The Land Before Time may not be the most well-known or successful animated movie, but it is still fondly remembered and had a dedicated fanbase ready to prove its worth at any moment. With its emotionally-charged story, beautiful animation, and engaging protagonists, it's the kind of movie that can melt the heart of almost any viewer.
And yet, even now it remains largely unknown to the mass audiences. Of course, it has some dark moments that not everyone may like. To better understand what The Land Before Time is really like, it's worth looking behind the scenes of this animated masterpiece.
10 It Was Executive Produced By Steven Spielberg, George Lucas, & Kathleen Kennedy
Some enthusiasts may know that The Land Before Time was directed by Don Bluth who has directed such animated movies as The Secret of NIMH, An American Tail, All Dogs Go to Heaven and Anastasia, among others.
But not everyone knows that the executive producers on the team were such big names as Steven Spielberg (who would later direct the dinosaur-centered Jurassic Park), George Lucas (who had directed the original Star Wars trilogy by that point), and Kathleen Kennedy (who is currently the president of Lucasfilm). This also meant that the movie was an American-Irish co-production under Amblin Entertainment, Lucasfilm, and Sullivan Bluth Ltd.
9 There Are Thirteen Direct-To-Video Sequels & A Television Series
Like many successful features, The Land Before Time spawned a myriad of sequels and even a short-lived animated television series. Unlike the original, these had a much lighter tone to appeal to the younger generations.
Unfortunately, the sequels and the TV series didn't have Bluth, Spielberg, or Lucas involved, but they were still decent with some of the sequels even winning awards and getting praised by critics, particularly for their songs.
8 The Movie Led To Spielberg Founding His Animation Studio Amblimation
Allegedly, the success of The Land Before Time, An American Tail, and Who Framed Roger Rabbit (on all of which Spielberg acted as an executive producer) led to the founding of his own animation studio, Amblimation.
Unfortunately, the studio only worked on three features and closed after eight years of operation with all 250 crew members of the studio joining DreamWorks Animation.
7 The Movie Was Meant To Be Even Darker
The Land Before Time is a notoriously dark movie with some pretty scary sequences throughout. And yet, it was supposed to be even darker, but the editing and cutting prevented the movie from being way too dark for younger viewers.
Allegedly, Spielberg and Lucas felt that some scenes were too dark and intense for children to be able to stand. This resulted in 1o minutes of footage (a total of 19 fully animated scenes) being cut.
6 It Was Meant To Be Bambi... But With Dinosaurs
At some point during the production of An American Tail, Spielberg and Bluth started thinking about their next project. They wanted to do something like Bambi but instead use dinosaurs for the characters.
Indeed, there is a clear parallel between the two movies. Bambi's mother dies early in the movie and Littlefoot's mother also passes away before he embarks on his journey to find a new place to live.
5 There Is A Tragedy Behind The Movie
Unfortunately, there is a tragedy behind the movie that not many people know about. The ten-year-old Judith Barsi, the actress providing the voice for one of the main characters called Ducky, was killed by her own father in a murder-suicide in July 1988, four months before the movie's release.
Barsi had appeared in numerous commercials and TV series as well as starring in Jaws: The Revenge. She also voiced a character in Bluth's All Dogs Go to Heaven which was also released posthumously. For years, Barsi and her mother had been abused by her father whose aggression grew as Barsi's career became more successful.
4 The Soundtrack Has Some Big Names Attached To It
The beautiful music for The Land Before Time was composed by James Horner who would go on to work on James Cameron's Titanic and Avatar (he also previously composed for Cameron's Aliens), Mel Gibson's Braveheart, and Marc Webb's The Amazing Spider-Man among others. Horner was chosen because of his work on An American Tail.
The theme song "If We Hold on Together" was sung by the award-winning actress and singer Diana Ross and peaked at number 23 on the US adult contemporary charts.
3 It Could Have Been A Silent Movie With No Dialogue
At one point, Spielberg and Lucas were considering making the movie completely free of any dialogue. Allegedly, they were inspired by the Rite of Spring sequence in Fantasia.
However, they eventually abandoned the idea because they believed the movie wouldn't appeal to children if it didn't have any dialogue.
2 It's Not Entirely Clear To Which Species The Main Characters Belong
Of course, the movie's description state that they are an Apatosaurus (Littlefoot), a Triceratops (Cera), a Parasaurolophus (Ducky), a Pteranodon (Petrie), and a Stegosaurus (Spike), but there has actually been some speculation about whether this is accurate.
There is no issue with Littlefoot, but Cera might be a Monoclonius which also belongs to the Triceratops species. In the official materials, Ducky is named a Parasaurolophus though some fans consider her to look like a Saurolophus while critics call her an Anatosaurus.
1 It Was Nominated For Two Awards
The Land Before Time was nominated for a Saturn Award for Best Fantasy Film and for the Youth in Film Award for Best Family Animation or Fantasy Motion Picture.
It lost the first one to Robert Zemeckis' Who Framed Roger Rabbit and the second one to Tim Burton's Beetlejuice.