The Land Before Time IX: Journey to Big Water

This was my favourite film when I was a child and I love it even now

The Land Before Time series keeps going on, and I see no end to it. 16 years ago, the first installment remains timeless, and that could be expected from Don Bluth. But to go as far as the eighth sequel ... the series should be wrapped up after X, but I hear XI is brewing.

After lots of rainfall, the well-known band of adventurers Littlefoot, Cera, Ducky, Petrie and Spike set off to the Big Water for a second time, to help a new friend, Mo (probably an icthyosaur), who has been carried inland by the floodwaters. Needless to mention the swimming sharptooth that dogs them every step of the way.

Last year's The Big Freeze was a change for the better for the series, and the Journey to the Big Water continues the same way. Sadly, it once again is spoiled by horrible songs, with lyrics that embarrass me when I realize I'm listening to them, especially with someone else in the room. The first had no such problem to hold it back, so the addition of songs to every sequel seems utterly pointless. The story is simple, and not too ambitious. It rarely deviates from the main plot, which is a good thing. I was quite astonished to find out that the film had covered 75 minutes. One of the major failures was dialogue: it just sounded unnatural and the acting wasn't confident enough. There was no depth to the voices or the material they had to work with. It may be a cartoon, but such a lack of realism as the film has must be avoided. During the journey, Mo must leap over a tall rocky outcrop at a waterfall. There are small rocks at the side, which are easy to jump over, and big gaps between them. Why Mo could not have taken the simpler course is a mystery. The writers clashed with the layout artists and won, just for the sake of another obstacle in the way. But to the film's credit, it has some better dramatic scenes than some of the other video releases. The storm and the violent water of the lake in the final monster sequence was refreshingly beyond all other such scenes in the sequels. Also, the scene is a good example of the special effects in the film, not to be found in the predecessors. Although no substitute for the exquisite artistry of the first film, the computer effects are a step forward. But the use of it isn't consistent. Some of the trees look like plastic models, not computerized props. This is most obvious early on, when Cera and her father are rolling the treetrunk out of the way, and the first shot of the sequence is the log rolling towards the screen. But for the remainder, the computer work is a step in the right direction. May it be even better in the next installments. Layouts, painted or computerized, are very good. It is at its best early on, with landscape shots of the Great Valley.

Although the sequels to The Land Before Time are forgettable, they do provide a decent viewing for over an hour. The Journey to the Big Water is better than most of them, but still not more than 75 minutes of time lost to light entertainment. May the series fold soon, and the greatness of The Land Before Time that broke new ground in 1988 be what is remembered through the years to come.

Generally, 'The Land Before Time' sequels are not so bad, though none of them come close to the near-perfection of the charming and poignant original film. Of the sequels, from personal opinion 'Wisdom of Friends' was the only bad one, the rest range from slightly mediocre to pretty decent.

'Journey to Big Water' has problems, but generally it's one of the better later sequels (made around a point where the franchise was starting to feel over-milked after the eighth instalment or so). In fact, perhaps one of the better entries in the series.

On the most part, with the exception of some rushed-looking character designs, awkward movements and plastic-looking trees (for example), the animation is decent. There are some lovely vibrant colours, the backgrounds and sceneries are detailed, the underwater scenes are very beautifully animated and the storm and nature effects are some of the most vivid of the series. The music score fits nicely, with its share of whimsical parts, sinister parts and energetic parts, all lush in instrumentation and clever in orchestration.

The story may be predictable and episodic, but it's paced breezily, has real cuteness and charm without laying it too thick with the sentimentality and sugar, the conflict does have some genuine tension and the messaging and values (important ones that anybody can identify with) don't feel forced or heavy-handed. The characters are a mixed bag, Mo is adorable (almost as much as Chomper) and the sharptooth swimmer is suitably antagonistic. Ducky and Spike never fail to bring a smile to my face, both are cute and amusing.

However, the adult dinosaur characters are underwritten and have little in their material of worth. Petrie is a little annoying at times, Littlefoot is sometimes likable but bland in other parts while Cera is an annoying (sometimes to the point of being insufferable) brat. The voice work is also mixed, John Ingle's distinguished narrator and Kenneth Mars' distinguished Grandpa stand out in the adults, while the best voice work overall comes from Aria Noelle Curzon and Rob Paulson as Ducky and Mo. Thomas Dekker varies in confidence as the voice of Littlefoot, sometimes sincere but he struggles being natural in the weaker material, while Jeff Bennett and Anndi McAfee over-compensate, especially McAfee.

'Journey to Big Water's' biggest weaknesses are the dialogue and the songs, criticisms that are true for most of the sequels actually. The dialogue too often doesn't sound very natural, with the humorous parts coming over as corny and the emotional parts mawkish too often, though both have their moments. The songs are not just forgettable and unnecessary (not to mention very badly sung), but the lyrics are likely to have even the most tolerant of children squirming in their chairs in embarrassment, "Imaginary Friend" is particularly hard to sit through.

Overall, not great but decent. One of the better sequels. 6/10 Bethany Cox

Don Bluth's original film of 1988 is a minor modern classic, no matter how we might scrutinize it. All the direct-to-video sequels are another matter, however: though none are specifically bad, the quality is somewhat variable yet often middling, and 2001's 'The Big Freeze' was too dully even-keeled for even its best ideas to land. As 'The land before time' grew to nine installments in 2002, there's no reason to anticipate that the new iteration would be any different. And sure enough, for better and for worse, it's not. 'Journey to Big Water' is once again modestly enjoyable, but unless one has a special reason to watch, there's no need go to out of your way for it.

Rest assured there is much to appreciate. One might nitpick some facets of the animation (shading, character designs, or the relative sterility and unnatural look that follows from burgeoning digital methods), but by and large the visual experience is solid, of course including beautiful, detailed backgrounds, and active elements largely rendered with just as much care. The voice cast may not make a major impression, but they are reliable, including icons like Jeff Bennett and Rob Paulsen; much the same could be said of composer Michael Tavera and his score. By this point in the series the original songs still aren't great, but they're not as entirely gauche, and some are notably better than others. And the writing, and the feature at large, are fairly simple and unsophisticated - this is built for light entertainment, geared for a very young audience, much more than earnest substance that can appeal to all - but there is worth here all the same. The story and scene writing can claim strong notions, and the dialogue and characterizations have settled into a consistency that's steady, and arguably sturdier than before.

In most every regard there are some odds and ends that are decidedly brighter than others, whether in the scene writing, in a passing joke or gag, in the animation, in underlying themes, in the voice acting or singing, or otherwise. Nevertheless, it's hard to summon especial enthusiasm for this flick. Maybe it's just me, or maybe it comes from watching the 'Land before time' franchise back to back to back - or maybe it really is the case that filmmaker Charles Grosvenor, and all others who participated in these creations, had grown so comfortable with the space they play in that the doing was altogether growing stale. The adventure is mild, the drama is mild, the humor is mild, and it increasingly seems as if the visuals, the voice acting, the music, and the sum total of it all is also pointedly mild. True, that is perhaps all it needs to be with its goal of soft, fleeting fun. Yet if a movie is going to leave so little of a mark, even in those moments that are ostensibly the most "urgent," might we not be disinclined from watching in the first place?

There is value here. There are no major, emphatic faults. 'The land before time IX' is a duly good time, and some tidbits are splendid. The problem is that there's nothing here that particularly stands out, and that would help the whole to stand the test of time in a meaningful fashion. As it exists we can "watch" without actively engaging, for the picture neither requires nor inspires us to do so, not even as our beloved diminutive dinos make the lengthy titular trek. There's nothing wrong with watching, and may you get more out of it than I do; part of me wants to like it more than I do. Just know that 'Journey to Big Water' is just about as safe and undistinguished as this series can get (I hope), and to whatever extent we may like it, there are also more deserving ways to spend our time.

This year (2003) The land before time will celebrate it's 15th Anniversary as it all started in 1988, but yet there is more to come. I heard that there are going to be more land before time movies.

THE LAND BEFORE TIME X: THE GREAT MIGRATION (2003) THE LAND BEFORE TIME XI (2004) THE LAND BEFORE TIME: SPECIAL EDITION (2008)

The land before time special edition will be released in 2008 to mark the 20th anniversary, The film will be back in cinemas but there will be something special, An extending 30 minutes of extra footage that has never been seen before. As we look forward to the future i think they should try

THE LAND BEFORE TIME XII: THE RETURN OF CHOMPER