‘The Land Before Time’ Is One Of The Most Traumatic Cartoons Ever Made
Vote up 'The Land Before Time' characters and moments that left scars on your psyche.
Upon its release in 1988, The original Land Before Time movie was both lauded and criticized for its simultaneous beauty and darkness. The film’s message is simple: the power of friendship can overcome even the greatest of hardships. But really, did we have to do Littlefoot's mom like that?
As kids, it didn’t seem that deep, but there is a lot of evidence to suggest that the Land Before Time emotionally scarred an entire generation of kids. With the power to make grown men cry, the unsung tearjerker movie Land Before Time contains a shocking amount amount of social commentary, disturbing circumstances, and deep-reaching questions about the goodness of man.
- 1984 VOTES
We Watched Littlefoot’s Mom Take Her Final Breath
Photo: Universal PicturesWith a level head and a steadfast belief in a better life, Littlefoot's mother was too good for her lot in this life.
When all of her eggs shattered, she poured every ounce of her love into her sole son, Littlefoot. She believed that the Longneck people deserved to live and eat prosperously in the Great Valley, and she saw this vision through to its gristly conclusion.
Littlefoot’s mother’s untimely end is a major contender for “most unsettling cartoon parent losses”. The other logical front runners, Bambi and Simba, were at least granted the respite of not personally bearing witness to the carnage. However, the children watching these movies saw every gritty detail.
- 2765 VOTES
Littlefoot Experiences Survivor’s Guilt
Photo: Universal PicturesLittlefoot really bears the brunt of the psychic anguish throughout the Land Before Time franchise. He’s the only surviving egg of his litter, he gets rebuked by his ignorant childhood friend, and he grows up starving and desperate.
On top of all of this, Littlefoot has to overcome all these obstacles while carrying the immense survivor’s guilt incurred by watching his mother fall victim to the jaws of the man who wanted to eat him.
Even though Littlefoot loses everything, he still has the capacity to love, to give and forgive, and to grieve.
- 3442 VOTES
The Kids Are Separated From Their Families And Must Survive On Their Own
Photo: Universal PicturesIn the epic adventure genre, it’s fairly common for a bunch of children to go on a quest unsupervised. Sometimes there were never any adults in the picture, sometimes they were compromised in some way. But here in The Land Before Time, the adults are seen and known. The children really do take off into the night living on a prayer and a dream of Littlefoot’s late mom.
These are troubled kids, at that! At the time of their departure, Littlefoot is freshly traumatized, Cera is incredibly bullheaded, Spike is socially inept, Petrie is a Flyer who couldn’t fly, and Duckie is simply very shrill.
- 4460 VOTES
The Dinos Are Desperate To Escape Famine
Photo: Universal PicturesEven before the enduring trauma of Littlefoot's life began, his family was already living in the age of dinosaur end-times. Struck by famine and drought, his sparse herd of Longneck brethren bore only one son.
Though the first film has a happy ending, the generational baggage may have followed Littlefoot for life. That must have been a tremendous psychological weight for a single child to carry.
- 5454 VOTES
The Sharptooth Is A Monster Without A Conscience
Photo: Universal PicturesThat Sharptooth really is a cold-blooded brute. He does not speak and he does not have any clear motives, his only desires are revenge and eating children.
Even after being blinded by thorns and throttled by the Great Earthshake, he risked life and limb to take out Littlefoot's mother - just to prove a point? After the deed is done, he doesn’t even eat her; he leaves her there to succumb to her wounds and deliver a monologue.
As if Sharptooth hadn't done enough already, he then proceeds to hunt down the children at every given opportunity, despite their lack of nutritional value. What did he have to gain from this?
- 6389 VOTES
Petrie Gets Stuck In A Tar Pit
Photo: Universal PicturesEntrapment is a universal human fear often used to build suspense in popular media. For instance, many Millennial-aged viewers agree quicksand once seemed like much more of an urgent issue than it actually is in adult life.
The recurring appearance of the tar pits in The Land Before Time is predicated upon this common fear, and the cursed image of Petrie - one of the smallest, lightest dinosaurs - plum stuck in the gelatinous tar is burnt into every viewer’s brain. For many, this was an early reckoning with the concept of powerlessness and surrender.
- 7311 VOTES
There Is A Dramatic Earthquake During The Showdown With Sharptooth
Photo: Universal PicturesLittlefoot and Cera’s initial encounter with the Sharptooth is nerve-wracking in itself, and the rapid escalation into a full-blown Earthshake sowed the seeds of cosmic debasement in the hearts and minds of countless fchildren.
The sensory overload is tremendous; young viewers didn’t know where to look: Littlefoot helplessly sliding and scraping over the edges of the ravine, the glimpses of shiny sharp teeth slashing across the screen, to say nothing of Littlefoot’s mother screaming and braying at the foul beast, just before the entire earth opens up to swallow Littlefoot and his childhood innocence whole, and maybe our own.
- 8471 VOTES
There Are Strong Sociopolitical Undertones
Photo: Universal PicturesThe Land Before Time grapples with many complex, multilayered social and societal issues. Transposing these contentious subjects onto dinosaurs - creatures never known by man - made them more palatable to a young audience.
Many children have already experienced race-related tension at a young age, so hearing “Threehorns never play with Longnecks!” may have been a sobering and relatable experience. For those who did not have this experience, it may have been their first confrontation with prejudice.
- 9304 VOTES
Cera Keeps Messing Things Up
Photo: Universal PicturesIt is not always easy to love Cera. The young Threehorn grows to become Littlefoot's best friend, but she has to overcome a lot of her own demons in doing so. Her bossiness, bravado, and inability to value interdependence costs her and her friends a lot throughout the series.
Her heart is certainly in the right place, but the first thing she does in the original film is act bigoted. She abandons the group after she is embarrassed by her fear of a dangerous "tar monster" that’s later revealed to be her own friends. If that’s not debased enough, she disrespects Littlefoot's late mother to his own face.
Only after nearly losing everything does Cera experience a change in heart, a chance at humility. Even so, her character arc was a lot of interpersonal strife to deal with as a kid.
- 10328 VOTES
There’s Something Off About Spike
Photo: Universal PicturesSpike's less than nuanced understanding of social mores had always been a cause for concern among the other dinosaurs. He eats with reckless abandon, often to the detriment of his own well-being and those around him. He almost never speaks, even when it would behoove him to do so. What is this guy’s deal?
To his credit, Spike was abandoned as an egg and left to wither, which certainly impacted him developmentally. His adoptive family, Ducky of the Swimmers, appears to be supportive but the deep-rooted biases in the Land Before Time canon may have affected his psychosocial growth.
- 11240 VOTES
There Are Bigoted Epithets
Photo: Universal PicturesLongnecks, the Land Before Time depiction of Sauropods, boast a great deal of lore and historical traditions. An entire installment of the Land Before Time TV series, "The Legend Of The Story Speakers", is dedicated to the creation tales and myths of the Longneck people.
Media is a microcosm of society, so logically the peaceful Longnecks are an ethnically marginalized class with their own in-universe hate speech - the term Flathead.
Flathead is used derisively throughout the Land Before Time franchise, often to debase Longnecks and reinforce existing dinosaur segregation.
Petrie, a Flyer, attempts to reclaim the word by referring to Littlefoot as a Flathead endearingly, only to be rebuffed. Did Littlefoot just experience a microaggression?
- 12207 VOTES
Petrie Is A Coward
Photo: Universal PicturesPetrie is sadly of weak will and cowardice during much of The Land Before Time franchise. He cannot self-actualize into his sole purpose for existing, flying, until he is inches from death.
What’s more, Petrie idolizes those who he believes to be stronger than himself, even if those people lack moral fiber. This happens most notably with his uncle Pterano, who Petrie naively feels could do no wrong, and is exploited as a result.
Petrie is not an inherently bad character, but he serves as a cautionary tale.
- 13188 VOTES
The Series Wrangles With The Ambiguity Of Good And Evil
Photo: Universal PicturesThere are 14 films in the Land Before Time catalogue, and the obvious premise of "small dinosaurs experience conflict and resolution" inevitably becomes overplayed within the first handful of films.
In The Land Before Time VII: The Stone of Cold Fire, Petrie shares some sacred Flyer lore with his friends, alleging the existence of a comet with metaphysical properties called "The Stone of Cold Fire".
Petrie's ne'er-do-well uncle, Pterano, hears Petrie's retelling of the tale, and conspires to find it and absorb its powers. Pterano is almost foiled by Ducky, who overhears his evil plot to capture the stone, and subsequently decides to abduct her to keep her from spoiling his plan. Pterano inadvertently leads his band of co-conspirators into a pack of Sharpteeth, which mentally scars him and ultimately leads to his expulsion from the pack.
Having spent a great deal of time in close quarters with Pterano, Ducky feels the Pteranodon is the least evil of his associates, as he has misguided but good intentions. Despite his wrongdoings, Ducky and Petrie still believe in Pterano's inherent goodness and advocate for mercy in his expulsion ruling.
Pterano appreciates their goodwill but accepts accountability for his own actions.
- 14211 VOTES
The Gang Forms A Plan To Drown Sharptooth
Photo: Universal PicturesIn the original film's dramatic climax, the young dinosaurs conspire to take out the vicious Sharptooth, who must answer for his misdeeds. Littlefoot capitalizes on the Sharptooth’s greatest weakness - his inability to swim - and their gruesome plan is set in motion.
Using their friend Ducky as live bait, Littlefoot and Spike loom overhead on a ledge above the lake with a loose boulder positioned to crush the Sharptooth. Initially, they are not powerful enough to dislodge the boulder from its perch, giving the Sharptooth the leverage to grab onto their beloved Flyer friend Petrie. His plan backfires, as he knocks the boulder loose himself, causing him to fall to his doom in the lake.
While Petrie returns unscathed and with newfound flying ability, the unbearable weight of their first collective slaying has already marked these children for life.
