The Land Before Time recounts Apatosaurus Littlefoot’s journey to the lush Great Valley. Light violence and a couple of dino deaths are the biggest content issues in this story. The film uses different dinosaur species to depict the process of overcoming prejudice, and it conveys a message about having faith in the unseen.
Some may describe it as the land before time. None would call it the land before danger.
Apatosaurus hatchling Littlefoot knows this all too well: The nearby volcanoes keep erupting, the ground keeps trembling, the green leaves are sparse, and the sharp teeth of carnivores are many.
The sharp teeth of a Tyrannosaurus rex resulted in the death of Littlefoot’s own mother, and an earthquake left him stranded away from his grandparents on the other side of a great ravine.
Other baby dinosaurs share similar stories, like Cera, the headstrong Triceratops who initially refuses Littlefoot’s company. Ducky (a Saurolophus) and Petrie (a Pteranodon) search for their families, too. And as for Spike the Stegosaurus? Well, he’s just hatched from his egg and has no clue who his family is at all.
Littlefoot decides to search for the Great Valley, a lush land filled with food and safety that his mother told him about before her death. And the other dinosaurs rally behind that hope. Together, they travel the distance, a ragtag group of misplaced dinosaurs, scavenging for food and dodging danger wherever it finds them.
Danger, for instance, like the still-roaming T. rex.
Littlefoot and his friends certainly display resilience in their circumstances—and we see how Littlefoot reckons with the loss of his mother. Though the dinosaurs occasionally lose hope, it doesn’t take long before they latch onto new moments of positivity that push them forward through each trial.
Cera’s pride comes from a belief ingrained by her parents that dinosaurs must stick to their own species. And because Littlefoot isn’t a Triceratops, she thinks it is beneath her to travel with him. It’s a belief Littlefoot’s own mother holds to as well, though Littlefoot is more willing to overcome the prejudice than Cera. The film showcases how working together despite our differences is far better than roughing it alone. To that end, we see moments where the quintet of dinosaurs works together to overcome obstacles, using their unique abilities to help each other. And despite Cera’s pride often getting them into tight spots, Littlefoot and the others faithfully remain by her side.
Littlefoot’s mother sacrifices herself to save Littlefoot and Cera.
Littlefoot asks his mother how she knows the Great Valley exists, since she’s never been there. She tells him that “some things you see with your eyes; others, you see with your heart.”
When she dies, Littlefoot’s mother tells him that she’ll be with him, “even if you can’t see me.” And after her death, Littlefoot occasionally hears her voice calling to him, he sees a depiction of her in the clouds, and it seems as if a leaf providentially falls before him to encourage him onward.
Though The Land Before Time does not directly address the topic of evolution, it could spark an interest in the subject given its protagonists.
None.
A T. rex slashes and bites at Littlefoot’s mother, who slams the beast back with her tail and hind legs. The attack (and an earthquake) results in her death. Later, Littlefoot and his friends push a boulder onto the T. rex, trapping it underwater, where it likely drowns. Otherwise, the only other death we witness is when a dinosaur eats a shrimp-like creature at the start of the film. We likewise see some dinosaur skeletons.
Littlefoot and his friends narrowly avoid being eaten, crushed, boiled in lava and drowned in tar.
None.
None.
A bug sprays juice on a dinosaur.
Every so often, we like to go back and retroactively review movies that released in the land before Plugged In (i.e., anything before 1990—or 2009 for our website). One such movie is 1988’s classic The Land Before Time.
There’s a little spirituality in this movie, with a couple of comments that might turn a head or two: Comments about the “circle of life” predate the later funky spiritualism set forth in The Lion King, for instance.
But as Littlefoot faithfully searches for the Great Valley—despite his fellow dinos’ doubts—a Christian could easily compare the adventure to The Pilgrim’s Progress, which depicts the Christian journey to Heaven in spite of the world’s temptations and difficulties.
That’s not to say the movie comes without any considerations. For many children, the death of Littlefoot’s mother was the first time they had to think about death. And a few other moments of animated violence appear before the movie’s end.
But even those moments aren’t salacious or over-the-top, which is why The Land Before Time earned a G-rating. And with positive messages about overcoming prejudice and persevering through grief and hardship, it’s hard not to root for the baby dinosaurs.
Kennedy Unthank studied journalism at the University of Missouri. He knew he wanted to write for a living when he won a contest for “best fantasy story” while in the 4th grade. What he didn’t know at the time, however, was that he was the only person to submit a story. Regardless, the seed was planted. Kennedy collects and plays board games in his free time, and he loves to talk about biblical apologetics. He’s also an avid cook. He thinks the ending of Lost “wasn’t that bad.”
