"Some things you see with your eyes, others you see with your heart."
Hello everyone!
That's right, I'm on an old cartoon animation kick.
And what better way to keep going ... than by going for what, it has been said before, is probably ranked among the top ten saddest movies of all time?
Yes, I watched it voluntarily.
Yes, I recognize this is probably insane.
But anyway!
Without further ado, let's check back in with the land of ... dinosaurs. You guessed it. It's back, way back we go, and we'll hopefully not lose all hope along the way.
That's what sometimes happens if you're watching The Land Before Time.
Links to previous related works (other animations that aren't Disney, that is!) can be found at the bottom of the page, as per usual.
The Land Before Time tells the story of ... well, a land well before time was fixed in the way we know it to be today. This was the time of those big, giant species that roamed the Earth: dinosaurs.
And in this cartoon, they're separated into Leaf-grazers and Sharp-teeth, and you can probably guess which hunts which.
It's also the time of great turmoil as the land seems to be dying, and herds are making a great migration west, to the fabled Great Valley which is still supposedly lush and green and can house them all. During this time, one herd of Longnecks only has a single newborn among them - Littlefoot.
Together with his mother and grandparents, Littlefoot sets off on the journey towards the Great Valley, learning that Longnecks remain separate from other herds, like Three-horns and Spike-tails, etc. Not that he ever understands WHY, and it's actually an interesting little representation of racial division if you ask me, not that kids will pick up on it.
Anyway, he and a Three-horn, Cera (a triceratops) want to play, but their parents separate them, so instead they sneak off at night and accidentally cross paths with the Sharptooth, who gives chase.
Littlefoot's mother is the only one to come running, while I'm wondering if the Three-horns are deaf - they could have really been useful fighting the T-Rex!
Combined with the fight is a sudden earthquake which splits the gorge in two (the tectonic plates are shifting), separating Littlefoot from his grandparents, not to mention Cera from her family - Littlefoot's mother succumbs to her injuries, with one final guidance to always follow his heart, as it will lead him where he needs to go.
If you're not sobbing your eyes out, you're made of stone. STONE, I tell you.
Littlefoot then runs through the gamut of emotions, from loneliness to grief to anger and then finally to fear (the scene where he thinks his mom's back but it's actually his own shadow IS HEART-WRENCHING), and it doesn't help that Cera continues being an elitist little bully wanting nothing to do with him.
Thankfully though, he finds an Saurolophus, Ducky, and a Pteranodon, Petrie (who can't fly, by the way). They go on the journey towards their families and the Great Valley together, finding Spike, a baby spike-tail, to join in on their group.
It might have been a peaceful sort of thing (if hungry), if Cera hadn't been an idiot and woken the Sharptooth up down in the cave he'd fallen into; Littlefoot doesn't believe her or her posturing when she re-joins the group, but after finding some food, they actually DO get chased by the Sharptooth, prompting Littlefoot to apologize for being a slight idiot earlier.
At this point, they've passed one of the markers Littlefoot's mother told him to find, but for some reason, his friends abandon him for Cera when it's time to pass the mountains of fire (volcanoes, for those less experienced with this vocabulary) and after Cera and Littlefoot fight.
I don't get it at all. At no point has Cera done ANYTHING for them, other than say Sharptooth's still around (neglecting to mention SHE aggravated him awake), and she literally abandons them when they fall into what looks to be tar. It's Littlefoot who comes running to save them, who's ALWAYS helped them, and then they rescue Cera from another herd of aggressive dinosaurs together.
To top it all of, she's not even thankful, but annoyed, and can't swallow her pride enough to admit she'd been wrong, so she flounces off.
The rest of them devise a plan to drown Sharptooth and get rid of him once and for all, during which attempt Petrie learns how to fly, and Cera returns to help defeat the beast.
Then, they FINALLY stumble into the Great Valley, where they're reunited with their families, and remain friends to the end of their days (as per the narrator, generations of dinosaurs lived in the valley, telling the tale of their ancestor's journey afterwards).
THE END.
Only an hour long, this story is poignant, heart-breaking, and a wonderful lesson how chosen family is still family - though I'm still not sure exactly what Cera's role in this is supposed to be, beyond annoying everyone to death. However, we've all known a Cera at some point or other, the loudest person who tucks tail and runs at the first sign of trouble. We've also all known (or even been) a Littlefoot, or a Ducky, or Petrie, so this speaks to all walks of life.
It's a wonderful (if gut-wrenching) depiction of grief and the stages that follow, and I think it does brilliantly for the short runtime it has.
That's just the icing on the cake!
xx
*images and video not mine
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