The Land Before Time 30th Anniversary Retrospective Part 8

With Movie Seven being a great start in the second half of this retrospective, how well does will this movie hold up?

John Ingle returns to narrate the series once again, and the reminding expression regarding how dinosaurs resemble people. But enough of that, onwards to the actual story. Spike’s snoring kept Ducky awake for a few nights now.

While that wouldn’t matter in the first place, it does now. The dinosaurs are getting schooled by a Pachyrhinosaurus named Mr. Thicknose, voiced by Robert Guillaume. He claims to know everything, though I doubt he would mention someone’s father anytime soon. As with any school, there is a sense of rebellion; Littlefoot’s curiosity is proving more irritable to the aged dinosaur.

The school day ends on a sour note, especially with Ducky. Cera notices this and trains her to express her anger instead of bottling it up. Glad she knows how to handle her anger.

Unlike a certain Unicorn who shares a similar color scheme to a humanized Siren.

Spike meanwhile comes across a herd of wandering Spiketails, including a child by the name Tippy, voiced by Koda Himself, Jeremy Suarez.

Overnight, Littlefoot notices a slight dusting of snow falling on the ground. Mr. Thicknose doesn’t believe it and continues on his lesson.

Tippy’s herd finds Spike again and offers to take Spike under their wing “for the day.” This sudden departure becomes a bit of a shock to the family, but as long as Spike’s happy with the idea. And happy he has become, playing with his own kind, bolting down food to the approval of some. Mrs. Swimmer accepts the idea that Spike should stay for longer, but Ducky is slowly succumbing to the “Phantom Arm” effect.

Snow falls once again, and this time it sticks. The Valley-landers consult Mr. Thicknose about this, but when Littlefoot babbles out that he saw snow before, everyone turns against the old dinosaur. But enough of that now, we have a few new activities to invent.

Boom! Headshot!

But the weather started getting rough, and the dinosaurs are deprived of food. The Spiketails vouch to leave for better pastures since they do eat more than the other dinosaurs. When Spike faces a difficult decision once more, Ducky gets fed up and shoos him off. She regrets it immediately and starts following their trail.

The other three find out about this and follow her as well before stumbling upon an exiled Mr. Thicknose. When an avalanche traps them outside of the Great Valley, the children face the frigid conditions while leading an old man. They soon catch up with Ducky, who is being chased by another T. rex. After chilling the beast with a Mario 64 challenge, Mr. Thicknose pulls a liar revealed, saying that this is the first trip to the Mysterious Beyond he’s ever done.

Their search for Spike takes them to a hot spring and a source of food that even Spike can sniff while the herd sleeps through a blizzard. The Gang of Five scream their way into the Great Valley and lead the others to the hot springs. Mr. Thicknose commemorates Littlefoot before his grandfather.

When Spike almost drowns, Mrs. Swimmer proves her love to him and saves him. The Spiketail herd realizes just where Spike truly belongs, but they are always open to the little cubby. The dinosaurs stay in the spring until Spring itself comes around.

The verdict? Considering that the last film had more of a focus on Petrie thanks to the presence of his uncle, this has a particular focus on Spike and the overall struggle he has choosing between his own people and the family that raised him. I like how this struggle affects the mother as well; though she admits that’s it not easy raising a Spiketail in a family of Swimmers, even she would succumb to the “Phantom Arm” effect. I haven’t seen the rest of Season 8, but this Spike solves his place more easily than the dragon of the same name.

The animation is a step up from seven. The color palette has cooled down, and the characters often have shadows. Some instances the characters do appear without shadows, but the color palette is still tolerable, so I don’t really mind it.

Like with “The Mysterious Island,” adding a new element works well here; the fascination of snow and the dangers of the cold weather.

Outside of “Family,” the songs are pretty forgettable. Though I have heard Robert Guillaume sing, it really doesn’t work to his favor here.

Overall, this too is one of the better of the films, but it may have to take a few watches to understand why.