The Land Before Time VII: The Stone of Cold Fire

A lot of LBT's are childish nonsense, even good ones such as LBT 2 and LBT 3. However, this one actually deals with a few adult issues, which is extraordinarily strange for a LBT. Of course, it deals with child issues as well, in case you didn't realise. This film also has Michael York as a new "flier" called Pterano.

This film also has pleasant songs, good humour and a gripping adventure so it should be good for any LBT fan - or most other people as well! Yet another thing about this film that sets it apart is that it has different animation from any other LBT film, before and after.

The plot goes like this: Littlefoot wakes up in the middle of the night after some wanderers have come to the valley and sees an amazing light fall onto a mountain nearby. No-one really believes Littlefoot when he tells many dinosaurs about it, but he is determined to go out and find it. Meanwhile, Petrie's uncle has suddenly appeared from crashing onto a tree branch...

So enjoy this different, good quality sequel, "Land Before Time: The Stone Of Cold Fire"! :-)

The Land Before Time VII: The Stone of Cold Fire, the seventh installment in the Land Before Time series, boy I'm catching up after all these years of sequel after sequel. It's just crazy how many of these movies there are, right? But I'm not complaining, from what I was seeing in the ratings, I've been expecting trash when it came to these movies, but so far they've been enjoyable. The Stone of Cold Fire isn't my favorite of what I've seen so far, but I really did like it. The story is really keeping up very well and the journey with Littlefoot and his friends have been just great to watch. I really liked the family story in this one, how many kids have had that one relative that just disappointed them and they keep hoping that they'll come back, that's what I think made The Stone of Cold Fire a great story to relate too.

One night, Littlefoot sees a "flying rock" falling from the sky and colliding with a mountain in the Smoking Mountain range. The flying rock's appearance differs very much from any Littlefoot has seen so far. When Littlefoot tells about what he has seen the next morning, most of the full-grown dinosaurs in the Great Valley, none of whom has seen the flying rock, disbelieve Littlefoot's story. However, two newcomers, the mysterious "Rainbow Faces", begin to speak eloquently of a "Stone of Cold Fire" possessing seemingly magical properties, and other wonders that might become known if the dinosaurs free themselves from limits and think "beyond the Mysterious Beyond". Littlefoot embraces this idea, his imagination having been stimulated by the ideas. However, Mr. Threehorn, being practical tells the Rainbow Faces how things work in the valley: first, a flying rock is a flying rock; second, fire can't be cold; and third, there's nothing beyond the Mysterious Beyond. Unknown to the others, Petrie's uncle Pterano has also heard. Being highly ambitious and deceitful, he makes plans to take possession of the stone and its supposed powers. Pterano and his two cronies, Rinkus and Sierra, confront Littlefoot and his friends and offer to help searching for the stone to prove its existence. Littlefoot refuses to search for the stone, feeling reluctance to trust Pterano. It is soon shown that no adult trusts Pterano, who once was expelled from the Herd on a charge of neglect. Following that, Pterano asks Petrie, who idolizes him, to obtain the information about the place where the meteor landed from Littlefoot. Ducky is surprised by Sierra while eavesdropping on Pterano, whereupon she is abducted by Pterano. The group sets out to save Ducky and recover the cold fire stone before Pterano and his gang does.

The Land Before Time VII: The Stone of Cold Fire is a great story for those who know what it feels like to have disappointment, but I loved how it really picked up in the end and just had a great happy ending, even if it can be unrealistic compared to real life, but for the kid's sake, it's good to have that happy ending. I would definitely recommend this sequel, I really like these movies and hope the ratings kick up a bit and that people will be more open to these sequels. They're great family films, short, but always deliver a great story with Littlefoot and his friends.

6/10

Littlefoot observes a "stone of cold fire" fall into the Mysterious Beyond but everyone thinks he imagines it, apart from Petrie's uncle, Pterano.

This film has a serious message about how we should take responsibility for our actions. It also explains that goodness can be found even in a person who seems bad.

Pterano and his henchmen are entertaining new villains, especially Pterano. He basks in his assumed greatness and demonstrates a range of emotions. He is excellently voiced by Michael York. Two other new characters are a pair of "rainbow faces" who encourage Littlefoot in his quest for knowledge. They are mysterious right up to the surprise ending which I won't give away.

The youngsters are as cute as ever, especially Ducky and Petrie, who are given more to do than normal. The best song is sung by Pterano. The animation isn't top notch but that is only to be expected from a straight to video release. It can be enjoyed by adults. (I'm 23)

Rating 9/10

Like the original, a well crafted heatwarming tale. This storyline is full of morals and lessons from fanily, trust, democracy, greed, honour, teamwork, friendship and much more.

The animation is traditional and simplistic with some innccuracies of depictions of species' features and some inaccuacies between Mesozoic and Cenozoic periods. However the dubbing is amazing with characters vocal patterns and use of language being correlative to the species presumed intelligence.

Unlike the original this has several musical numbers which seem dubious in the context of the series. The songs seem to get marginally better throughout the series.

A must watch for kids.

When I first saw this sequel two years ago, I thought it was merely okay. Recently I have been on an endeavour to re watch all of the sequels to see whether my initial opinion of them had changed. In some cases no, but this was one of those cases when it was better than I thought. I did remark in my "Time of the Great Giving" review last year saying that was the best of the sequels, but now even with its problems, this one is the one I enjoyed most. Of course it is not as good as the stunning original, which is one of my favourite movies of all time, but it is an above average sequel. It is too short though, and the story structure is a little episodic and the songs on the limp side, but the film skips along nicely, helped by some nice animation and some funny dialogue. Actually along with "Great Valley Adventure" this is the sequel with the funniest dialogue, such as Sierra's "no no no yep yep yep, is driving me nuts nuts nuts!". The villains I thought were interesting here, Pterrano is a different sort of villain, not menacing like Hexxus or the Horned King but charming and smooth-talking. Michael York voiced him perfectly, in fact the voice acting was top notch here. All in all, this is a good sequel, with its problems yes, but kids are more likely to overlook any of the franchise's flaws and just lap up the sense of fun the franchise in general has. 7/10 Bethany Cox