We’re almost finished with the revival movies, though technically one of them is the “last” in the on going series before the break I feel it was pretty much meant to start a new way to release these movies since the animated show had also launched that same year. Many people got their wish and wasn’t until 9 years later that it got revived to tie in with Jurassic World just like the first sequel did all those years ago. Both these movies had new directors and both feel different than previous movies and not necessarily in a bad way so let’s take a look at the last The Land Before Movies as of now but let’s hope a reboot comes along one day.

The Land Before Time XIII: The Wisdom of Friends

Released the same year as the previous film in 2007 but near the end of it so it had been nearly a year. I have to admit that I was not happy they were releasing more movies now that they had a cartoon but looks like I got my wish in the end since this became the last movie in nearly a decade. Apparently this movie is not well liked with fans but I think it’s one of the most refreshing ones we’ve seen in a while. The tone of the movie isn’t any lighter than normal, it just has more humor, but I prefer interesting humor in a kids movie than a safe by the book story for kids so at least it succeeds in that. Some people blame the tone of the movie for the direct to video movies being cancelled but I’m guessing it had been a while since the decision had been made and this was like the last chance for the movies to continue and it just didn’t work.
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Every time an annual The Land Before Time movie came out I always wondered why they didn’t just make a tv show if it was so successful, after all most of the movies felt like extended episodes and it had an audience that wanted to watch them and they could still sell DVDs of a batch of episodes. They finally got around to making a Little Foot animated show and it didn’t do very well and it never received a second season and also took down the entire Land Before Time franchise with it. So, was the show that bad to kill it or did it just come out at the wrong time?

The Land Before Time TV Series

Taking place after the 13th movie but before the 14th, we have the main cast living in the great valley, this time joined by Chomper who comes back. Chomper was such an iconic design that I was surprised he only ever came back once after his introduction and didn’t return until this show. His second appearance pretty much set him up for him to be part of the crew but luckily the tv show remedies this and adds him to the group and it works. They also add a new character named Ruby who while still young still works as a mentor for the rest and for such an abrupt addition to the group she actually meshes well with the rest of the gang. Cera, Pietrie Spike all get episode focused on them so the new cast members don’t affect the dynamics much.
Continue reading Looking Back On.. The Land Before Time show →

By this point in The Land Before Time franchise had this reputation online of something that would never end and would get made fun of every time they announced a new movie. Everyone would ask when would the meteor finally hit (hey that happened in the last trilogy!), it was open season on the property and every blog could joke about it as well. Even though I hadn’t watched any of them I also wanted them to end even though I wanted to watch the whole series out of morbid curiosity. So with DVD sales being at its pique, let’s see what these young dinosaurs brought to the table.

The Land Before Time X: The Great Longneck Migration

It takes 10 movies but we finally get the background of Little Foot’s father in this film and even though it’s a rather weak explanation I have to admit that it’s satisfying enough. The film isn’t a huge classic by any means but a strong contender in the franchise and most long running direct to video series. They could’ve easily messed it up on so many ways but it is able to deliver even if it’s far from the coolest thing that’s happened in any of the sequels. This is also the second time we get to have a movie that has a flashback to the era of the first movie.
Continue reading Looking Back on..The Land Before Time Movies: 10 11 & 12 →

By this point I had no idea these movies were still coming out and I’m guessing that no one else in my generation did either as we had moved on to bigger and better things such as pro wrestling. It also seems that it was a transitional period for the franchise as DVD was taking over, the production now became more digital and they also started to feel a bit embarrassed by the numbered sequels as they were not emphasized as much. For all these reasons they took a break of one year 1999 where they didn’t make a sequel which they had been doing since 1994.

The Land Before Time VII: The Stone of Cold Fire

This movie while a bit lackluster does bring some interesting things to the franchise, first of all we get to see a few flashbacks set during the time of the original movie and we see a little of what the adults were doing at that time. It also introduces two unique characters that while seemed to be the new bad guys of the movie turn out to be good guys and the twist about them is that it’s implied that they’re from another planet…so aliens educating dinosaurs! So a few new things to the franchise and overall another sequel that is mostly inoffensive.
Continue reading Looking Back on.. The Land Before Time Series Movies 7, 8 & 9 →