zsofikam The ninth installment in the Land Before Time series, Journey To Big Water, is a nice addition but this is where I think the series started to show its age. Basically, heavy rains create a pool of "new water" that Littlefoot and company set out to explore. There they meet an ichthyosaur named Mo, who I must say is very amusing and I genuinely grew to care for him. Mo informs everyone that he came from the big water and they agree to help him back. The songs are a mix bag. The imaginary friends song is a major big-lipped alligator moment and somewhat sappy. Boring is a bit, well, boring but it does a good job of conveying the feeling of something being boring. No One Has To Be Alone is the best song in the movie, nice and melodic even if it felt a bit shoehorned in. As mentioned earlier, I like Mo. He's funny and you feel his plight of being trapped. Finally, the Liopleurodon is a legitimate threat, a silent hunter who takes cues from the original sharptooth. Overall, not quite as good as previous installments but has some very good moments.

Ammonites I'm a fan of the series, I've seen most of the movies by now. But "Journey to Big Water" has to be one of my favorites. Mo is a great new character and gives a fresh new personality to the series. *SPOILER* Our friends find that flooding brings a new face to the Great Valley, Mo the Icthyosaurus. Forced to find a new way from the floods to the main valley, they divert and follow the river leading back to the ocean (aka Big Water). A few new discoveries on the way, of course, but an excellent tale of friendship. A new breed of Sharptooth is introduced, a Kronosaurus. Though only in a couple of scenes, they are quite memorable. What impressed me was the view Littlefoot has of the watery world Mo lives in, giving a new view that we normally would never see in the series.*END SPOILER*For those of you disappointed with so many sequels (I must admit, some are quite disappointing), I would highly recommend giving this movie at least one look.From a technical standpoint, the colors and the animations are impressive and run smoothly. Mo has to be the most colorful character of all time, both in physical appearance and in attitude.

Akbar Shahzad (rapt0r_claw-1) The Land Before Time series keeps going on, and I see no end to it. 16 years ago, the first installment remains timeless, and that could be expected from Don Bluth. But to go as far as the eighth sequel ... the series should be wrapped up after X, but I hear XI is brewing. After lots of rainfall, the well-known band of adventurers Littlefoot, Cera, Ducky, Petrie and Spike set off to the Big Water for a second time, to help a new friend, Mo (probably an icthyosaur), who has been carried inland by the floodwaters. Needless to mention the swimming sharptooth that dogs them every step of the way. Last year's The Big Freeze was a change for the better for the series, and the Journey to the Big Water continues the same way. Sadly, it once again is spoiled by horrible songs, with lyrics that embarrass me when I realize I'm listening to them, especially with someone else in the room. The first had no such problem to hold it back, so the addition of songs to every sequel seems utterly pointless. The story is simple, and not too ambitious. It rarely deviates from the main plot, which is a good thing. I was quite astonished to find out that the film had covered 75 minutes. One of the major failures was dialogue: it just sounded unnatural and the acting wasn't confident enough. There was no depth to the voices or the material they had to work with. It may be a cartoon, but such a lack of realism as the film has must be avoided. During the journey, Mo must leap over a tall rocky outcrop at a waterfall. There are small rocks at the side, which are easy to jump over, and big gaps between them. Why Mo could not have taken the simpler course is a mystery. The writers clashed with the layout artists and won, just for the sake of another obstacle in the way. But to the film's credit, it has some better dramatic scenes than some of the other video releases. The storm and the violent water of the lake in the final monster sequence was refreshingly beyond all other such scenes in the sequels. Also, the scene is a good example of the special effects in the film, not to be found in the predecessors. Although no substitute for the exquisite artistry of the first film, the computer effects are a step forward. But the use of it isn't consistent. Some of the trees look like plastic models, not computerized props. This is most obvious early on, when Cera and her father are rolling the treetrunk out of the way, and the first shot of the sequence is the log rolling towards the screen. But for the remainder, the computer work is a step in the right direction. May it be even better in the next installments. Layouts, painted or computerized, are very good. It is at its best early on, with landscape shots of the Great Valley. Although the sequels to The Land Before Time are forgettable, they do provide a decent viewing for over an hour. The Journey to the Big Water is better than most of them, but still not more than 75 minutes of time lost to light entertainment. May the series fold soon, and the greatness of The Land Before Time that broke new ground in 1988 be what is remembered through the years to come.

ross robinson This year (2003) The land before time will celebrate it's 15th Anniversary as it all started in 1988, but yet there is more to come. I heard that there are going to be more land before time movies.THE LAND BEFORE TIME X: THE GREAT MIGRATION (2003) THE LAND BEFORE TIME XI (2004) THE LAND BEFORE TIME: SPECIAL EDITION (2008)The land before time special edition will be released in 2008 to mark the 20th anniversary, The film will be back in cinemas but there will be something special, An extending 30 minutes of extra footage that has never been seen before. As we look forward to the future i think they should try THE LAND BEFORE TIME XII: THE RETURN OF CHOMPER