The Land Before Time II: The Great Valley Adventure

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

Alright, so the original was a little on the cute side, but it had a sense of wonder, of youthful innocence and to cut a long story short was a moving tale of love, friendship and courage.

However, Part 2 is no more than a Disney-style cartoon, cute and twee through-and-through. There's no real sense of awe or danger - it's more like a day in the life of a young dinosaur. Any kind of reality is crushed by the unwise inclusion of some insufferably bad songs. There is a cute baby T-Rex, but his parents lack the presence of the T-Rex in the first film. Other hazards include two egg-stealing Struthiomimids who, in the tradition of the most melodramatic cartoon villains, have ex-public schoolboy accents. Very silly.

There are moments when the film starts showing promise - the swamp scene, the journey into the Mysterious Beyond, but overall it's just a let-down. See the original instead, and if you've seen it then go straight to Part 3 of this series. Only undemanding kids will find anything of interest in this harmless, twee film.

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.

Along with "The Time of the Great Giving", "The Great Valley Adventure" is one of the better sequels. As a sequel it is decent, but the original which is a timeless, haunting and poignant masterpiece will always be the best. The film does have its problems; it is too short, I did find the songs forgettable (with the exception of "Eggs"-that was catchy), the dialogue uninspired and the plot meandering in places. Consequently it lacks the heart of its predecessor. However, there is some nice colourful animation and above average editing, and it was a delight hearing the heart-rending main theme from the original again. This is definitely the Land Before Time sequel with the best peril, with the sharp teeth quite sinister sometimes. The main villains, called Ozzy and Strut are quite likable and very funny. When I first saw this when I was little I actually thought Tim Curry voiced Ozzy, there are parts when he sounds like him. Actually it was Jeff Benett and he did a great job with the voice, I barely recognised him. The voice acting was very good, with Heather Hogan delightful as Ducky(if somewhat lacking the innocence and vulnerability of Judith Barsi) and Kenneth Mars dignified as Grandpa. The best asset of this sequel though was Chomper, he is absolutely adorable and by far the best character of the movie and possibly the cutest supporting character in any of the sequels put together. The part when he and Littlefoot say goodbye at the end was the closest I came to crying, and I did genuinely have tears welling up at that bit. Overall, while lacking the heart and charm of its predecessor, it is a decent sequel and easily one of the better sequels of the Land Before Time franchise. 6/10 Bethany Cox

Why doesn't the movie industry learn to leave a good thing alone? Why must they force out sequel after sequel (and each one is progressively worse)? It completely ruined the effect of the first movie when this and the sequels came out. The kids I baysit want to know why Littlefoot and the others don't sing in the first one, and keep pointing out where they think songs should go. I've had one kid insist they should redo the movie, since there are no songs. Really...singing dinosaurs? Why is this necessary?