The Land Before Time: The Wisdom of Friends

In 1988 the original Land Before Time animated feature enjoyed moderate success at the box office. This is the 12th direct to video sequel in what Universal describes as a billion dollar franchise. A lot has changed since the original film. None of the voice actors from the feature remain. The animation is really Saturday morning cartoon quality and has none of the detail work that Don Bluth gave to the first film. It seems these little gems have been coming out about once a year since around 1994.

In this 13^th story our little dino friends meet a new group of dinosaurs called yellow bellies. They appear to sport feather like features and, of course, bright yellow bellies. They have the voices of Cuba Gooding Jr, and Sandra Oh. These critters are not unlike modern ostriches and have the mythical habit of putting their heads in the sand when danger is around. This rather annoying habit manages to camouflage the zany creatures. “Stick out your tush. Look like a bush”. Our dino friends worry for their safety and attempt to impart their famous “wisdoms” on them. When the wisdoms don’t seem to be taking very well they decide to join the yellow bellies as they seek out the relative safety of the heard. “Stay in a group” is one of these clever little wisdoms that your own young tykes will soon be repeating over and over again. The moral of the story seems to be that different cultures have their own “wisdoms”, and I’m sure there’s a lesson about tolerance in there somewhere.

From what I can tell there isn’t anything here to set this tale apart from the 12 others. There appear to be a handful of mercifully short songs throughout. For the most part it’s likely harmless enough entertainment for the kiddies.

Video

Land Before Time 13 is presented in its original full frame aspect ratio. The transfer is pretty much an average to good presentation. There’s nothing here that the intended young audience will even notice. Colors are fine and often a little over-bright to stimulate the little ones enough to enjoy. Think Saturday morning cartoons, and you’ll know exactly what to expect here.

Audio

You won’t even notice the Dolby Digital 5.1 track. There appears to be almost no use at all of the surrounds for a wide mix. Dialog and a few songs are all that matter, and the front channels carry them off just fine. Again, the target audience doesn’t know surrounds from mono; you shouldn’t hear any complaints about this very average mix.

Special Features

Bonus Episode – The Hidden Canyon: Apparently the Cartoon Network is running a half hour show based on the franchise, but the broadcast history has been spotty, and I found a listing for almost a dozen episodes that have not been aired. The voices are mostly the same from this feature. The animation, however, is even another step down, and is blurry and very jerky at times. The story revolves around the young ones finding a hidden area with tasty sweet which they decide to keep secret. The secret brings danger when the sharp tooths use this hidden area to sneak into the home of our more peaceful dinos.

Games: There are 2 games the kids can play, but the controls are awkward and I don’t suspect it will keep their attention for long.

Sing-a-long: You can play some Land Before Time song segments, and the kids can follow the lyrics to sing along. Trust me, they’ll end up watching the thing enough times they won’t need this feature to learn the lyrics.

Final Thoughts

There’s really nothing at all wrong with this Land Before Time DVD, but it doesn’t break any new ground either. There’s nothing at all here for the parents. Unlike many children’s features, this story is simplistic to the core and will wear thin on the adult audience after the first viewing. Imagine what it might be like after number 67. I might suggest that you rent it and see how they take to it. There are far better family DVD’s out there to actually add to your library. If they do end up taking to it, there’s really nothing left for you to do except: “Just do what they do. Feel it.”