The Land Before Time

Universal Pictures | Release Date: November 18, 1988

CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION

66	METASCORE Generally favorable reviews based on 15 Critic Reviews

Positive:

Mixed:

Negative:

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Critic Reviews

Critic score Publication By date

Jay Carr

From its opening evolution sequence of squiggly things in the water through its references to the great circle of life, The Land Before Time embraces a larger perspective than merely that of the adventure story. It's an affecting work, and a work of quality. [18 Nov 1988, p.29]

Dave Kehr

It is, in the best Disney tradition, a story of childhood's end, of leaving the family and accepting adult responsibilities. Bluth relates it through a smooth counterpoint of humor, sadness and horror. Read full review

Roger Ebert

I guess I sort of liked the film. although I wonder why it couldn't have spent more time on natural history and the sense of discovery. Read full review

TV Guide MagazineStaff (Not Credited)

Bluth, a former Disney animator, understands that the greatest Disney films take us on an emotional journey in which all our hopes and fears are played out in a vivid fantasy world where anything can happen. The Land Before Time continues that great tradition. Read full review

David Sterritt

It's a beautiful movie to watch, and the cartoony characters are as endearing as they come. Read full review

Beth Dunlop

It's the kind of movie that parents and children ought to see together, then talk about afterward, though the lessons are ones that grown-ups need to master, as well. [18 Nov 1988, p.D1]

Jay Scott

The film as a whole, beautifully drawn and gracefully set into balletic motion, teaches a few welcome lessons regarding ecology and racial tolerance. [19 Nov 1988]

Janet Maslin

The Land Before Time isn't heavily plotted; it doesn't do much more than concentrate on the amusingly lifelike dynamics among the dinosaur children as they make their journey. Luckily, it isn't very long either. At a just-right length of 73 minutes, it ought to win audiences' hearts without wearing out their patience. Read full review

Hal Hinson

Though it's not a great film, it is an entertaining and, at times, emotionally rich one. Read full review

EmpireDavid Hempworth

Sharp animation and powerful visualisation of scale will enthrall a young audience but the clumsy cub-scout moralising feels, well, extinct. Read full review

Sheila Benson

Don Bluth (An American Tail) has gone to the trouble of differentiating between the species, of being careful of the scale of one in relation to another and of giving very little children a sort of primer of dinosaur lore. Read full review

Time Out LondonDamon Wise

After An American Tale, Bluth surely had the clout to make a more adventurous animated feature than this, with its anthropomorphic espousal of American nuclear family values and its static, unimaginatively rendered backgrounds. Read full review

David Ansen

Visually, the Bluth effort is disappointingly drab and murky, and the story line may prove too thin to keep the little natives from restlessness. [28 Nov 1988, p.87]

Staff (Not Credited)

For the most part, pic is about as engaging as what's found on Saturday morning TV.

Peter Smith

This tale of prehistoric cuteness (sort of a Clan Of The Care Bears) is mostly dreadfully slow when it is not being overbearingly cloying. Bluth has done much better work in the past and certainly will again. This isn't it. [18 Nov 1988, p.7]