Western Animation / The Land Before Time III: The Time of the Great Giving

The third film in the Land Before Time franchise. It was released on December 12, 1995.

Littlefoot and his friends are dealing with a gang of bullies when a meteor crashes into the Mysterious Beyond, cutting off the Great Valley's water supply. As the drought causes the situation to break down between the adults, it's left up to Littlefoot and the others to go into the Mysterious Beyond and find the source of the problem.

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Tropes:

• Adults Are Useless: Not long after a meteor storm, the Great Valley's main water supply, a river running down from beyond the wall, mysteriously dries up. Rather than say, investigating the river's source (they could have sent fliers if they were worried about carnivores), the adults decide to wait in the valley and hope the water returns. In the meantime, water is running low, tempers are running high and all the food is quickly dying off. In the end, it's the children who accidentally find out that the water was blocked off and the adults can't agree on a plan of action and eventually, the children save the day by accident.
• Big Damn Heroes: Grandpa Longneck rescuing Cera and her father, and later Littlefoot's group rescuing Hyp.
• Big, Thin, Short Trio: The bullies. Hyp (thin), Nod (short), and Mutt (big).
• Calling the Old Man Out: Cera does this to her father shortly after he forbids her from seeing Littlefoot, whom he sees as a bad influence.
  Cera's Father: Cera, I'm your father. I want what's best for you.
  Cera: No, you don't! You just don't want me to have any fun! (runs off in anger)
  Cera's Father: Cera, please! I'm just trying to... As a parent, I... Ohhh!
  • Later on in the same film, Cera's father, having realized that he was never the best parent for his daughter, calls out Hyp's father, whose overly strict and harsh behavior leads Hyp to become the local bully.
    Cera's Father: If you always react with anger, that's all your son will know. And that's all he'll be able to express with others.
• Combination Attack: Grandpa Longneck and Mr. Threehorn work together to take down one of the Fast-Biters, with Grandpa tail-slapping one onto Mr. Threehorn's head, who then tosses it into a cliff.
• Contrasting Sequel Antagonist: The Sharpteeth in this film aren't one or two huge T rexes but rather a group of "Fast-Biters", which are less of a threat individually but quite dangerous in a group.
• Could Have Been Messy: Oh goodness, did those Fast-Biters just drown in that huge flood of water released by the breaking dam? Oh, whew, no. They just crawled out onto the opposite bank; they're okay.
• Darker and Edgier: Zigzagged compared to the second film. On one hand, Hyp and his gang are merely bullies and never actually try to kill the heroes like Ozzie and Strut, and the Fast-Biters are not as powerful as Chomper's parents. On the other hand, the water crisis and the wildfire are surprisingly realistic threats and put the Valley in a much more dire situation than a pair of adult Sharpteeth.
• A Day in the Limelight: Mr. Threehorn gets much more screentime in this film than in the first or second movies, with a subplot around him taking charge of rationing the Valley's dwindling water supply. Consequently Cera also gets more screentime as well.
• Forbidden Zone: The Mysterious Beyond, like in the previous movie. It's much less freaky this time around, though.
• The Great Fire: A massive wildfire rages through the Great Valley following the prolonged drought. Much of the Valley is devastated, and the dinosaurs have to share what little vegetation is left until the Valley recovers, leading to them calling this period "The Time of the Great Giving".
• Heel Realization: Hyp and his gang, Hyp's father, and Mr. Threehorn all have various degrees of this.
• Inciting Incident: The meteor that crashes into the Mysterious Beyond escalates the plot from Littlefoot's group simply dealing with bullies into a fight for survival.
• Informed Species: Hyp and his father are one of the most notable examples in the series. They are meant to be Hypsilophodon, which look like this, but the former look more like undersized, square-jawed iguanodonts with underbites. Ironically, we later did find a small iguanodont named Hippodraco.
• Minion with an F in Evil: Mutt might be a member of Hyp’s gang, but he comes across as a Kindhearted Simpleton who isn’t interested in being a bully but just follows whatever his leader tells him. At one point, he even questions Hyp why they are always looking for trouble, prompting Hyp to burst into his Villain Song.
• National Animal Stereotypes: The film features a dinosaur equivalent of this, in the form of an Iguanodon character with a British accent. Iguanodon is the most famous dinosaur discovered in Britain.
• Natural Disaster Cascade: Of the Disaster Dominoes variety: meteors hit outside the Great Valley, causing a drought, which causes a massive wildfire, which then causes a food shortage.
• Papa Wolf: Hyp's father is quite the fighter when put to it and doesn't hesitate taking on multiple Velociraptors to keep the children safe.
• Plot-Irrelevant Villain: The Fast-Biter pack have nothing to do with the water blockage and merely exist to give the film a climax.
• Raptor Attack: The raptors that attack the Great Valley dinosaurs during the climax are the typical Jurassic Park variety, though granted, scaly dromaeosaurs were considered accurate at the time. Less reasonable though is how a pack of just four man-sized raptors (who quickly get reduced to three) present any sort of threat to a posse that includes a Triceratops, Ankylosaurus, and a giant Apatosaurus.
• Quicksand Sucks: Hyp jumps into what he thinks is water in the Mysterious Beyond and quickly learns he's in trouble.
• Shut Up, Hannibal!: Topps gives Cera a lecture about who her friends should be and that Littlefoot is a bad influence because he splashed water. Cera fires back that he just doesn't want her to have friends and she runs away, leaving Topps defeated.
  Cera: I don't understand, Daddy!
  Topps: You need friends who know how to play! Especially in times like this!
  Cera: Littlefoot is my friend! He'll always be my friend!
  Topps: Cera, I'm your father, I know what's best for you!
  Cera: (in tears, angry) No, you don't! You just don't want me to have any fun! (runs away)
• Terrible Trio: Hyp, Nod, and Mutt, the three bullies.
• This Looks Like a Job for Aquaman: The smoke during the fire makes it impossible for the adults to see where they're going, requiring Littlefoot—who previously wished he wasn't so small—to lead them to safety.
• Title Drop: One of the few Land Before Time films to actually say its title. "The Time of the Great Giving" comes once the water flow is restored, with the Valley having to work together to share food after the fire.
• Villain Song:
  • "When You're Big" features Hyp singing about how he's better than Littefoot and the gang because he and his friends are bigger than them.
  • "Standing Tough", a song by Topps about how everyone needs to tough up if they hope to survive the famine.
• Was Too Hard on Him: Topps realizes he's been too harsh on Cera after watching how Hyp's father treats his own son.
• White-and-Grey Morality: In a change from the previous two films, most of the conflict in the story comes from either Hyp and his gang, who aren't so much villains as just bullies, and Mr. Threehorn, a Well-Intentioned Extremist trying to make sure the water supply lasts.

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