Oh, We’re Doing This Again?

Here we are, the last film in The Land Before TimeThis series, first started with a classic animated film by Don Bluth, tells the continuing adventures of five dinosaur kids back in the Prehistoric era. series. While the original run stretched from 1994 (for the first sequel, The Great Valley Adventure) through to 2007 for the thirteenth, The Wisdom of Friends, it then wrapped up not with a film but a television series. Twenty-six episodes capped a run of 12 films (not counting the 1988 original, The Land Before Time), and then everyone involved decided, “hey, you know, maybe we’ve run out of ideas for this franchise.” And so it sat for nine years.

It’s worth pointing out that the gap from the thirteenth (and what many probably assumed was the final) film and the fourteenth (that currently does serve as the final release) was longer than even the gap between film one and film two. Nine years in which time all the little kids that had grown up with the franchise and become teenagers had, presumably, moved on to other things, putting The Land Before Time behind them. Making a sequel, after all that time, when audiences had likely moved on and a new audience hadn’t been cultivated to grow the franchise for the future, was certainly a bold idea. This was a property Universal owned and, clearly, they thought there was still magic in the media.

While it’s hard to find sales figures for this film online, we can look at the fact that this movie wasn’t followed by any further adventures as a clear sign it didn’t sell well. If we’re kind, we can assume that Universal thought that the kids who saw the 1988 film were now adults and would want to share the franchise with their kids. Tap into nostalgia and create a whole new group of kids who want to watch the films with their parents. And if that was the idea it clearly didn’t work because, man, this franchise isn’t tapping into nostalgia. It’s just remaking the same stories over and over again.

This fourteenth adventure, Journey of the Brave, is a misshapen and stupid adventure that, despite its many, many nods to the past continuity of not only all the previous films but also the television series (which, at this point, I have no desire or plans to watch), somehow also tells a story that treats everyone as if the kid heroes of the film have never once gone on an adventure before. It both wants you to know everything they did for thirteen films and twenty-six episodes while also assuming that these kid heroes are absolutely incapable of ever handling an adventure on their own at all. I guess it wanted to be a reboot and a fresh start for the series, but it does so by absolutely clinging desperately to everything that came before as well, and it just doesn’t work.

The film opens with Littlefoot (now voiced by Felix Avitia) awaiting the arrival of his dad, Bron (now voiced by Scott Whyte) and the great herd that he leads. But while the herd arrives, Bron does not. A tragic accident happened on their voyage here, caused by a massive earthquake and a lava flow, and the rest of the herd had to abandon him. Littlefoot wants to go and rescue him because he can’t just leave his dad behind. Everyone else in the Great Valley, including his friends Cera (now voiced by Anndi McAfee), Ducky (Aria Curzon), Petrie (Jeff Bennett), and Spike (Rob Paulsen) thinks this is a terrible idea. The journey is too dangerous, no one would survive.

Littlefoot, being a headstrong kid, decides to go it alone. His friends initially state they won’t go, but they eventually relent, following along to help Littlefoot out. This forces them to travel over the great earth split, across the land of the feathered sharp tooth, and then through the deserts beyond until they find the wide expanse of water that leads to fire-top mountain. They’ll bicker and fight along the way, but if they’re brave enough, and keep their friendship going, these five little heroes will have the strength to see the journey through, just as they always do.

To be honest, there was very little I actually liked about this film. If I’m being kind I suppose I could praise the voice actors, who at least sound right and continue to be able to give emotion to these characters as they continue to do the same kinds of adventures, over and over again. New player Reba McEntire (yes, that Reba McEntire), joins as Etta, and she sings one of the better songs in the film (primarily because, as you’d expect, Reba McEntire can actually sing unlike all the rest of the voice cast). The voice work is good, if not great.

And the animation seems decent enough. With nine years between films, and an upgrade to proper high-def, the film looks colorful and sharp. The CGI backgrounds and effects aren’t as noticeable or as ugly, and all the character designs look well animated. This still doesn’t have the polish of a hundred million dollar Disney film, or even the artistic care that went into Don Bluth’s original The Land Before Time, but if we judge this film solely on how it compares to the latter entries in this franchise, it does actually look decent. It’s a low bar, but it clears it.

Still, so much of this film doesn’t work. The whole setup for the story is just bad. Bron getting stuck and not being able to travel with his herd is fine, but once the kids know that someone that’s part of their larger family is injured and needs help, they would, naturally, jump at the chance to rescue him. Every film, every time, when someone they care about is in trouble, they drop everything to help. The fact that everyone in the Great Valley, other than Littlefoot – and yes, that includes all of Littlefoot’s friends – are like, “naw, brah, that sounds dangerous,” flies smack in the face of everything we know about this series.

And then, later, when the kids do venture off to help Bron, the adults are confused and shocked that the kids are gone. It’s like they haven’t gone through thirteen adventures with these pipsqueaks already and seen that any time there’s an adventure to be had, the kids immediately bolt off, fleeing the Great Valley like it’s on fire (which did happen in one film). “Oh my, how could the kids do something like this?” Really, guys. Have you not been paying attention this whole time? Are you really that stupid?

I’d chalk it up to the film trying to be a reboot, a fresh start for the franchise that newcomers could jump in on, except then the film has so much continuity it falls back on that wouldn’t make sense to anyone that hasn’t seen all the movies (and the TV show) that came between. Chomper is here, a character that was introduced in the second film, returned for the fifth film, and then wasn’t seen again until the television show when he joined the cast permanently. He has a friend, Ruby, who you would only know if you watched the TV series. Bron’s inclusion is also something of a deep cut, since he wasn’t introduced until the tenth film, and then didn’t appear again until a single episode of the TV show. In the case of Bron they do at least include a flashback sequence to explain who he is, but Chomper and Ruby just appear without comment, and if you don’t know why they’re at the Great Valley now you’d never understand what was going on. It’s just weird.

But the biggest issue I have with this film is that it feels like a retread of things we’ve seen before. Without even watching the television series (which, again, is 26 more episodes of these kinds of adventures) we can already pinpoint times that these characters have gone through similar plot points. A family member in trouble in the Mists Beyond. A ravine that they have to scale over using a log. A chase through a desert chasm. Using a rock slide to (sort of) commit murder. A character getting stuck inside a cave due to a cave in. And, of course, songs about caring. So many songs about caring.

I know this is The Land Before Time and there are only so many ways to create permutations of these characters’ adventures, so inevitably some story beats are going to get repeated. But maybe that speaks to the larger problem with this series: the franchise is so devoted to keeping these characters locked in amber, this despite the fact that the films even acknowledge they’ve been going for years and years now, that if can’t let the characters grow up, grow old, or evolve. It has to recycle stories because it can’t really say anything new without making big changes to The Land Before Time.

After a nine year gap, when everyone that might have even been remotely interested in this series had moved on, it was time for big changes to refresh the line. Instead Universal, via director Davis Doi and screenwriters Cliff Ruby and Elana Lesser, decided to maintain the status quo and keep these child characters stuck in the same old adventure. People decided they didn’t care, and we haven’t seen a new adventure in the franchise since. Honestly, that’s probably for the best.