The Land Before Time X: The Great Longneck Migration

The Land Before Time X:
The Great Longneck Migration
Directed by Charles Grosvenor
Produced by Charles Grosvenor
Written by John Loy
Based on Characters by
Judy Freudberg
Tony Geiss
Starring Alec Medlock
Kenneth Mars
Miriam Flynn
Anndi McAfee
Aria Noelle Curzon
Rob Paulsen
John Ingle
Brandon Michael DePaul
James Garner
Jeff Bennett
Bernadette Peters
Kiefer Sutherland
Narrated by John Ingle
Music by Michael Tavera
Edited by Jay Bixsen
Production
company
Distributed by Universal Studios Home Entertainment
Release dates
  • December 2, 2003 (2003-12-02)
Running time
 85 minutes
Country United States
Language English

The Land Before Time X: The Great Longneck Migration is a 2003 direct-to-video animated adventure musical drama film and the tenth film in the Land Before Time series.

Plot

Littlefoot has nightmares which involve the "Great Circle." He mentions it to his grandparents, who share the experience. Grandpa has a feeling that he wants to "go somewhere," and they leave the next day with only their gut feeling to guide them. Out of curiosity, Cera, Spike, Ducky and Petrie follow him, starting after them the following night. New characters are introduced throughout the film: Sue (Bernadette Peters), a Supersaurus, who is driven on by the same sense as Littlefoot and his grandparents and joins them. Sue towers above all other longnecks and one day wishes to meet someone taller than her. Littlefoot's friends meet Pat (James Garner), an elderly Apatosaurus. He is slow-moving and even scalds his hind foot whilst crossing a magma river, but does arrive at the crater in time for the event.

Meanwhile, Littlefoot meets his father, Bron (Kiefer Sutherland), for the first time in his whole life. However, Bron isn't alone. Since parting from his now deceased wife (a song from The Land Before Time IV: Journey Through the Mists reveals that the concept of marriage does exist in The Land Before Time universe), he has become guardian to a young Brachiosaurus, Shorty, who becomes jealous of Littlefoot taking all of his father's attention. Bron's story is a long one. He left to find a new place to live before Littlefoot hatched and returns to find that the Earthquake had destroyed everything; he soon learns about the death of his wife. In search of Littlefoot, he finds Shorty among other seemingly orphaned longneck children. Bron, realizing his son is not with them, continues his search, however the children stay, gradually forming a bigger and bigger herd. Eventually the many longnecks who joined the herd recognize Bron as their leader. They were drawn to the crater in the same way as Littlefoot and his grandparents.

The ceremony is then revealed to be an event in which the moon overlaps the sun. On the day of the eclipse, Littlefoot wakes to spot Shorty sneaking over the crater walls and running away out of spite for being ignored by Bron. He catches up to Shorty and convinces him to stay; the two reconcile and agree to see themselves as brothers. Moments later, Littlefoot spots his friends and Pat approaching and is shocked that they traveled so long to find him. Suddenly a Sharptooth arrives and attacks the group. Pat defends the children but his injured leg slows him down. Bron wakes to find his son absent from his side and comes to a realization as he hears screaming and roaring from beyond the crater walls. He rushes to their aid and defends them from the Sharptooth. However, just after the Sharptooth is defeated, it calls out its two siblings. Littlefoot's grandparents aid in the fight, and as soon as the three Sharpteeth are defeated, the eclipse occurs and the sudden darkness bewilders and scares away the Sharpteeth. Littlefoot, his grandparents, Bron and Pat take their place amongst the great line of Longnecks that have gathered on top of the crater walls. They succeed in 'catching the Great Circle' and everyone rejoices as the eclipse ends. With their mission completed, the herds depart on their separate ways. Things end happily for Sue, who meets a Taller Longneck, who is taller than her. Littlefoot's friends ask Pat to come live in the Great Valley, which he happily accepts. Bron and Littlefoot are hesitant to leave each other, but knowing their true belongings Bron leaves with Shorty and his herd, promising to keep in touch with Littlefoot and visit him, and Littlefoot returns to the Valley with his friends, grandparents, and Pat.

Voice cast

Music

The music was scored by Michael Tavera with additional music composed by Stephen Coleman. This was the first film in the series that did not use James Horner's original score. It was Michael Tavera's first and so far only completely original score in the series (older themes from the previous sequels to the original film and An American Tail were not used in this installment either).

Songs

The songs are written by Michele Brourman and Amanda McBroom. The end credit song, "Best of Friends", is performed by Olivia Newton-John. A shorter version of the song "Adventuring" was heard in four episodes of The Land Before Time TV series. This was the fifth time Spike sings; he is heard humming at the end of "Adventuring", even though Rob Paulsen was not credited for performing the song.

The song, Bestest Friends is also a song sung in the End Credits.

Home video release history

Production

The film is known internationally as "The Great Migration", rather than "The Great Longneck Migration". It was the first film in the series to use fully computer-generated dinosaurs.

Aspect ratio

Even though this film was presented in full screen on DVD worldwide (since that is what aspect ratio the film was created in), the film is matted to anamorphic widescreen (cropping the top and bottom of the image) on a Hebrew DVD in Israel.

References

  1. ↑ Grosvenor, Charles (2008-08-05), The Land Before Time: 2 Tales of Discovery and Friendship Carrying Case, Universal Studios Home Entertainment, retrieved 2016-07-26
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