Alternative Character Interpretation: Is the Sharptooth a morality-lacking creature who's only killing out of predatory instinct, or a sadistic serial killer who enjoys killing other dinosaurs out of vengeance and pleasure? Even the users on this wiki can't seem to decide. The discussion became a little more complicated when the sequels revealed that at least some Sharpteeth are just as intelligent and sentient as the herbivorous dinosaurs, even having a language of their own. Notably, Don Bluth himself stated that he couldn't really view Sharptooth as a villain if he, indeed, was just a predator looking for food. Conversely, the novelization expands Sharptooth's role, and makes it very clear that he is anything but a predator desperate for food, instead writing him as a vengeful and prideful killer who is only chasing the protagonists due to a grudge, and who would slaughter the entire Great Valley if given the chance, just because he could.
Award Snub: "If We Hold on Together" not receiving a Best Original Song nomination is this, but could also be possibly attributed to the field that year not being big enough to support more than three nominations in the category.
Awesome Art: Considered one of Don Bluth's finest animated films, special mention needs to go to the backdrops; the artists were challenged with having to create beautiful images in a setting that was mostly a barren wasteland. 95% of the movie takes place in areas with no foliage, so they resorted to vibrant colours. This results in the desolate locations still looking quite striking.
Petrie. Some find him cute and funny, others find him annoying. This continues into the sequels. Some feel he's been flanderized beyond recognition, while some still find him cute and funny.
Cera. While she was generally well-received by the critics, there were various viewers who were bothered by her attitude. It didn't help the fact that she remained the most prejudiced and bratty of the characters, and even insulted Littlefoot's mother despite the fact that she saved her life. Luckily, while still being the main character with the most attitude, in the sequels she mellows out, eventually becoming more popular with many of the fans.
Rooter, the wandering Scolosaurus (played by the late Pat Hingle), who only makes a single appearance that lasts two minutes in the entire film. He is fondly remembered for kindly helping Littlefoot and the audience get over a truly tear-jerking death scene, but some don't care for how he subsequently leaves Littlefoot by himself. To be fair, Rooter was added to the story very late in the production as a means to help Littlefoot and the audience cope with the tragedy, and he gives the impression that he doesn't feel like he himself has much longer to live so taking care of Littlefoot wouldn't be helping matters, especially if it would mean forcing Littlefoot to deal with the death of another parental figure.
Designated Villain: While certainly a jerkass, Cera can come off as something of a Designated Villain thanks to the film's editing in two specific cases. In the first encounter with Sharptooth, she splits from Littlefoot at one point and runs ahead, ignoring his warning that she's going the wrong way. This is foreshadowing for the more extreme situation later, where Cera ignores Littlefoot's directions to the Great Valley and almost gets her and her friends killed in the Mountains That Burn, with Rooter's narration even saying that she "had gone the wrong way". However, in the first instance nothing befalls Cera from going her way and it's Littlefoot that Sharptooth catches up to, and in the second instance there isn't anything in the film suggesting that the gang didn't reach the entry to the Great Valley from the Mountains That Burn, meaning that while dangerous, Cera's way was the right one note even Littlefoot's mother outright mentions early on in the film that the only way to get to the Great Valley was going past the Longneck Rock formation and then the Mountains That Burn, meaning Cera was actually following Littlefoot's mom's directions the entire time, where as Littlefoot was the one going the wrong way. As said before, this is a result of the extensive editing the film underwent. note In the original cut, Sharptooth had a Jump Scare entrance right in front of Cera as she ran without listening to Littlefoot which shows that his warning was justified, and the entrance to the Great Valley is clearly shown to lie at the end of the uphill path Littlefoot was advocating for, with the gang having backtracked from the Mountains That Burn to get there.
Everyone Is Jesus in Purgatory: In a particularly horrifying interpretation of the film. Click if you want to never be able to watch this movie the same way again Note the title: Land Before Time, meaning the Great Valley is Heaven that existed before time. Littlefoot's mother told her son no one has ever gone there and returned, yet as the world dies all herds journey there. Only his heart and faith can find it, never his eyes. The earthquake near the beginning was a result of the Cretaceous–Tertiary extinction event, AKA the extinction of the dinosaurs. Meaning everyone was Dead All Along. The film is their journey through purgatory towards heaven, represented by the Great Valley. The dinosaur that comforts Littlefoot directly after his mother's death is an angel trying to get him to overcome his anger over his mother's death, for which he blames both her and (secretly) himself. Likewise, his mother often coming back as a ghost to remind him of what she taught him so he'd never forget the way. The lava field is where Cera overcomes her sin of excessive pride, and where the rest of the group learns that there are no "shortcuts" to heaven, and that they must go on the path set for them, and have faith in it, or they'll never get there. The Sharptooth is representative of the kids' fear of their own mortality, and by killing him, they have finally let go of all of their earthly attachments, aside from Littlefoot, who still has guilt for the death of his mother. When he finally accepts her death, he finds the Great Valley, along with everyone else, where the rest of their families are waiting for them in the afterlife.
Fan Nickname: To avoid confusion between this character and sharpteeth as a whole, fans often refer to the film's antagonist as 'The Original Sharptooth' or simply 'The Sharptooth'.
Many fans wish the scenes left out of the film (for being too scary) would have at least been released in some form.
The last act of the film was completely changed from the original plan; after the Plot-Mandated Friendship Failure was when Littlefoot would view the apparition of his mother, and he'd find the Great Valley on his own. Initially happy at having gotten there, he'd realize it wouldn't mean very much without his friends, and he'd go back to help them. The confidence from finding the Great Valley would also give him the character development necessary to take on Sharptooth. In the final cut, he and his friends come together to defeat Sharptooth before they find the Great Valley, making Littlefoot's despair in the next scene ("It's just too hard!") seem out of place.
First Installment Wins: The original film is by far the most popular. It's considered to be an excellent piece of work, even for adults... the musical sequels on the other hand tend to be quite disliked. Still, they have scores of fans and a dedicated forum.
Harsher in Hindsight: Littlefoot’s mother’s death was heartbreaking enough, but at least she successfully saved the life of her son from Sharptooth. (Also, Littlefoot was the only one of the eggs she said to successfully hatch.) Eleven years later, “Death Of a Dynasty”, the final episode of Walking with Dinosaurs, showed a mother Tyrannosaurus rex (the exact same species as Sharptooth) right before the KP-g Mass Extinction. Not only did her previous brood fail to hatch, but only three out of the twelve eggs in her later clutch hatch, with the youngest implicitly killed by its siblings, but the mother herself, in an eerie mirror of Littlefoot’s mother, fights an Ankylosaurus to protect her final two chicks, and her reward is to get fatally injured and suffer a slow and painful death. Finally, the very next day, as her two surviving baby T.rexes try in vain to wake their dead mother, like Littlefoot did - the asteroid that would cause the KP-g Mass Extinction crashes into Earth, and the asteroid’s blast wave sweeps the babies away to their deaths, marking the end of the age of the dinosaurs.
He's Just Hiding: Some fans believe that Sharptooth actually survived his last encounter with the heroes and is still out there. Usually, they back this claim with the fact that, for the entire movie, Sharptooth was shown to be extremely durable, and survived other situations that should have killed him. The fact that T-rex are now known to have been strong swimmers is sometimes brought up.
Jerks Are Worse Than Villains: In the first film, Cera exemplifies this along with Base-Breaking Character. Despite being the deuteragonist, Cera shows almost nothing but antagonistic behavior and reprehensible qualities towards the main characters. Sharptooth is undoubtedly the main antagonist and a bigger threat overall to the cast, but it can be (and has been) argued by fans (and by Don Bluth himself, no less) that his villainy is because of the food chain and only acts as such out of survival.note Although the original scriptwriter intended for Sharptooth to be more villainously Ax-Crazy, which is reflected in the film's novelization. Cera doesn't get that excuse: she not only openly intimidates, physically hurts, and insults the others (especially Littlefoot), but she even stoops so low as to insult Littlefoot's mother who was killed saving the both of them and leave Ducky, Petrie, and Spike to their deaths in the Mountains That Burn. In response to criticism about her character, the sequels greatly toned down Cera's less-than-savory traits, making her more of a short-tempered, bossy, yet loyal and caring Jerk with a Heart of Gold who always helps her friends when they're in danger.
Ducky with her optimism and cuteness is simply adorable.
Moral Event Horizon: Sharptooth easily crosses this when he tears off a hunk of flesh from the back of Littlefoot's mother, slowly killing her in the process. If you realize through the book that he is in no way a Non-Malicious Monster led by mere instinct and knew perfectly well what he was doing.
A lot of the dialogue in this movie is very awkwardly written and sometimes awkwardly acted, but it ends up making the child characters feel more genuine.
The voiceover can be a bit unnecessary, and clearly there to bridge some of the edits and changes brought on by Executive Meddling, but Pat Hingle certainly makes it work.
The film's signature tune "If We Hold on Together" should feel like an utterly saccharine and syrupy song, but given its placement after the rest of the film's dark and almost disturbing tone, one can't help but find it to be utterly heartwarming.
Older Than They Think: While the death of Littlefoot's mother draws heavily from Bambi, this film contains many plot elements that The Lion King (1994) would later use; such as the protagonist's parent dying in a ravine, an elderly creature teaching the child to move on, mentions of a 'Circle of Life', an apparition of the parent appearing in the clouds, and strong Fantastic Racism themes.
Part of what made the film such a success, and why it was so fondly remembered with 80s and 90s children is because it was incredibly innovative by the standards of the time. Like The Secret of NIMH and An American Tail, it tackled themes more complex than viewers were used to seeing in films aimed at children; rather than the off-screen shot in Bambi, this film showed the protagonist's mother getting wounded and dying, as well as the child actually having to cope with it. This can seem a little passe in light of a glut of children's fantasy films since the 90s killing off a parent or having an orphan protagonist (most famously The Lion King (1994)). The film also had Fantastic Racism in the subtext, which seems rather mild compared to the likes of Pocahontas and The Hunchback of Notre Dame incorporating real-world racism directly into the plot. At the time, it was compared favorably to Disney films from the 40s and 50s. So while many animated films since have perfected the formula of a darker story with complex themes that children can still enjoy, they do owe a lot to this one's success.
For its time, it was also an incredibly accurate representation of dinosaurs in fiction. The fact that it didn't go for stock dinosaurs helped in its favor big time. Then along came Jurassic Park, and a lot more Science Marches On, and the film can be left feeling more derivative of the former.
One-Scene Wonder: Rooter of course, who only has two minutes of screen time, but teaches Littlefoot the Aesop about living with the grief for his mother's death.
"It's nobody's fault."
Popular with Furries: Being one of the few films about dinosaurs as characters instead of just featuring them, scalies flock to it.
Questionable Casting: Will Ryan does stand out a little as Petrie. It wouldn't be as glaring if the other protagonists weren't voiced by actual children, making it sound more obvious that this is an adult actor portraying a child character. Jenny Nicholson even joked that it could occasionally feel like he was an adult trying to fit in with the kids. To some, his performance is classic. Others prefer the higher voice Jeff Bennett uses in the sequels. It’s hard to find common ground.
Spike's role in the original film is incredibly underutilized. He's set up to be The Big Guy who's Ducky's adoptive brother, but in the actual story, the most he manages to contribute is acting as a footstool for Littlefoot and Petrie to reach tree star leaves. In terms of his dynamic with Ducky, not only does he have no lines, but Ducky has a much more pronounced dynamic with Petrie that still takes center stage after Spike is added to the team. It doesn't help that Ducky only hatches his egg within the last 30 minutes of the film, limiting Spike to being just an 11th-Hour Ranger. The sequels would greatly fix this with him getting more focus and screentime, even becoming the main focus alongside Ducky for VIII.
Littlefoot's grandparents are sadly Living Props in the final film. They appear in a couple of early scenes alongside his mother, but display no noticeable characterization. As a result, it can be hard to properly get into Littlefoot being reunited with them in the Great Valley — especially since if you miss the lines of dialogue that clarify his grandparents are still alive, it can feel like Littlefoot is the last of his family. The sequels, maligned as they are, would at least address this by fleshing their characters out.
Toy Ship: There's a lot of adorable moments between Petrie and Ducky; particularly when Ducky asks if Petrie is smelling her and sounds quite pleased. Petrie also puts himself in danger, getting over his fear of flying, specifically to save Ducky. And Ducky takes Petrie's Disney Death the hardest.
Uncertain Audience: At the time, the film received some criticisms for being too dark and tragic for children but also too cutesy for older viewers (the People magazine review even said "unclear audience"). The $84 million Box Office gross proves there was indeed an audience for it.
What Do You Mean, It's for Kids?: The first movie has Littlefoot's mom getting a chunk of flesh bitten off of her by Sharptooth (it would've been more frightening without the Shadow Discretion Shot), the mega-quake that split Pangaea, and at one point, the heroes get stuck in a tar pit.
Littlefoot experiences suffering nearly being eaten by a monstrous predator and watching his mother die protecting him from said predator. He spends a lot of time either blaming himself or being convinced his mother will come back. His friends also lose faith in him and desert him late in the film.
Littlefoot's mother dies a painful death as her son helplessly watches her. The last thing she sees is her son helpless and alone in the world, and she can’t do a thing to stop it.
Cera borders on Jerkass Woobie, but it's clear her more aggressive personality comes from pride and fear masquerading as armour. The moments in the film where she's scared, she sounds bone chillingly terrified - and her cry of "Daddy!" as she's separated from her family reminds us that she is just a panicked little girl. It's also hinted she feels guilt for Littlefoot's mother dying to save her.
The sequels:
Angst? What Angst?: Given all they went through in the original, it’s hard to really imagine the kids being as happy and cheerful as they’re generally shown.
Anvilicious: Later sequels feel the constant need to repeatedly smash their morals in their audience's face, whether it be through song sequences or the lessons being used as key driving forces in their plots.
Archive Panic: There were a total of 14 films released during the franchise’s lifetime. Add in the 26-episode TV Series and a handful of Video Games and you’ve got a surprisingly big franchise.
Awesome Art: The TV series, due to having No Budget, has cheap Saturday morning cartoon-quality animation. The sequels, on the other hand, have always had at the very least decent animation. Despite the decreasing quality of the franchise, the budget for the sequels has increased over the years, and each film looks more polished and professional than the previous, to the point where some almost resemble theatrical films as opposed to Direct to Video films.
Contested Sequel: In a series with many, many sequels, a few of them fall under this at best, with the worst under Sequelitis below. There are people that hate every sequel, and nearly everyone agrees that none of them hold a candle to the original, but defenders will argue that at least some of them are still good films in their own right.
Plenty, depending on who you ask. Some of the more common ones include Hyp, Mo, and Sue. Probably the most popular two would be the first two major guest characters: Chomper and Ali, whom, judging from the narrative at the end of the fourth movie, was apparently intended to be the first guest character to be brought back for another movie (although this never happened, and she only reappeared for the TV series).
Chomper's parents are also popular with fans, since the series doesn't sugarcoat their threatening nature and status as dangerous predators, but at the same time, doesn't present them as Designated Villains but rather beings with thoughts, feeling and the capability to love, much like the herbivorous protagonists. Papa Sharptooth's occasional Deadpan Snarker quips (done via subtitles) also help.
The Rainbow-Faces are a species of this, which may be due to them being magical aliens.
Mr. Clubtail for being one of the very few recurring background characters with a name and for his good-natured if sometimes gruff personality. He often appears in fanfictions with him being mistaken for another same-species character named Kosh.
Evil Is Cool: While it is obvious, the presence of Sharpteeth and Fast-Biters are almost always appreciated by the fandom as they're, well, predatory dinosaurs and provide most of the series's more intense moments. Special mention goes to the Plated Sharptooth in The Mysterious Island for being a Gigantosaurus and fighting against a Tyrannosaurus pair, Swimming Sharpteeth in Journey to Big Water for providing some of the series's scariest moments, and the Sharpteeth trio in The Great Longneck Migration for providing a suitable climax for said film.
What will happen to the gang of five when they grow up and become adults is a very common theme discussed in the fandom.
What happened to Cera's mom and siblings, none of which were seen after the first half of the original movie? A popular Fanon theory is that they were part of the herd led by Pterano, which all were killed by raptors.
Fanon: As a justification for the Sharpteeth becoming less of a threat in the Lighter and Softer sequels, a popular theory is that the Sharptooth of the original movie was, even by Sharpteeth standards, exceptionally dangerous and violent, to the point that even other Sharpteeth feared him. It helps that the novelization brought up how the original Sharptooth was akin to a serial killer.
Fanon Discontinuity: There are many many different forms of this. This is especially true for these movies since they are musicals and are Lighter and Softer. Depending on who you ask, you can:
Ignore ALL the sequels. They're all results of turning a beloved movie into a Cash-Cow Franchise anyway.
Accept the original and the first sequel only.
Accept the movies up to Journey Through the Mists and ignore the rest, due to a writer switch that was perceived to have made things go downhill after that quality-wise. Also, the production team radically altered the environment to make it look like just about anywhere else in the world rather than the memorable prehistoric landscapes from before.
Accept the movies up to The Secret of Saurus Rock. The Mysterious Island and this film each have their good points and interesting guest characters, but the latter would be the last film to have non-conspicuous computer graphics.
Accept the movies up to The Big Freeze and ignore the rest note with the only exception being The Great Longneck Migration. We met the cool and compelling Pterano in the last movie, and here we see Ducky and Spike's relationship get some interesting attention. But after this, the movies are more sitcom-like in nature, with multiple gag plots, characters like Cera's dad acting wildly Out of Character, and even more explicit morals than with the first seven sequels.
Accept the movies up to The Great Longneck Migration. We get a reprise of the best song from The Mysterious Island in Journey to Big Water and in this movie we finally meet Littlefoot's dad.
Accept the movies up to The Great Day of the Flyersnote as well as Journey of the Brave. The Wisdom of Friends tends to be ignored, even by diehard fans of the sequel films, due to its overly silly nature.
Accept all the sequels and ignore the TV series, which many find to be dreadfully saccharine even in comparison to the sequels.
Accept all the sequels and the TV series. The Land Before Time is The Land Before Time, no matter what it is.
Or any variation of the above.
Friendly Fandoms: The fandom is on good terms with the bronies, as well as fans of almost everything dinosaur-related.
The Problem with Licensed Games: Most video games based on the franchise are widely disliked because they have poor gameplay, hideous graphics, and generic plots.
Sequelitis: While some of the sequels are considered to be decent enjoyable films that fall into Contested Sequel at best, especially when compared to the original film, the last few of them - Invasion of the Tinysauruses, The Great Day of the Flyers, and The Wisdom of Friends - are often viewed as the worst of the franchise, with the latter film being especially hated for having introduced the Yellow Bellies.
Surprisingly Improved Sequel: IV, V, VII, X, and XIV are often considered this compared to the other sequels. It helps that compared to the others, they have more depth and tackle complicated issues about morality and family, while also directly linking themselves to the original movie's plot in some way.
Sweetness Aversion: The sequels get this reaction sometimes, with their lighter tone compared to the first film, the bright color palette, and the constant use of songs that often come out of nowhere.
They Wasted a Perfectly Good Character: Hyp, along with Mutt and Nod, just appeared in one episode of the TV series and none of the other movies, which makes little sense, since they also live in the Great Valley. While they are far from the nicest characters, it would've been nice for them to have been more involved in another sequel.
Ali is also in consideration as probably the most wasted character of the entire franchise, mainly due to the blatant Sequel Hook that the fourth film's ending implied she'd be the first guest character to return (which unfortunately went to the far more popular Chomper who would return in the very next film after Ali's debut film which would help him become a mainstay), to make matters worse for Ali fans, she doesn't appear at all in the tenth film The Great Longneck Migration, despite being a longneck herself (meaning she never reunites with Littlefoot and the gang, nor does she meet Bron or Shorty). Much like Hyp and his friends, Ali also gets one episode appearance in the TV series which made her act completely Out of Character compared to her portrayal in the fourth film.
Toy Ship: Littlefoot and Ali or Cera. Also, Ducky and Petrie.
The television series:
Accidental Aesop: "The Great Log Running Game" teaches us that if something is difficult, you're stupid to keep working at it. You'll just end up hurting yourself.
While there is an episode dedicated to showing how much Ruby misses her family since she and Chomper were forced to move to the Great Valley to escape Red Claw, the subject of Chomper's parents is never brought up. He never shows signs of missing them.
In "The Brave Longneck Scheme", Chomper is chased and nearly killed by several angry adult longnecks just for being a young sharptooth. He gets over it pretty well.
Designated Villain: We never see the Great Hideous Beast actually do anything to the mammal colony to warrant his initial description as a beast. At most, it’s suggested that he sometimes steals their food, but given his minuscule size, it doesn’t seem like he’d be any kind of physical threat to them in the first place.
Questionable Casting: Nika Futterman as Ali has gotten this reaction, as she makes the character sound like a middle-aged, cigar-smoking woman even though she’s meant to be a little girl. It’s particularly jarring when compared to her original appearance in Journey Through the Mists, where she was voiced by an actual child actress.
They Wasted a Perfectly Good Plot: The somewhat half-formed backstory of Chomper and Ruby's arrival in the Great Valley as refuge from Red Claw is prime material for a potentially good movie, but when the TV series was released, they're already there and it doesn't explain how Chomper left the island or how he met Ruby. In fact, before The Wisdom of Friends was announced as the 13th movie, some fans speculated that it would be about how they joined the Great Valley and escaped Red Claw. This is mostly because the 13th movie was released in the same year as the TV series and some fans assumed that it would be a tie-in to the TV series.
is viewed as a beautiful song and Leitmotif for the movie that is iconic to the film.