7.4 | / 10 |
Users | 3.1 | |
Reviewer | 3.0 | |
Overall | 3.1 |
Five orphan dinosaurs travel the ruins of their world, while grieving the loss of their families and banding together to face the odds of survival.
Starring: Gabriel Damon, Candace Hutson, Judith Barsi, Will Ryan, Helen ShaverFamily | 100% |
Animation | 80% |
Adventure | 3% |
Drama | Insignificant |
Video codec: MPEG-4 AVC
Video resolution: 1080p
Aspect ratio: 1.85:1
Original aspect ratio: 1.85:1
English: DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 (48kHz, 24-bit)
French: DTS 5.1
Spanish: DTS 5.1
Portuguese: DTS 5.1
Danish: DTS 2.0
Finnish: DTS 2.0
German: DTS 5.1
Italian: DTS 5.1
Japanese: DTS 5.1
Norwegian: DTS 2.0
Russian: DTS 2.0
Swedish: DTS 2.0
Latin American Spanish, DTS all 768 kbps, except Russian, which is 448 kbps
English SDH, French, German, Italian, Japanese, Portuguese, Spanish, Danish, Finnish, Norwegian, Russian, Swedish
50GB Blu-ray Disc
Single disc (1 BD)
UV digital copy
Slipcover in original pressing
Region free
Movie | 4.5 | |
Video | 4.0 | |
Audio | 3.0 | |
Extras | 0.0 | |
Overall | 3.0 |
Few films capture the essence of life as capably, succinctly, beautifully, and honestly as The Land Before Time, Director Don Bluth's (Thumbelina) classic 1988 animated dinosaur film that follows a recently hatched and orphaned dinosaur searching for, literally, greener pastures. The film thrives on its ability to take complex, challenging, even dark themes such as death, despair, doubt, and fear and present them contrasted against a backdrop of hope, friendship, kindness, and belief. Of course, there's mildly perilous adventure, but the movie's hopeful, soaring spirit, even considering its brutally honest yet accessibly simplistic depiction of how life works, all make the movie an unheralded masterpiece that kids will love for the dinosaurs and adults will cherish, adults who can better understand the grace with which the film serves as a mirror for the way things work in the world, even today as they did 65,000,000 years ago.
Turning over a new leaf.
The Land Before Time's packaging doesn't promise "perfect" picture like many Universal catalogue titles of the past but instead merely "improved" quality from a remastering. It's a better choice of words considering some of the iffy, and downright poor, releases of the past, but "improved" actually sells this release short. The Land Before Time certainly suffers through some rougher looking moments, but the picture generally impresses a great deal. The bulk of the movie looks great, covered by a mildly sharp and moderately thick but evenly dispersed grain field that gives the film a natural cinematic quality. Details are pleasant and robust, with the finer touches to be seen throughout -- largely on natural surfaces but also on dinosaur bodies -- appearing splendidly sharp and well defined, enjoying a substantial boost with the 1080p horsepower behind it. Colors are delightful, a little reserved and earthy to be sure considering the film's general palette. Brighter shades -- leafy greens, orangey sunsets, Sharptooth's devilish red eyes -- are nicely vibrant. Black levels never stray too far from purely deep. There are a few speckles here and there, the opening title sequence is murky, a handful of softer shots can be found scattered throughout, and there are a couple that look severely processed and tightly zoomed, but for the most part this is a cinema quality picture that should delight longtime fans. It's really like seeing the movie for the first time after decades of VHS, DVD, and maybe even LaserDisc releases that don't come anywhere close to this transfer's inherent beauty. It's important to remember that this isn't a Pixar movie made in the computer age. People expecting a shiny and clean image will be disappointed, but film fans should be pleased.
The Land Before Time's DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 lossless soundtrack isn't a total disappointment, but it's a fairly pedestrian listen. Music stays largely around the front, enjoying some mild surround envelopment in places -- the opening titles in particular -- but failing to stretch very far into the back as the film progresses. Heavier sound effects are rather puny and lack oomph. Booming thunder falls relatively flat. Heavy dinosaur footfalls, crashes, and earthquakes lack even modest heft or room-filling spacing. A few screams are piercing and mild ambient envelopment is evident when rain falls. Dialogue is clear and centered with a nice bit of room-filling reverberation at the thirty-minute mark. This doesn't sound like Jurassic Park, and for an older animated movie the lack of thunderous power isn't surprising, but a bit more potency would have been welcome.
This Blu-ray release of The Land Before Time contains no supplemental content. A voucher for a UV/iTunes digital copy is included with purchase.
The Land Before Time is a charming and unforgettable movie that seamlessly blends mild social commentary, deep life insight, and plenty of fun. It's a film fit for all ages, and it will speak to all audiences, in one way or another. The film plays as well today as it did about a quarter-century ago and is one of the few that's all but guaranteed to remain a classic for many decades to come. Universal's Blu-ray release of The Land Before Time features solid video, decent audio, and no supplements. It's a shame the studio couldn't include any extras, but the release comes highly recommended for both the film and its mostly impressive video transfer.
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2017
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2021