Remembering With Rose Colored Glasses: The Land Before Time

As someone who was a kid during the 90's and early 2000's, Disney was the king of animated movies. Aladdin, Beauty and the Beast, and the Lion King were some of the Disney movies that people who were kids at this time all saw. Dreamworks didn't get started until the late 90's and weren't the House of Mouse's main competitor just yet. There was, however, one movie that was very Disney-esque but came from Universal Studios. It was directed and co-produced by Don Bluth, a former employee of Disney, and that movie was The Land Before Time, a 1988 movie about five dinosaur friends. If you're in your twenties you definitely saw this movie and most likely had it on VHS. I recently watched it again on Netflix and was surprised how simple and complex the movie was.

The plot is pretty simple, due to climate change causing a lack of food, dinosaurs are migrating to a place called the" Great Valley". The Great Valley is a paradise like a place filled with plenty of food for herbivores. The main character Littlefoot, a "Longneck," is migrating with his mother and grandparents to the Great Valley. After an attack from a "Sharptooth" and an earthquake separates Littlefoot from his family; Littlefoot must make it to the Great Valley without guidance from adults. On the way, he joined by a "Three-horn" named Cera, a "Swimmer" named Ducky, a "Flyer" named Petrie, and a "Spiketail" named Spike. The five young dinosaurs must face starvation, the hostile landscapes, and predators, as they make it to paradise that is the Great Valley. So basically the movie is an epic journey or a road trip movie, simple right? Well yes, but the movie is about overcoming grief, self-confidence versus hubris, overcoming prejudice, faith, and even revenge.

The main character is Littlefoot, he's the one who knows the way to the Great Valley and is the leader of the group of young dinos. Littlefoot's story line is gaining self-confidence to make to the Great Valley, at first alone than as a leader. In the first act, Littlefoot's mother dies from mortal wounds that she received from saving Littlefoot and Cera from a T-Rex. Littlefoot (and the audience) watch her die on screen, and her last words are are telling Littlefoot that he has to make it to the Great Valley without her. Her death is up there with Bambi's mom, Ole' Yeller, and Mufasa's, and yes, this is a children's movie.

Littlefoot is so filled with grief, that at first he just lays down to die. It's not until an older dinosaur tells more or less, "Sorry about your mom, kid. But life moves on and so should you." This promotes Littlefoot to the Great Valley and meets up with his grandparents. As Littlefoot makes his way to the Valley, he overcomes his grief by making new friends on the way. Littlefoot also maintains faith in his mother's directions and the dream of the Great Valley, even the others do not. As the movie progresses, Littlefoot gains enough confidence that he decides he and his friends are going to kill the T-Rex that killed his mother and menaced the group throughout the film. Littlefoot suggests that they lead the T-Rex to the deep end of a pool of water, then push a big rock on top of it to drown the Sharptooth. The group manages to succeed, and make it to the Great Valley.

Littlefoot is also a very tolerant to other species of dinosaurs. When Littlefoot first meets Cera, Littlefoot tries to play with her. However, he is stopped by Cera's father who states that Three-horns and Longnecks don't mix. Littlefoot's mother later tells him that all breeds of dinosaurs don't mix because that's how it is always been. Littlefoot immediately questions this and shows his tolerance later on by accepting other young dinos to join him on his journey. Cera, on the other hand, is the opposite; she has to learn acceptance towards others.

Cera is the foil to Littlefoot due to her original hubris and arguably has the most character development. Throughout the movie, Cera's pride gets her in trouble. She agrees with her father about not associating with other dinosaurs. So much so that when Cera and Littlefoot are first separated from their herds, she refuses at first to accompany him to the Great Valley because he's a Longneck and she can make her way to the Great Valley on her own. While on her own, she runs into an unconscious T-Rex, the same one that killed Littlefoot's mother. Instead of leaving it alone, she starts harassing it and ends up waking it up. However when she meets up with Littlefoot and the gang, she exaggerates her bravery. Later when searching for food, Cera refuses to help the others and pridefully states a Three-horn can find food on her own. Cera also loses her faith in the Great Valley and goes off on her own. Cera eventually gets trouble and has to be saved by Littlefoot and the others, but is too proud to say thanks and admit she was wrong. So she wanders off alone but redeems herself by helping kill the T-Rex.

As for the other three, well Petrie learns to overcome his fears and learn to fly. He also provides comedic moments like Ducky. Ducky also helps Littlefoot overcome his grief, is the bait to trap the T-Rex, and is there to be precious. Finally, Spike, he's a plot device. Seriously, he has no personality and if written out, it wouldn't affect the movie.

Overall The Land Before Time was a fun movie, but a lot darker than I remember. It was interesting to see how much more in-depth it was, picking up on things I missed when I was younger. I enjoyed this movie again, though I believe for different reasons since I was a kid.

I was shocked to find out that there are 13 sequels, the last movie came out earlier this year. Of the sequels, I remember watching the second, third, and fourth movies in the franchise The second movie, The Land Before Time II: The Great Valley Adventure, is the one I remember most of all. There's even a television series based off the movies. The first movie and the 14th are on Netflix, and most are out on DVD, while it appears only the first and last movie are on Blu-Ray.

I'm Colin, and these are ramblings of a guy in his twenties.

Harriet Tubman and the $20 bill

So for those of you who don't know, the U.S. Treasury announced that Harriet Tubman, the woman who help many slaves escape the south through the Underground Railroad, will replace Andrew Jackson as the face of the twenty dollar bill by 2020. Now, this has caused some people to complain about this chose for reasons ranging from pure racism to people saying this is just political correctness, such as Donald Trump who told CNN. In fact, Tubman was supposed to be the new face on the ten dollar bill, but the popularity of the musical Hamilton changed that.

Personally, I think it is a good idea, we should honor those who shaped American history that wasn't members of the Founding Fathers or former Presidents. Though to be completely honest, Harriet Tubman wouldn't have been my first choose. I would have had Dr. Martin Luthor King Jr. as the face of the twenty dollar bill, but Tubman is still a great choice.

I'm Colin and these are the ramblings of a guy in his twenties.