinct endemic to all longnecks, leave the valley to find The Great Circle, with Littlefoot's friends distantly tailing them. Upon reaching their destination (and a multitude of other longnecks), Littlefoot meets his father, [[Creator/KieferSutherland Bron]].
* 2005 -- ''WesternAnimation/TheLandBeforeTimeXIInvasionOfTheTinysauruses'': After accidentally decimating the delectable flowers of a tree that blooms only once annually, Littlefoot blames a colony of tiny burrowing Longnecks, leading the Great Valley's adult dinosaurs to erroneously band against them. Meanwhile, Cera's father gets together with his old girlfriend, Tria.
* 2006 -- ''WesternAnimation/TheLandBeforeTimeXIITheGreatDayOfTheFlyers'': Tria and Cera's father are getting ready to bring a new hatchling into the world. Petrie is having trouble with a precision flying exhibition the flyers are putting on, and the gang helps a microraptor named Guido, who is suffering an identity crisis.
* 2007 -- ''WesternAnimation/TheLandBeforeTimeXIIITheWisdomOfFriends'': Littlefoot and friends help three goofy, [[TheLoad haplessly-blundering]] dinosaurs known as "yellow bellies" to journey to the distant Berry Valley.
* 2016 -- ''WesternAnimation/TheLandBeforeTimeXIVJourneyOfTheBrave'': After learning that his dad is in trouble, Littlefoot sets off on a rescue mission to find him. Features Chomper's third film appearance, Bron's second and Ruby's first. Takes place after the TV series.
[[/index]]

If you would like to read the movie storybook by Jim Razzi, click here: https://archive.org/details/landbeforetime00razz/mode/2up
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!!These movies provide examples of:

[[foldercontrol]]

[[folder:Original Movie]]
* AcrophobicBird: Petrie the Acrophobic ''Pterosaur''. He spends the movie on the ground, afraid to fly.
* AmbiguousTimePeriod:
** Given the variety of species from different times that appear in this movie, exactly when it's supposed to take place is anyone's guess. The sequels make it even more ambiguous, if that's possible.
** If the first film is analyzed on its own, one could assume it takes place shortly after the K-Pg impact (since dinosaurs continued to exist for a few thousand years after the meteor struck) which would explain the near apocalyptic events the world is experiencing even before the earthquake. [[SequelReset Considering Don Bluth never intended to make any sequels]], this is the most likely scenario.
* AnachronisticAnimal: The series has a plethora of animals from various time periods in the Mesozoic era living together, as well as a few animals that lived before or after the Mesozoic such as the Dimetrodon (Permian) from the first film and the horned gophers (Miocene-Pliocene) from one episode of the TV series.
* AquaticHadrosaurs: Ducky is supposed to be some kind of hadrosaur, and she's the swimmer one among the five main heroes. "Swimmer" appears to be [[CallARabbitASmeerp the term dinosaurs use for a hadrosaur]] in the sequels, reinforcing this stereotype. That said, Ducky herself doesn't spend much time in the water.
* ArtisticLicensePaleontology:
** While the opening narration gets "Before the [[UsefulNotes/StockDinosaursNonDinosaurs mammoth and the mastodon]]" right, that's the extent of accuracy in this regard. While most of the species in the film are from the Late Cretaceous of North America, Littlefoot (an ''[[UsefulNotes/StockDinosaursTrueDinosaurs Apatosaurus]]'') and Spike (a ''UsefulNotes/{{St|ockDinosaursTrueDinosaurs}}egosaurus'') are both Jurassic. While Littlefoot and family could be ''[[UsefulNotes/PrehistoricLifeSauropods Alamosaurus]]'', a sauropod from the proper time and place, there's no excuse for Spike's appearance. Plus, an even older ''[[UsefulNotes/StockDinosaursNonDinosaurs Dimetrodon]]'' is encountered halfway through the film. To put in perspective just how out of place a ''Dimetrodon'' is, it would be much less inaccurate to put a ''human'' in the film, at least if one judges purely by temporal proximity. The last ''Dimetrodons'' died out more than 200 million years before the late Cretaceous.
** Said ''Dimetrodon'' in the film has a snake-like tongue and a wrongly-shaped sail. Apparently, it was meant to be a fin-backed lizard. Which could actually solve the anachronism issue, all things considered, since while ''Dimetrodon'' itself never coexisted with any dinosaurs, there's no reason to think a large fin-backed lizard didn't.
** The dinosaurs have some more mammalian behaviors that dinosaurs likely didn't have, such as when Littlefoot's mother licks him after he hatches.
** Every dinosaur has small, external ears like mammals, when dinosaurs most likely had simple bird-like ears (a pair of holes).
** Sauropods in real life laid their eggs in large clutches and left them to fend for themselves, with very few hatchlings surviving to adulthood, meaning Littlefoot would never have met his mother to begin with.
* AvianFlute: Shortly after Littlefoot is left on his own, there's a small interlude where a flock of small pterosaurs begin fighting over a small fruit. While not actually birds, [[AllFlyersAreBirds they flutter about and chirp like modern birds]], and their actions are scored by light-hearted flutes.
* AvoidTheDreadedGRating: Inverted. Lucas and Spielberg were turned off by certain scenes in the original cut because they were too scary for children. 11 minutes of footage were deleted to ensure a G rating instead of PG.
* AwardBaitSong: [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uGVQJKgqgY8 "If We Hold On Together"]]. It actually was never nominated but did hit the top 30 on the U.S. song charts.
* AweInspiringDinosaurShot: The original film begins with a narration about Earth's history before introducing dinosaurs into its description. The dark, grungy atmosphere is contrasted by hopeful music with dinosaurs doing stuff like a Longneck overlooking a lake, a Swimmer looking after her nest, a Swimmer infant (Ducky in particular) surviving the jaws of an agitated tortoise, a flock of Fliers flocking, and a Threehorn family observing their children playing.
* BackingIntoDanger: Ducky walks backward right into an angry Sharptooth.
* BehemothBattle: Littlefoot's mother vs. Sharptooth, two of the biggest and most powerful dinosaurs in the franchise.
* BigBad: Sharptooth, who spends the movie pursuing the group with hostile intentions.
* BigDamnHeroes: After earlier separating from the group, Cera shows up at the last fight with Sharptooth and provides the extra leverage Littlefoot and Spike need to tip the rock and Sharptooth into the water.
* BigShadowLittleCreature: PlayedForDrama, when Littlefoot mistakes his own shadow for his mother's.
* BlatantLies: Cera tells the group her own version of her encounter with Sharptooth in the underground, one where she attacked Sharptooth when he was awake and hunting for her. In actuality, she did the triceratops equivalent of poking a dead body. As soon as it turned out he was alive (and awake), she ran off terrified out of her mind like anyone would expect. Her lie is so blatant to Littlefoot that it makes him disbelieve her ''whole'' story, including the part where Sharptooth survived.
* BorrowedCatchphrase: Littlefoot borrows Ducky's "Nope nope nope" at one point when he's annoyed with Petrie.
* BreakTheCutie: Littlefoot, when his mother dies from her wounds. His idealistic personality wouldn't recover until Ducky relates to him of her own lost family.
* BreakUpMakeUpScenario: Between Littlefoot and the gang; after his fight with Cera, they abandon him and go with her, but they soon get in life threatening situations and are only saved when Litlefoot returns for them, thus restoring their faith in him.
* BullyingADragon: When Cera sees the Sharptooth and thinks it's dead, she rams it several times and taunts it, only for it to awaken and start chasing her.
* CallASmeerpARabbit: The dinosaurs refer to themselves by descriptive names, such as long-necks, three-horns, spike-tails, etc. Oddly enough, they still refer themselves collectively as dinosaurs in the sequels.
* CallOfTheWildBlueYonder: Petrie tries hard to fly, but succeeds only in falling. During the FinalBattle with Sharptooth, he finally manages to in order to save Duckie.
* CarnivoreConfusion: Nearly all the dinosaurs talk, except for the villainous carnivores which simply roar and growls. Petrie, a ''Pteranodon'', is technically carnivorous, but the sequels [[VegetarianCarnivore show him as a plant-eater]].
* CassandraTruth: Played with. Littlefoot doesn't believe Cera when she claims she saw Sharptooth is still alive, but then again, she filled her story with so many BlatantLies that it's hard to blame him.
* TheCenterpieceSpectacular: The first Sharptooth encounter serves to end act 1 of Littlefoot's journey. As the deadliest predator around hunts them he and Cera try to survive as his mother fends him off and just when it looks like they might escape the land erupts around them, shutting them off from the rest of their family. That Littlefoot's mother dies after scores the loss of Littlefoot's halcyon days.
%%* CentralTheme:
%%** ThePowerOfLove
%%** Family
%%** ThePowerOfFriendship
%%** ComingOfAge
* ChasingAButterfly: Littlefoot and Cera chase a frog (or a [[CallASmeerpARabbit 'hopper']], as they call it) before their first encounter with Sharptooth. Ducky also chases after a bug when she first hatches.
%%* CherubicChoir
* CleanPrettyChildbirth: The film has the baby dinosaurs hatching clean. Nobody knows for sure about dinosaurs, but modern reptiles and birds are usually wet and have some residue from being in the egg, until they're able to dry off.
* CompanionFood: Littlefoot, a young herbivorous Long-Neck carries around a tree-star, large (to a young child) star-shape green leaf on his back for 2/3rds of the movie as a SecurityBlanket and TragicKeepsake of his deceased mother who gave it to him shortly before dying to a T-Rex attack. This is especially notable because the whole movie takes place during a wide-spread drought/famine which sets the course of the plot of whole dinosaur herds migrating in search of the Green Valley, a rumored paradise of food and peace. The leaf remains in largely great condition for the whole movie, in spite of it being worn on top of Littlefoot's back like a cloak as he travels across the land (including through an active volcano!) and used as a blanket by the whole protagonist group at one point... up until the climatic final encounter with the T-Rex where it gets stomped under its foot and torn to shreds in the process of Littlefoot and his companions panicking upon waking up and finding out they're in danger.
* CrapsackWorld: The world outside the Great Valley is extremely forbidding, stark, lonely and dangerous.
* DaddysGirl: Cera's shown to be closer to her dad, [[WhatHappenedToTheMouse even when her mom was still in the movie]].
* DisneyDeath: Petrie when it looks like he was crushed under the same boulder used to kill Sharptooth, but survives.
* DisneyVillainDeath: Averted at first; Sharptooth appears to suffer from this early in the film, plummeting down a canyon during the earthquake, yet not only do we see his body later, but he turns out to be NotQuiteDead. Later played straight near the end of the film when he falls off a cliff and into the lake below, with a boulder falling on top of him for good measure.
* DumbDinos: Averted in the case of the main characters, who are sapient and can talk while Sharptooth can't. The sequels clarify the situation as less Sharpteeth being stupid and more that they have a separate language - Chomper, a sympathetic Sharptooth, is bilingual.
* EarlyInstallmentWeirdness: Besides having a very lavish art style and being fully animated, this film is '''much''' darker and more somber in tone than the 13 sequels, which are all lighthearted children's musicals.
* EarnYourHappyEnding: Though a favorite trope of Bluth's, this movie takes it to a very high level for an animated film. First and foremost, Littlefoot loses his mother and is devastated over her death, which should make him alone a big enough victim of this trope. Both Ducky and Cera, and presumably Petrie as well, are separated from their families in an earthquake, and Spike appears to have been orphaned ''before he was even born''. Later the group faces massive bouts of starvation during their journey, and have to avoid the ever looming threat of the Sharptooth, as Littlefoot tries to keep everyone together while trying to find the Great Valley. Fortunately, they do find it, and all of them get their families back, with Spike even ending up HappilyAdopted by Ducky's family.
* EstablishingCharacterMoment:
** In the scene where Cera is born, she is shown chasing her sisters while still mostly in her egg, followed by headbutting her father, showing her fierce and fearless nature.
** On the other hand, when Ducky first hatches she happily chases after a fly and peeks into a snapping turtle's mouth, showing the friendliness, curiosity, and innocence that leads her to befriend Littlefoot.
** When Spike hatches from his egg, the first thing he does is eat the tall grass that was surrounding his egg, establishing that he's got [[BigEater a big appetite]].
* EvilEggEater: In the prologue, a sinister-looking ''Ornithomimus'' attempts to steal Littlefoot's egg, but he gets stopped by Mama Longneck. However, it's implied the ''Ornithomimus'' had better luck in the past given that the other eggs were broken and [[SoleSurvivor Littlefoot is described as being the only baby left in the sauropod herd]].
* EvilOverlooker: The film's poster (pictured above) depicts Sharptooth standing atop a cliff, looking down at the heroes as they walk across a fallen tree.
* EyeAwaken: The scene where Cera charges at Sharptooth's face, only to have Sharptooth's menacing eye open and stare at her.
* FamilyUnfriendlyDeath:
** Littlefoot's mother's death; You can see the Sharptooth [[DiscretionShot tearing at her back in the shadow]], and her wound as she continues to fight. Originally, this was shown full-on, but it was so scary that it was re-done to be seen only in shadows.
** Sharptooth; A giant boulder falls on him and knocks him into a lake, whereupon he drowns.
* FantasticRacism: Between the dinosaur species, who prefer to stick to their own kind, and most prominent in Cera's family.
* GiantFootprintReveal: Littlefoot and his friends fall asleep in what turns out to be one of Sharptooth's footprints. This is made clear in the morning when Sharptooth appears and goes after the young dinos, placing his foot right on the print.
* GiganticAdultsTinyBabies: True of all the youngsters except Petrie, who is much closer to his parent's size than the others. Especially notacable with Littlefoot, who is the same size as Cera and Spike despite his species, Apatosaur, being significantly larger than either triceratops or stegosaurus as adults. However, this is actually TruthInTelevision as even the largest of the long-necked herbivores were no bigger than puppies upon hatching.
* GrowlingGut: Happens to Ducky just before they meet Petrie. She says her stomach is talking.
* HappilyAdopted: Spike, by Ducky's family.
* HappilyMarried: Littlefoot's grandparents, who definitely adore each other after ''many'' years of marriage.
* HeadButtingPachy: A group of ''Pachycephalosaurus'' are seen ramming their heads together and into the ground; all in an attempt to attack Cera, without any injury.
* HerbivoresAreFriendly: The main characters are heroic herbivores (except for Petrie -- ''Pteranodons'' ate fish). Averted with the vicious pachycephalosaurs that try to kill Cera.
* HeroicSacrifice: Littlefoot's mother, who took the fatal wound from Sharptooth aimed at her son (though the subsequent earthquake also fueled her death).
* HistoricalBadassUpgrade: While real life Tyrannosauruses were undoubtedly some of the most badass animals that ever existed, there was no way they'd be able to survive falling thousands of feet into a giant canyon, smash large boulders with their heads, or friggin' ''jump'' high enough to land on an Apatosaur's back!
* TheHomewardJourney: Albeit, they are heading toward a new home.
* HumanLadder: The kids do this a couple times in the movie (except for Cera). The main example is the group standing on top of each other to reach leaves too high for any of them to reach alone.
* IWarnedYou: Cera makes sure to rub it in Littlefoot's face after Sharptooth finally reappears before them.
* JerkassHasAPoint: While Cera's whole story about her encounter with Sharptooth was riddled with lies, the part about him still being alive was true. When Littlefoot blows off her warnings of the Tyrannosaur's coming mere moments before he attacks, it ends up hurting his credibility with the rest of the team, which causes them to start leaning more towards Cera's leadership.
%%* JerkWithAHeartOfGold: Cera.
* LeastIsFirst: Ducky is the first to snap Littlefoot [[HeroicBSOD out of his funk]].
* LightningBruiser: Sharptooth, the antagonistic Tyrannosaurus, is extremely durable and agile for his size, able to shrug off multiple tail whips from Littlefoot's mother and respond by ''leaping through the air and landing on her back''!
* MamaBear: Or rather, Mama ''Bronto''. Littlefoot's mother provides one of the definitive examples in animation, using her massive, whip-like tail in an ''epic'' battle with an enraged T. rex, in defense of her son.
%%* {{Melodrama}}: ''Very'' much.
* MonsterShapedMountain: "The rock that looks like a Longneck" is one of the landmarks that Littlefoot's mother teaches him to look for on the way to the Great Valley.
* MoodWhiplash: We go from a heartwarming scene of Littlefoot, Cera, Ducky, Petrie, and Spike sleeping together at night to Cera waking up the next morning to discover that the Sharptooth is here, leading to the youngsters running for their lives and narrowly escaping through a hole in a canyon wall.
* MotivationOnAStick: In the first scene after Spike has joined the group, Ducky is seen using some berries on a branch to lure Spike into following her and Littlefoot.
* NamesToRunAwayFromReallyFast: Any child, human or dinosaur, could immediately tell you [[EatenAlive the danger]] posed by a creature named "Sharptooth", the main villain.
* NiceJobFixingItVillain:
** When Sharptooth has the herd cornered against a cliff, the cliff has a hole that goes through to the other side, but is too small for anyone to fit through. Cue Sharptooth violently headbutting the cliff while trying to bite down at the dinosaurs, and widening the hole into a conveniently sized doorway.
** Later on, it is the Sharptooth's breath shooting up from its nose that gives Petrie the added push he needed, so that he can learn to fly. He then becomes instrumental in distracting the Sharptooth so the others can push the boulder down on it.
* NonMammalianHair: In a downplayed example, some of the dinosaur characters have eyelashes.
* OffWithHerHead: Thankfully averted, a newborn Ducky jumps directly into the mouth of a giant snapping turtle. Thankfully, her mother manages to grab her in time.
* OrphansPlotTrinket: Littlefoot's tree star, the only thing he has left in the world from before his mother was killed.
* ParentalAbandonment: Par for the course, as it's a Don Bluth film. All of the children are separated from their parents, Littlefoot by his mother's death and the great earthshake cutting him off from his grandparents, and Cera, Ducky and Petrie likewise split off from their families by the same earthshake. Spike, meanwhile, is separated from his family before he even hatches.
* {{Prehistoria}}: Creatures portrayed range from Permian Dimetrodon to Cretaceous T-Rexes, and then there is the [[CrapsackWorld volcano/tar pit thing]].
* ThePromisedLand: The Great Valley. Played on the idealistic side.
* QuicksandSucks: Tar, actually. Averted, since while everyone but Cera falls in, they escape relatively easily and glue themselves together to prank her.
* RecycledINSPACE: The film has gotten a reputation of being called "a prehistoric ''WesternAnimation/{{Bambi}}''".
* RefugeInTheWest: The OpeningNarration tells how in the midst of a drought some dinosaur herds strike out toward the west, to search for the Great Valley, a land still lush and green.
* RidiculouslyCuteCritter: Ducky is obviously intended to be this.
** The baby pterosaur that offers Littlefoot the cherry can be seen as this.
* RoaringRampageOfRevenge: The novelization of the film shows that the reason why Sharptooth is so bent on killing the kids is because, when Littlefoot and Cera tried to escape from him, the thorns cut Sharptooth's eye.
* SayMyName: ''[[OhCrap SHAAAARPTOOOOOOTH!!!]]''
* ScarecrowSolution: Four of the dinosaur children cover themselves in tar and pile on top of each other to save Cera from a group of aggressive Pachycephalosaurus.
* SceneryPorn: The animation is just beautiful.
* ScreamsLikeALittleGirl: Petrie screeches at the sight of anything daunting throughout the movie. However, a particularly chilling PlayedForDrama case occurs during the climax, when he is dragged down a cliff with Sharptooth to his seeming death.
* SecurityBlanket: As mentioned above in CompanionFood, Littlefoot's treasured tree-star behaves as this for him. Littlefoot briefly expresses anger toward the remorseful Petrie who attempts to bite into it, not knowing the immense sentimental value Littlefoot has for it.
* ShadowDiscretionShot: The fight between Littlefoot's Mother and Sharptooth has an instance where, after putting him down briefly, she tries to get Littlefoot and Cera to safety. Sharptooth then viciously flings himself through the air at her, and the film cuts to the horrified reactions of the youngsters. In spite of this, the shadows of the struggle can still be seen, showing Sharptooth ''biting and tearing a huge lump of flesh out of her back'' (the wound that leads to her death).
%%* {{Shorttank}}: Cera.
* ShownTheirWork: For the time, and remember it was 1988 and the complete remains of some of the featured species (especially ''Tyrannosaurus'') hadn't been found yet, this was ''the'' most accurate dinosaur movie ever made (ignoring the AnachronismStew and TalkingAnimal issues). Even today, the care put into the film is impressive.
* SkyFace: Littlefoot sees his mother's silhouette in the clouds when he's wandering around alone. %%Not quite the same symbolism, as she's just been killed and her grieving son is seeing her shape in rocks and shadows too. --Note from a fellow troper: I'm not exactly sure what symbolism the second sentence is referring to; could someone explain this a little better please?--
* SlasherSmile: Cera grins pretty mischievously when she discovers the Sharptooth's (not quite dead) corpse, when deciding to use him for ramming practice. The way she licks her lips when she catches up to that beetle she was chasing at the beginning also deserves mention.
* SleepCute: The five young dinosaurs all spend the night huddled together on the way to the Great Valley.
* SlidingScaleOfIdealismVsCynicism: Mostly on the idealistic end with a heavy, HEAVY dose of EarnYourHappyEnding.
* StockDinosaurArchetypes: One of the main elements of this franchise's setting is that [[CallARabbitASmeerp each sort of dinosaur is given a simple-sounding title, like "Longnecks" and "Sharpteeth" to make them more identifiable from each other]]. Even so, there are still a lot of other ways they stick out from each other...
** The various types of herbivores in the first film have different personality traits to distinguish each other more drastically, which contributes to each kind of dinosaur having relations that are distant and cautious at best and [[FantasticRacism outright discriminatory at worst]]. For example, Littlefoot is a Longneck (''Apatosaurus'') who is raised with good principles by his loving mother and tries to befriend anyone he meets. In stark contrast, Cera is a Threehorn (''Triceratops'') who is bought up to be haughty and bossy, traits influenced by her father who is quite stern, gruff, and generally not sociable with other dinosaurs. Later films show that most herbivores generally get along very well, provide for each other, and would put aside their differences to help one another against predators. These traits are best shown with the aforementioned Longnecks, Swimmers (hadrosaurs), Spiketails (stegosaurs), Clubtails (ankylosaurs), and even fliers (pterosaurs), though there are a few examples of unkind and even antagonistic herbivores.
** Carnivores usually come under two types; Sharptooth for larger predators and Fast-Runners for raptors and smaller carnivores, and given that the protagonists mostly consist of herbivores and children at that, they play antagonistic roles. To make them further stand out, they don't speak and are mostly shown as persistent and unkind foes who won't stop in trying to devour the kids if they can manage. Some films have managed to show Sharpteeth in a more sympathetic light, as shown by Chomper and his parents and the animated show goes to feature Ruby, a Fast-Runner (''Oviraptor'') who similarly gets along with plant eaters and becomes a member of the core gang. It's also emphasized that Sharptooth's growling and roaring in contrast to the herbivores speaking just fine is actually their own language and that predators too can learn to talk if they practice on that and that Sharptooth as a whole type is really just animals doing what they could to survive and see another day, with the only truly evil one being the Sharptooth from the first film [[AdaptationalVillainy and that's if the novel adaptation is taken into account]].
* StockSoundEffect: While not pertaining to the film itself, Creator/FrankWelker's vocals for the Sharptooth would be recycled for numerous monsters and creatures not only for several of the sequels, but for other media too.
* StrangeSyntaxSpeaker: Petrie uses "me" in place of "I".
* SuperPersistentPredator: Sharptooth is actually behaving ''exactly'' how a predator behaves in this dire situation. In the lack of significant food sources, a lone predator will often pursue individual targets for several days until he either finds easier food elsewhere, or is injured or killed. And a group of infants without a herd to protect them, in real life, would be an extremely easy meal. Luckily, our protagonists are smarter than their real life counterparts. Also, he stops chasing the young dinosaurs and runs for his life when the earthquake comes (although he still takes a chomp at them as they are clinging on a cliff right above him). The novelization further justifies it: even by Sharptooth standards, he's [[SerialKiller far more psychotic and openly sadistic]] than most and is pursuing them both for food and for bruising his ego.
* TauntingTheUnconscious: {{Subverted|Trope}}. Cera finds [[BigBad Sharptooth]] apparently either dead or unconscious after being knocked into a crevasse by Littlefoot's mother Mama Longneck. After a moment of fearful hiding, she decides to prove she's not afraid of him by sticking her tongue out right in front of him and headbutting him. Then he immediately wakes up, and the terrified Cera high-tails it out of there.
* {{Temperceratops}}: Cera is a ''Triceratops'' and by far the most belligerent, short-tempered, and unpleasant member of the group. By all appearances, she got it from her father.
* TheyveComeSoFarSong: 'If We Hold On Together,' with its line "You've come so far, don't throw it away..."
* TooDumbToLive: Cera encounters a knocked-out Sharptooth, and after he doesn't react to her screaming in terror, she assumes he's dead and decides to taunt his alleged corpse and ram it.
* TomboyAndGirlyGirl: Rambunctious, rough-edged Cera and gentle, compassionate Ducky.
* TongueOutInsult: Cera sticks out her tongue at the knocked out [[BigBad Sharptooth]] before waking him up.
* TrueCompanions: "There had never been such a herd before." And the original final line of the film, from Littlefoot, "Now we'll always be together."
* {{Tsundere}}: Cera. She has her nice moments but when she gets angry, look out.
* UnspokenPlanGuarantee: Averted. Littlefoot's plan to get rid of Sharptooth once and for all doesn't go ''quite'' as seamlessly as expected, but still works even though he explained it all in detail.
* UnusualAnimalAlliance: The narrator points out that, "There had never been such a herd before."
* VerbalTic: Ducky. Yup, yup, yup. [[note]]The words were actually placed on Creator/JudithBarsi's gravestone (she was murdered before the movie's premiere by her father).[[/note]]
* TheVoiceless:
** Spike, although he can be heard saying "Food" in a foreign version and speaks twice in the sequels.
** Sharptooth as well, except roaring viciously. The sequels establish that most carnivores speak a different language from herbivores, which the latter only comprehends as growling noises.
* WhatHappenedToTheMouse: Cera's mother and siblings are never seen in the valley, nor is there any sign of them in the many sequels. Topps eventually gets a new love interest and the way this is handled suggests they're still alive, but that's the only clue we get as to what happened to them. Ducky also had a father present in her family in this film. However, he was removed for the sequels out of respect for the real life tragedy (Ducky's voice actor Creator/JudithBarsi was murdered by her father not long before the film came out (''WesternAnimation/AllDogsGoToHeaven'', in which she was the speaking voice of [[HeartwarmingOrphan Anne-Marie]], was also released after Barsi's murder)).
* WhyAreYouLookingAtMeLikeThat: Ducky has this reaction to the idea of her being used as Sharptooth bait.
* TheWindowOrTheStairs: Cera and the other dinosaurs refuse to follow Littlefoot's instructions on where to go to find the Great Valley, instead taking an easier path. Their "easier path" winds up getting Petrie stuck in tar and almost drowning in it, Ducky and Spike getting trapped and nearly killed in a deadly lava flow, and Cera coming within seconds of being killed by a pack of aggressive pachycephalosaurus.
* XenophobicHerbivore: The different species of herbivores seem to have quite a bit of FantasticRacism toward each other; as Cera puts it, "three-horns don't play with longnecks". The most extreme examples are the cave-dwelling pachycephalosaurs that Cera encounters, who try to outright kill her by [[HeadbuttingPachy ramming her with their domed heads]].
* YankTheDogsChain: When Petrie tries to join Littlefoot after the others go with Cera, but is unable to follow solely because of how unstable the surface he's climbing on is. And he can't fly.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Sequels -- General]]
* TwoDVisualsThreeDEffects: From Movie ''VI'' on, particularly in ''X'': The Great Longneck Migration, as WebVideo/{{MarzGurl}} points out. Most likely because Creator/WangFilmProductions had a sister company that specialized in CG (Sony Imageworks did the CG for film ''VI'' however).
* ALizardNamedLiz: A hypsolophodon named Hyp, a Pteranodon named Pterano, a Muttaburrasaurus named Mutt, an Opthalmosaurus named Mo (a more subtle example, look at the seventh and eighth letters), a Brontosaurus (technically Apatosaurus) named Bron, a Supersaurus named Sue and a Nodosaurus named Nod. Good grief.
* AllAnimalsAreDogs: It becomes a staple personality trait of Spike. Even Ali does it to Petrie! And Petrie blushes when she does so, implying this is the dinosaur way of [[GRatedSex kissing]]. One wonders what this mean when applied to the other examples...
* AnimatedMusical: Unlike the original, all of the sequels are musicals.
* ArtEvolution: Starting with ''The Stone of Cold Fire'', Creator/WangFilmProductions replaces Creator/{{AKOM}} as overseas studio, in addition to ditching the hand-painted cel method in favor of digital ink and paint.
* ArtifactTitle: The film's Brazilian title was "Em Busca do Vale Encantado" (In Search of the Enchanted Valley). As it was already found in the first film, the title made no sense at the sequels.
* ArtisticLicensePaleontology: While it's still debatable how broad ''Pteranodon'''s diet might have been (e.g. just fish, or fish plus other sea critters), there's no question that leaves were ''not'' on its menu. Vegetation takes so long to digest, and has to be consumed in such quantities due to its low nutrient content, that an herbivorous ''Pteranodon'' would be too loaded down by its food to fly. Petrie's diet is never mentioned in the original film, and the idea of him being an herbivore is purely a sequel invention.
%%* BigBad:
%%** The Plated Sharptooth in Film 5
%%** The Canyon Sharptooth in Film 6 with The Allosaur serving as The Decoy Main Villain
%%** Rinkus in Film 7 with Sierra as His Right Hand
%%** The Tyrannosaur in Film 8
%%** The Swimming Sharptooth in Film 9
%%** The Grey Tyrannosaurus in Film 10 with The Green and Orange Ones as His Co-Dragons
%%** The Blue Utahraptor in Film 11 with The Purple One as his Henchman
%%** The Spinosaurus in Film 12
%%** The Scar Face Megalosaur in Film 13 With his 3 Goons
%%** The Pale Green Allosaurus in Film 14 with The Olive One as His Dragon and a Carnotaur as A Secondary Villain
* BigGood: Grandpa Longneck is this for the Great Valley, with Topsy as his NumberTwo. They’re the leaders for the most part and the most protective/willing to fight.
* BloodlessCarnage: In a few films like 2, 3, 4, 6, 10, and 11. Inverted in 5, which has visible blood at least twice. Even the first movie, which is by far the most violent, didn't have a single drop of blood shown.
* ChuckCunninghamSyndrome:
** Ducky's father appeared at the end of the original movie, and is seen in a few early sequels, but is never seen nor mentioned from the sixth movie onward.[[note]]This likely had to do with the infamous and tragic murder of Ducky's original voice actress Creator/JudithBarsi and her mother at the hands of her own father.[[/note]]
** Cera's mother and siblings disappear in the sequels without mention. Which is especially odd because she's stated to be an aunt in ''Secret of Saurus Rock''...
* ContinuityDrift:
** Only a handful of the sequels remember that the dinosaurs migrated to the Great Valley. Most of them act as if the dinosaurs have been living there for generations, with Mr. Thicknose being the most biggest example since he claims he's never been outside the Great Valley. Likewise, the fact that they call the world beyond the great valley "the Mysterious Beyond" makes no sense, since it was where everyone lived before they found the Great Valley. Nor does the idea that the wall surrounding the Valley keeps predators out, since it didn't keep herbivores from getting in.
** In the original film, "Sharptooth" was the name of the film's BigBad. In the sequels, it becomes a general term for carnivorous dinosaurs.
* CousinOliver: Cera's niece and nephew, Dinah and Dana, as well as Cera's half-sister, Tricia.
* EvilEggEater: The ornithomimids in this film series are referred as "Egg Stealers" and are not the pleasant bunch.
* ForgottenFallenFriend:
** Littlefoot mourns for his mom a good deal of the first film, but only mentions her a grand total of ''three times'' during the following twelve sequels, one of which is just a passing reference about not leaving him any siblings. Presumably the writers were uncomfortable about bringing up such a dark topic in a kid's series.
** In the song "Always There" from ''The Land Before Time V'', Littlefoot quotes from her.
** She also got a big mention in ''The Great Longneck Migration'' when Littlefoot met his father, and appears in a flashback.
** The opening prologue of ''Journey of the Brave'' recounts that "the perils of this world claimed Littlefoot's mother", and how Littlefoot's family was torn apart.
* GenreShift: The first film was largely pretty dark and serious. The sequels are lighter musicals-comedies, particularly ''The Wisdom of Friends''.
* HelpImStuck: Spike is a frequent victim of this.
* ImagineSpot: "Imaginary Friends", "Big Water", "Adventuring". It's quite uncanny.
* InformedSpecies: Guido is a ''Microraptor'' but has a toothless parrot-like beak instead of a dromeosaur head and lacks the signature wing-like legs of his species. Also, he’s blue even though evidence shows his species was black.
* TheLancer: Topsy is this to Grandpa Longneck, though on many occasions they seem to be equal in power.
* LighterAndSofter: Compared to the original film. The lightness tends to go up and down depending on which sequel you're watching. In general, films 2-10 are the darker ones, with 2, 4, 5, 7, and 10 being the darkest of those. Films 11-13 are much more light-hearted, featuring an almost sitcom tone about them. Film 14 goes back to the tone of the older sequels more or less, although not quite as dark as the darkest of them.
* MisplacedWildlife: The franchise has many species of dinosaurs, not only among the main characters and side characters but also the carnivores, which lived millions of years apart and in different geographical regions all living in the same period and continent.
%%* MySpeciesDothProtestTooMuch: Chomper (see CarnivoreConfusion above).
* NotAllowedToGrowUp: Extremely apparent by the point that the intended demographic has already grown up.
** While the changes in Ducky and Cera character's voice actors could be seen (by someone who did not know of the change in cast) as their voices aging, Littlefoot's voice actor has had to change ''seven times'' because the voice actors kept reaching puberty.
* OneSteveLimit: Averted in the case of the term "Sharptooth". Not only is it the name of the BigBad of the original movie, the term is also used to specifically describe Tyrannosaurus Rexes, ''and'' is a general term for carnivores, meaning the following is a valid sentence: "Sharptooth is a Sharptooth, which makes him a Sharptooth." [[note]]The BigBad of the original film is a Tyrannosaurus, which means that he's a carnivore.[[/note]]
* PapaWolf and MamaBear: The parents of the five main characters, but also Chomper's parents. They were willing to enter the Great Valley to search for their child (whom Littlefoot and his friends accidentally brought in when trying to rescue another egg that Ozzy and Strut stole), and when they saw Chomper in danger, they made absolute certain that whoever harmed them paid in full, even doing so to members of their own kind.
* PlayingTheHeartStrings: Both "Always There" and "We Will Always Be Your Friends" are moving songs that use string instruments to some degree.
* RaptorAttack: The third, seventh, and eleventh films feature scaly raptors.
* ScrewTheRulesImDoingWhatsRight: In every sequel but 11 (and technically 9 where it was just on their way to saving themselves) they broke the rule of staying in The Great Valley to save someone.
* SensitiveGuyAndManlyMan: Grandpa Longneck and Cera's father. The former is friendly, soft-spoken and nurturing, while the latter is tough, aggressive and short-tempered. They become foils in the third film where they clash over parenting methods and how to handle a crisis.
* ShownTheirWork:
** Sure they may not be living in the right place or the right time, nor do they look very realistic, but the variety (and obscurity) of some of the dinosaurs featured is quite astounding. It may be the most redeeming feature of the sequels.
** Feathered dinosaurs appear from time to time, though they're not quite feathered enough.
** Despite being an ''Oviraptor'', Ruby doesn't have that dinosaur's StockAnimalDiet of eggs. She prefers to much on plants (and, in one episode, clams), making her an omnivore like her species was in real life.
** The ''Triceratops'' all have reasonably accurate skin covering, with crocodile-like scales on their bellies and thick armored scales on their backs.
* SliceOfLife: While it keeps to the natural prehistoric environment of the original film, the sequels feature much more of this.
* TertiarySexualCharacteristics: The only way to tell the females apart from the males is their color schemes, eye lashes, and voices. Although even the eye lashes aren't always consistent; occasionally male characters, most notably Littlefoot, have them too.
* ThatRemindsMeOfASong: Part of the sequels' LighterAndSofter nature. Though most of the segues into songs are rather well done for children's movies, and at least they make the songs fit in with the story. Except for that bit in "Journey To Big Water" when Ducky comments that they should sing to pass the time. Cue an inferior rendition of "Big Water", a song from the fifth film.
* VegetarianCarnivore: ''Pteranodon'' ate fish in real life, but Petrie, his family, and every other ''Pteranodon'' seen in the franchise are portrayed as herbivores in the sequels.
* VillainDecay: The majority of the Sharpteeth in the sequels aren't close to the threat the original was. Justified as the original was implied to be abnormally dangerous even by Sharptooth standards and according to the novel was actively malevolent and psychopathic whereas most of the others are simply trying to eat and thus more likely to back off if the heroes put up too much of a fight.
* VillainousBadlandHeroicArcadia: This is largely played straight in the first few movies, where the peaceful herbivores live in the lush and idyllic Great Valley, seemingly the only hospitable land left in the world, while the outside lands where the villainous carnivores live are wastelands of rock, deserts and tar pits. This falls by the wayside by later movies, however, as the outside lands come to be green, lush and with their own populations of peaceful dinosaurs, with the only inhospitable part remaining being the continuing presence of predators.
* VocalEvolution: Petrie infamously going through his “reverse puberty” in the third or fourth sequel Jeff Bennet voices him. Littlefoot’s voice also gets a bit deeper in the last movie where Thomas Dekker voices him, in this case due to Dekker going through actual puberty.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:TV Show]]
* AdultsAreUseless:
** Hoo boy. One episode has Spike trapped in a hole, so Mister Thicknose and Topps come to help. They spend so long arguing that the kids get Spike out themselves, then the two begin arguing over whose method would have gotten Spike out ''faster'' if they hadn't been arguing.
** An episode where the gang eat a bunch of sweet fruits that were keeping the valley safe could have been avoided if the adults had shown the children where the trees were and said "These fruits smell bad to predators, they may look tasty but if we ate them predators could get in." Instead the adults look shocked that the children ate these amazingly important fruits... that they didn't know existed more than a few days ago.
* ArmorPiercingQuestion: From "March of the Sand-Creepers", after Cera [[RageBreakingPoint finally blows up]] at Scuttle for asking the Gang one favor too many.
-->'''Cera''': You have to go to the Great Valley!\\
'''Scuttle''': Why should I?\\
'''Cera''': Because without the other sand-creepers, WHO'S GONNA LISTEN TO YOUR DUMB STORIES?!\\
'''Scuttle''': (taken back) Well, you got me.
* ContinuityNod: One of the strongest points about the show is that it's willing to bring up characters and events from previous films, showing that these characters and events ''did'' matter.
* ConvectionSchmonvection: The episode "The Canyon of Shiny Stones" is made of this trope (although they do, at least, remember that volcanoes produce choking smoke).
* DoingInTheWizard: In one episode, the gang and Mr. Thicknose go off looking for a legendary dinosaur called "Hidden Runner", thought to be a super fast, carnivorous dinosaur that can instantly turn itself invisible. [[spoiler:At the end of the episode, we learn that Hidden Runner is fast, but not super fast and his "invisibility" is actually his cryptically colored skin allowing him to camouflage himself. He kind of looks like a featherless ''Troodon'']].
* EvilEggEater: Defied. Despite being an ''Oviraptor'', Ruby is depicted as [[ShownTheirWork one of the protagonists with an omnivore diet and her species referred as a "Fast Runner" rather than an "Egg Stealer"]].
* GodGuise: Happens to Spike in "Stranger From the Mysterious Above", where a colony of horned gophers believe him to be the "Big Wise One" from their legends.
* GoneHorriblyRight: In one episode, to stop Ali's friend Rhett from boasting, the kids stage a plan to make Chomper look extremely dangerous and fierce. While Rhett does get scared off, this leads his and Ali's herd to try and drive Chomper out of the Great Valley.
* IDoNotLikeGreenEggsAndHam: The episode where Chomper loses his tooth has a subplot where Tria takes Cera and some of the other kids to her secret mud pool. Cera is at first very unenthusiastic about sitting in mud all day, but when Tria urges her to give it a try, and she discovers that the mud is warm, she ends up liking it just as much as the others.
* InformedAbility: Red Claw is stated to be the biggest and most dangerous Sharptooth around. Considering his accomplishments so far, including retreating from having fruit thrown at him, as well as [[LighterAndSofter the tone of the TV series]], this is a status he will never live up to.
* JerkassBall: Ducky in "Search for the Sky Color Stones". Especially jarring since she never acts this way before or after.
* LighterAndSofter: More so than the sequels, being a series aimed at pre-school aged children.
* MaliciousMisnaming: With a bit of AccidentalMisnaming, when Rhett confronts Littlefoot for questioning his bravery.
-->'''Rhett''': Oh, yeah, Littleneck?\\
'''Littlefoot''': My name is Little''foot''.
* MusicalisInterruptus: In "Return to Hanging Rock", Ruby gets interrupted before she finishes singing "Feel So Happy".
* NiceJobBreakingItHero: The episode "The Hidden Canyon" has the kids finding a canyon filled with delicious tree sweets that they scarf down. It's only after they eat a lot of tree sweets that they discover that the smell of them is rancid to Sharpteeth, and their eating the sweets is lessening the potency of the smell, thus making it easier for the Sharpteeth to enter the Great Valley...
* NoodleIncident: How exactly the gang met Ruby and the Great Valley accepted Chomper is never shown.
* OOCIsSeriousBusiness: In "Search for the Sky Color Stones", Ducky uncharacteristically acts like a greedy hoarder when she finds many geodes to the point she no longer trusts her friends, who are clearly disturbed by this.
* OutlivingOnesOffspring:
** Littlefoot's grandparents outlive their daughter, who famously suffers a fatal injury protecting her son from a ''Tyrannosaurus Rex''. In the sequels we see them filling the void by lovingly [[RaisedByGrandparents raising their grandson.]]
** Heavily implied to be the case with Cera's father. Cera's clutch included three other hatchlings, and after the Great Earthshake, Cera makes a point of not needing the other children because she's going to find her sisters again. While Cera is reunited with her father at the end of the movie, Cera's mother and clutchmates are nowhere to be seen, and they never show up in the sequels.
* TheReasonYouSuckSpeech: Cera, upon reaching her RageBreakingPoint from receiving one request from Scuttle too many, gives one to the crustacean who counters that with one of his own.
-->'''Cera''': ''That'' '''''DOES''''' ''it!'' Of all the mean and nasty, low-down creepy-crawlers!\\
'''Scuttle''': And you, lady! Your tongue is sharp as your horn and your heart twice as hard!
* RememberTheNewGuy: Ruby wasn't in any of the movies made prior to the series, and yet the others treat her like a long-time friend. Justified since the series take place after the movies prior, which gave the gang plenty of time to meet and know her.
* SuddenlySpeaking: The TV episode "Through the Eyes of a Spiketail" has it so the audience can hear what Spike's thinking.
* ThatMakesMeFeelAngry: Often, and it rarely goes deeper than sad, mad, or glad. Considering the original movie's handling of boundless joy and crippling grief, this is a little jarring.
* ToTheTuneOf: Several songs in the show reuse the melodies of previous songs, whether from the movies or from the show.
* TranslationConvention: Averted in the episode where Chomper and one of the Fast Biters get trapped together. They both speak the Sharptooth language to each other, and there are subtitles at the bottom of the screen.
* WouldHurtAChild: At one point, Ali's herd corners Chomper and make it ''very'' clear that they intend to kill him. He speaks up to say "please don't hurt me", they're stunned by this...and then they decide to kill him anyway.
* YouCanTalk:
** Ali's herd reaction to Chomper saying "Please don't hurt me."
** This is also the gang's reaction to Scuttle being able to speak their language, unlike the other crabs.
[[/folder]]
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