The Land Before Time IX: Journey to Big Water

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

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

This long chain of DTV sequels to the beautiful The Land Before Time has its ups and downs and this is one of the downs.

While not being awful it just disappointed badly. I had expected a lot more of the under water experiences which was promised in its title, but was only briefly shown at the very end. And thinking about how well the movie was animated in general the lack of contact with the under water world just made me sad. Most of the time nothing really happens on dry land, not even much of real threat or the life lessons these sequels normally did. It's just boring most of the time.

The new characters are all underdeveloped and that only added to the tediousness of it. Mo could have been so much more of an insight to the under water world and have more personality. He surely is the most memorable of this movie, but that does not make him a good character, because he was mostly just smiling and jumping around. The "Sharptooth Swimmer" could have been used a lot more, but wasn't.

The songs in general were forgettable and seemed to come out of nowhere. I am not a fan of TLBT take on musical numbers in general and this one proves it.

I have seen much more offensive attempts of sequels to great movies and I think many TLBT sequels have something to offer, but this one dumped its potential into the deep.

The ninth installment in the Land Before Time series, Journey To Big Water, is a nice addition but this is where I think the series started to show its age. Basically, heavy rains create a pool of "new water" that Littlefoot and company set out to explore. There they meet an ichthyosaur named Mo, who I must say is very amusing and I genuinely grew to care for him. Mo informs everyone that he came from the big water and they agree to help him back. The songs are a mix bag. The imaginary friends song is a major big-lipped alligator moment and somewhat sappy. Boring is a bit, well, boring but it does a good job of conveying the feeling of something being boring. No One Has To Be Alone is the best song in the movie, nice and melodic even if it felt a bit shoehorned in. As mentioned earlier, I like Mo. He's funny and you feel his plight of being trapped. Finally, the Liopleurodon is a legitimate threat, a silent hunter who takes cues from the original sharptooth. Overall, not quite as good as previous installments but has some very good moments.