En busca del valle encantado 2: Aventuras en el gran valle

After the original classic animated film "The Last Before Time", there came many direct-to-video release sequels with which the original director and animation crew had no relation with. A lot of the sequels, and there are many of them, are not all that good, especially not when compared to the original. The original "Land Before Time" showed the dinosaur world as being tough and frightening even to viewers. The sequels are not so frightening or tough, less violent, and are notorious for their reaching out to really young children audiences with their singalong songs. And the first of the sequels, being this film, is a bit like that.

I have only recently seen this film for the first time in years. I had seen a few of the later sequels before this and was very unimpressed. But the first sequels is by far, much better than those that followed. It sticks the closest to the original film's style and although nowhere near as good, is still a fine family film. This is the one sequel in the series I think the whole family will enjoy.

This one also has the best peril in it, making the tyrannosauruses (called sharp teeth) a lot more frightening and compelling villains than those that followed. And unlike the later sharp teeth, who mostly just growled, these ones roar like the original Sharptooth, the antagonist from the first film. And they are more violent and frightening and thus, more convincing. The other villains are a pair of egg-stealing struthiomimuses named Ozzy and Strut who are bumbling villains just trying to find lunch, but keep missing their meals. Ozzy and Strut are actually very comical and somewhat likable villains, even though they aren't nice guys. And in fact, their song "Eggs" is the only song in the entire series that I find catchy.

The film also retains the qualities and characteristics of the character the best. They are more serious in the first sequel than the later ones. True, they do sing annoying songs, but are still shown struggling to grow up and mature in life and prove that they believe they can take care of themselves, very much like the audience members who primarily watch movies like this. But Littlefoot is still the most cautious, Cera the strongest, and so on and so forth. The character of Chomper was a fine addition to the cast and thankfully, he doesn't talk like he would in later sequels.

Bottom line, out of all the notoriously bad sequels that followed the original "Land Before Time", the second one "The Great Valley Adventure" is by far, the best out of them all. And it's not all that bad really. I actually found it to be quite entertaining in its own way. So this one I can recommend. But those that followed after this one, I can't really speak as highly of.

My Take: Decent straight-to-video effort.

Granted, sparks won't fly freely in the direct-to-video sequel THE LAND BEFORE TIME II: THE GREAT VALLEY ADVENTURE, but it's good enough to satisfy your kids hunger for fun. It's a film where you could just leave the kids and allow yourself to do something else. It's harmless, family movie, which, surprisingly, I found decent.

Like all direct-to-video efforts, expect it to have a low-quality plot, weak characterizations and childish situations. But with all it's low shots, you can just look in your child's eyes and see how you rate the film. I remember watching this non-stop sequels over and over again when I was a kid, in other words, I was a big fan of all this stuff. But know, THE LAND BEFORE TIME II has dated badly. Now, I remember how inferior the new plot is to the original's plot. But, rating as a kid flick, it's something to keep the kids busy. It's a bit better than the other sequels that followed.

By the end, upon seeing the eyes of the kids, you decide what rating you'll give to the film, but I give it, at least ***, a high rating for a film that isn't that good on quality. Nevertheless, it provides as much fine fun to kids and as decent enough as I remember.

Video movie rating: *** out of 5.

The first film of 1988 holds up gratifyingly well, no matter how much we may scrutinize some facets. One doesn't wish to wholly dismiss sequels sights unseen - there's always the possibility that they'll be worthwhile on their own merits - but especially with filmmaker Don Bluth not being involved any further, it's only reasonable to approach successors with skepticism. Could 'The Great Valley adventure, coming six years after its predecessor, carry any weight of its own?

To whatever extent one could argue that the writing in 'The land before time' was a tad simplicity, straightforward, and even heavy-handed, it was only in keeping with how kids' movies were widely made for many years, and these traits were outshone by the earnestness of the proceedings. This makes it all the more jarring that the first minutes of 'The land before time II' greet us with narration, dialogue, and scene writing that seem to condescend even more and assume very little of children's intelligence; voice work that, while respectable in and of itself (I mean, who could ever fault Rob Paulsen for a single thing?), leans extra hard into being childish, cutesy, and simplistic (my goodness, our lead characters spend as much time screaming here as they do speaking); and songs sung in-character that bear scarcely more complexity than stick figures do. Frankly even the characters readily come across as reduced and diminished - written not for kids aged six to nine years, but those aged two to three years.

Make no mistake, this picture is an emphatically lesser creation when stood next to the progenitor, or for that matter too much of family-friendly fare generally. That still doesn't mean that it's altogether bereft of value, for there are fair ideas in the story and scene writing as our established characters Littlefoot, Cera, Ducky, Petrie, and Spike find themselves having a new little adventure in the Great Valley that they discovered the last time. (Yes, the name is very on the nose.) There's some mild humor that lands, too (and maybe some that's unintentional). "Eggnapper" antagonists Ozzy and Strut, voiced by veteran voice actors Paulsen and Jeff Bennett, are unexpected joys, possibly benefiting from the best writing and the best songwriting ("Eggs"). Composer Michael Tavera, picking up where James Horner left off, provides a lovely score. And while Universal Cartoon Studios takes over the visual reins from Sullivan Bluth Studios, broadly speaking the animation is just as dependable. The colors are more vivid, in fact, as we get beautiful painted backgrounds, and splendid detail in everything from environments and effects to character designs and other active elements.

Still, I can't help but feel that 'The Great Valley adventure' tries entirely too hard to appeal directly to the very youngest of viewers, reaching for unsophisticated entertainment that's more Elmo than it is Oscar The Grouch, or more 'Teletubbies' than 'Chowder.' This is seen in the timbres newly provided for our foremost characters as determined by the voice director, arguably in the more vibrant colors, and in the more brusque pacing. Even as our diminutive dinos' constitutional puts them in some danger and takes them to surprising places, the stakes feel notably lower and more contrived. There's little sense of drama, and in all honesty this flick feels less sincere and meaningful. It still claims value, and it's not as if the participants were phoning in their contributions. Yet fair ideas and potential seem to have been rendered with a mind the cheap and easy, the tried and true, and the conventional and artless, and what worth the feature boasts faces an uphill battle to be concretely enjoyable by anyone except the presumed intended audience of toddlers and preschool youths.

It's a good time, yes. But one has to be definitively aware of the enormous disparity between the 1994 antecedent and this 1994 follow-up: a gulf of less substance and more flavor, and of less heartfelt storytelling and more uncomplicated fun. Provided that's something one can get on board with the title remains a minor pleasure, though at the same time, I certainly can't begrudge anyone who takes a harsher view towards it. For my part I do like 'The land before time II,' and I'm glad I took the opportunity to watch; it's just that any recommendation 'The Great Valley adventure' deserves is a rather soft one, and it's not something that commands our attention, or which one is likely to think on at any point after watching.

I finally was able to watch all the Land Before Time sequels, as silly as they may be, I loved the original Land Before Time and I read a lot of these scary comments, I was still curious about them. So I was expecting nothing but trash when it came to the first sequel, granted I know that the singing doesn't really do much for the story and it's a bit stupid, but actually I thought this was a decent family movie that is very enjoyable. It's a great story for the kids, it's harmless and has great morals. The reason I think there's a lot of hate on the sequels is because of the love we all have for the first Land Before Time, but I think this is just a new way for the generation of today to enjoy the same stories we had.

Littlefoot and his friends are living happily in their new home, under their families' watchful eyes. When the gang tries to get to the sheltering grass to play, but land in the quicksand surrounding it, the grownups come and rescue them, then lecture them that night. Cera then tells the others that they need to prove they are independent by running away for a while into the Mysterious Beyond, a location just outside the valley. Before they leave, they notice two egg nappers stealing an egg from Ducky's nest. They chase them into the Beyond, during which a landslide occurs. The egg rolls safely back to the nest, but the five are under the impression that it was destroyed in the landslide. Then, Ducky notices what looks like the egg, only slightly larger. The gang "return" this egg to the Valley, only to find out that the stolen egg and this one are not the same. They decide to hatch it, nonetheless, until the egg hatches, revealing a baby sharptooth. While the others run away, Littlefoot decides he's safe, and tries to raise the hatchling on leaves. When he hears the others calling for help, as the egg nappers Ozzy and Strut are attacking them, he runs to their aid, while "Chomper" follows him. Chomper's shadow frightens the villains away, after which Littlefoot exchanges introductions between Chomper and the others and they accept him. But how is the Valley going to accept a sharp tooth? You'll have to watch to find out.

Yeah, the plot is predictable, the singing isn't necessary, and the story may be a little Barney-like, but don't go into these sequels expecting Citizen Kane. Just have fun with them. I know I'm a sap, but I just loved Chomper and Littlefoot's relationship, it was so adorable the way Chomper just wanted to hang onto Littlefoot and was like his shadow. I felt that this story had a great moral to the kids and personally as an adult I still find it very watchable. These movies are made more so for the kids, so give these films a break, The Land Before Time 2 is a good movie.

6/10

"The Land Before Time". What can you say about it? It's a classic film with glorious animation, relatable characters, groundbreaking music, and a compelling, heart-wrenching story. There's no denying it had a huge impact on me as a three or four-year-old. It will remain a favorite of mine until the day I die.

Now imagine my surprise as a kid to find out that there had already been five sequels made. I wasn't too picky, so I gave them a watch. Back then, seeing more adventures of Littlefoot and his friends was pretty much all I cared about. Now, as a critic, I must see them with a more analytic and observant eye.

Some fans of the original have disregarded these sequels. The general reason for this is that they have a somewhat softer tone and never strike as much emotion as the original. Therefore, I agree, none are as good.

The questions you have to ask with a sequel are "Are the characters continued well? Do they become more developed? Does the movie follow the logic of the original?" In the case of the Land Before Time sequels, the answer is yes on all accounts. Because the characters are so close to me, watching them mature as the series progresses is like seeing a friend or sibling grow morally or spiritually. Case in point, "The Land Before Time II: The Great Valley Adventure".

In 1994, six years after the original was released, this movie, as well as its successors, was brought out straight to video. But there's so much effort put into elements that kids wouldn't care about that it easily could have been theatrical material. For direct-to-video fare, the animation is surprisingly first-rate. It's not quite as stunning as Bluth's animation, but great all the same. The score by Michael Tavera almost matches the brilliance of James Horner's phenomenal score from the first movie. There's good money in this.

As the opening song suggests, this movie takes place very shortly after the end of the first movie. Littlefoot the apatosaurus, Cera the triceratops, Petrie the pteranodon, Ducky the saurolophus, and Spike the stegosaurus have made it to the Great Valley, and are living a peaceful and playful life under the watch of their families.

We have mostly new voice actors, the only exception being Candace Hutson reprising her role as Cera. Veteran voice actor Jeff Bennett voices Petrie with the nasal consonance that Will Ryan had. Kenneth Mars, who is most famous for his voicing role as King Triton, is likable and solemn as Littlefoot's grandfather. Heather Hogan is cute as Ducky, but doesn't quite have the innocence that Judith Barsi so rightfully put into the character. Scott McAfee voices Littlefoot in the RAS trilogy (movies 2, 3, and 4), and out of all the voice actors for him in the entire series, McAfee is my favorite, sounding masculine enough in the high voice Littlefoot is known to have.

We're then introduced to the villains Ozzy and Strut. They are struthiomimus brothers, as verified in a lyric of their song "Eggs", which is the catchiest song in the movie. Strut loves to graze on plants much to the annoyance of Ozzy, who is most fond of eggs.

During a night that Ozzy and Strut go out to steal an egg, Cera wakes up Littlefoot, Ducky, Spike, and Petrie and tells them that she's sick of being treated like a hatchling, and tries to work out a plan to go on strike. Littlefoot is tired of being a kid, but is still somewhat opposed to the plan. But when they notice Ozzy and Strut walking away from Ducky's nest with an egg, they all see their chance to prove themselves independent. They chase them into the Mysterious Beyond, the land outside of the Great Valley, and straight into a cave where the darkness causes everyone to panic and run amok, resulting in a landslide. The egg coincidentally rolls safely back into Ducky's nest. The gang lands in the Mysterious Beyond relatively unharmed, and come across a large egg that they mistake for the one Ozzy and Strut stole. The five work together to bring it home again, only to find Ducky's egg there.

Believing that Ducky's egg was there all along, they come to the conclusion that Ozzy and Strut stole this one from a different nest. They start to think it might be fun to raise the hatchling as their own, so they stand around the egg waiting for it to hatch. When it does, they realize that the egg contained a baby tyrannosaurus. But Littlefoot shows the rest of the gang that he's harmless and they welcome him into the valley, which starts the song "You're One of Us Now". I like the spirit of this song, but the lyrics aren't a lot. There's even a part where Littlefoot seems to cram too many words into one line.

We also get the best fight scene in the series, complete with dutch angles, when a local battle breaks out between two tyrannosaurs and the adult dinosaurs, with the kids participating somewhat. One of the most memorable scenes is when Littlefoot's grandpa fights off one of the sharpteeth in a lake.

The film delivers a good message on making the most of your young years and how fun it is to be a kid. Yes, that isn't the strongest message when you compare it with that of the original, but here's how I see it: The first movie tells the story of these characters' greatest redemption. They will continue to learn throughout the series. And if you ask me, this is a good place to start. It's certainly not as good as the original, but it, and (most of) its successors, are good sequels in their own rights.

7/10 for "The Land Before Time II: The Great Valley Adventure".