The Land Before Time II: The Great Valley Adventure

The Land Before Time II:
The Great Valley Adventure
Directed by Roy Allen Smith
Produced by Roy Allen Smith
Written by John Loy
John Ludin
Dev Ross
Based on characters by
Judy Freudberg
Tony Geiss
Starring Scott McAfee
Candace Hutson
Heather Hogan
Rob Paulsen
Linda Gary
Kenneth Mars
John Ingle
Jeff Bennett
Tress MacNeille
Narrated by John Ingle
Music by Michael Tavera
James Horner (archive music from The Land Before Time)
Edited by Jay Bixsen
Production
company
Distributed by MCA/Universal Home Video
Release dates
  • December 13, 1994 (1994-12-13)
Running time
 73 minutes
Country United States
Language English

The Land Before Time II: The Great Valley Adventure is a 1994 American direct-to-video animated adventure musical film directed by Roy Allen Smith, is the animated sequel to the film The Land Before Time. It was released six years after the original and the first in the series to be direct-to-video.[1] The tone, action and plot of the film was made much softer and slower than that of the original, and features musical numbers, in order to appeal to a younger audience. After the release of this sequel, all the films in the series have been released at a rate of one film every one or two years. Candace Hutson and Frank Welker (who is uncredited) return here from the first film.

Plot

Littlefoot and his friends have recently arrived in the Great Valley. The children are living happily in their new home, under their families' watchful eyes. When the gang tries to get to the sheltering grass to play, but land in the sinking sand surrounding it, the grownups come and save them, and chastise them for disobeying the rules: "don't cross the sinking sand without help." Cera then tells the others that they need to prove they are independent by running away for a while into the Mysterious Beyond, a location just outside the valley. Before they leave, they notice two egg nappers, Ozzy and Strut, stealing an egg from Ducky's nest. They chase them into the Beyond, during which a landslide occurs. The egg rolls safely back to the nest, but the five are under the impression that it was destroyed in the landslide. This upsets Ducky until she notices what looks like the egg, only slightly larger.

The gang return the egg to the Valley, only to find out that it is not the egg stolen by Ozzy and Strut. They decide to hatch it, nonetheless. The egg eventually hatches, revealing a baby Sharptooth. While the others run away, Littlefoot quickly realizes that he is not yet dangerous, and tries to raise the hatchling on leaves; though this fails, the hatchling, whom Littlefoot names "Chomper," becomes content with a diet of insects. When he hears the others calling for help, as the egg nappers Ozzy and Strut are attacking them, he runs to their aid, while "Chomper" follows him. Chomper's shadow frightens the villains away, after which Littlefoot exchanges introductions between Chomper and the others. They accept him, until he bites Cera by instinct. He is told this is considered bad behavior in the Great Valley, and runs off. When the others follow him, they find him chasing insects on top of the Smoking Mountain, all afraid the little sharptooth could fall into the gurgling pit.

Ozzy and Strut attack the children again, but Chomper once more comes to the rescue, biting onto Strut's tail. At that moment, the volcano erupts, lava slowly oozing in the children's path. Littlefoot pushes a tree over a canyon, to make a bridge for the others, though Ozzy and Strut fall into the canyon. Once across, they find two adult Sharpteeth on the other side. They escape them, and make it back to their families. After fighting the Sharpteeth off, the adults inquire how they entered the valley, to which the children confess over their adventure the night before, and the landslide which resulted. The adults set off to block the new entrance to the valley, and tell the children to stay behind. Littlefoot runs off to find Chomper, but is chased by two Sharpteeth. When trapped in a rotting log, they are approached by the Sharpteeth. Then, Chomper calls to them, and they recognize him as their son. They then leave with him. Littlefoot, while out of the log, gets captured by Ozzy and Strut, who survived the fall. Chomper hears Littlefoot screaming, and he goes to save him. Then Chomper's parents chase Ozzy and Strut into the Mysterious Beyond again, and Littlefoot and Chomper say their final goodbyes. Littlefoot returns to the other plant-eaters. Littlefoot's grandfather tells him from then on, he should stay close to the herd. Then, he helps in knocking down some more rocks to seal up the entrance between the Great Valley and the Mysterious Beyond. Littlefoot then realizes that being young is not so bad after all, but decides he still looks forward to growing up.

Voice cast

Songs and soundtrack

The songs are written by The Roches. This was the film that introduced the musical element into the series and it has consistently remained ever since. This was also the first time Spike "sings"; his lips can be seen moving during "You're One of Us Now".

Also, even though the film features an original score by Michael Tavera, it contains musical cues from James Horner's score of the original film.

Production

In July 1993, Universal Cartoon Studios announced that a direct-to-video sequel to The Land Before Time was in development. A release date was not set at that time.[2]

Home video release history

Reception

In August 2014, the New York Post ranked each of the 13 Land Before Time films released up to that point and placed The Great Valley Adventure at number 5. The New York Post wrote that out of each film, The Great Valley Adventure "does the best job of maintaining some of the darker tone of the original movie while broadening its humor for younger audiences. But it's also responsible for introducing the musical format, so, boo."[3]

References

  1. ↑ John Cawley (27 March 2007). "Direct-to-Video Sequels: Franchised and Fancy Free". Animation World Network. Retrieved 27 August 2016.
  2. ↑ Sandler, Adam (14 July 1993). "U Cartoon arm moves focus to kidvid titles". Variety. Retrieved 4 December 2016.
  3. ↑ Miller, Gregory E. (13 August 2014). "A rundown of the best and worst 'The Land Before Time' movies". New York Post. Retrieved 4 December 2016.

External links

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