The Land Before Time III: The Time of the Great Giving

Genre: Animated film about dinosaurs and a major water catastrophe.

What happens: In the Great valley for the gang, there are TWO annoying problems (unfortunately, not one or none). There are three bully dinosaurs who are CONSTANTLY picking on the poor good dinosaurs and to top all the depression, the waterfall in the Great Valley has stopped flowing. Though the lovely gang (Littlefoot, Cera, Ducky Petrie and Spike) are sad and annoyed, they have a positive view as well over this mess and decide to work together to find water…

My thoughts: I like most of the L.B.T films. Unfortunately, this one is not at the top of my list for me. It is just too depressing! All the songs focus on some bad thing or other, unlike in all the films, where at least one focuses on just happiness! It also concentrates on the crisis of the film WAY too much for my liking. The music sticks to the depressing tune for 75% of the film, everyone is EXTRA grumpy because of the crisis and it's just too annoying! When there IS happiness, it feels deflated, like rather floppy balloon, it just isn't STRONG enough. Luckily, I prefer this film to "Land Before Time 11", which is my least favourite L.B.T, but this one is still not NEARLY as good as most of the others for me. I know lots of other people like it, but for me, it's just too depressing, too annoying, too deflated and too pessimistic. So there. I like the main characters of course. The new characters are not all that good, because they're bullies.

Recommended to: People who like the eleventh L.B.T, people who find all the other L.B.T's too happy and jolly and people who do not mind becoming a little too depressed by an animated film.

This film's main fault is that the share and care theme is laid on rather thick. When the Valley's water supply is blocked, our young heroes search for a new source. They are hindered by a trio of bullies and a pack of hungry raptors, as well as the unreasonableness of parents. The songs are okay, if forgettable. The raptors are well worth seeing. In spite of the preachy tone of some dialogue and narration, regular fans will not be disappointed.

Shortly after the Great Valley experiences an event with "Flying rocks" (Meteorites), the Valley finds itself in a state of drought when the Thundering Falls that supplies the Great Valley with water suddenly stops. While the valley is dealing with tensions among the grown ups related to water/resource rationing, Littlefoot, Cera, Ducky, Petrie, and Spike are dealing with their own issues as they've become targets for Hyp the Hypsilophodon, Mutt the Muttaburrasaurus, and Nod the Nodosaurus, a trio of bullies who delight in antagonizing and threatening the group.

The Land Before Time III is yet another entry in the lucrative direct to video series spawned from the Don Bluth film, Land Before Time. The film is basically at more or less the same level as the previous one with animation provided by Universal's TV unit Universal Cartoon Studios. This time around the movie tries to be "edutainment" with plots involving resource conservation, dealing with bullying, and even fire safety. As is, Land Before Time III is perfectly serviceable.

The movie is what it is, a slice of life story (more or less) built around dinosaurs to try and teach life lessons. It's not particularly subtle about it, but it's not overly pandering either (except for maybe the song "Kids like us" that goes maybe a little too saccharine). There's an attempt at trying to breakdown and understand bullies by looking at lead bully, Hyp's, interactions with his father, but it comes so late into the movie it feels more like an afterthought. The titular "Great Giving" a thanks giving analog is basically a throwaway line of narration towards the end of the movie and feels like it was just put there as an excuse for the title.

The Land Before Time III is exactly what it is, a harmless slightly over an hour kids movie designed to keep your kids distracted with bright colors and songs for about an hour while you do something else in another room. It's well intentioned enough I suppose and there's nothing objectively wrong with it for what it is. Take it for what you will.

Winning Best Home Video Presentation of the 1995 Annies, "The Time of the Great Giving" is the third installment of the Land Before Time series. For some reason, it was originally supposed to be #4, but was pushed forward one year. Maybe Roy Allen Smith just wanted to save best for last. One way or another, this is still a great addition to the franchise.

The film begins in a similar way to the opening of the first movie, with the same sweeping score and the same calm note, underwater. The animation's cool wavy effects and the silent ancient creatures give a great feel for the setting to those who are starting the series with this installment.

In the Great Valley, Littlefoot, Cera, Petrie, Ducky, and Spike have constantly been getting bullied by a trio of adolescent dinosaurs: a hypsilophodon named Hyp, a nodosaurus named Nod, and a muttaburrasaurus named Mutt.

So on this evening, a meteor shower impacts near the Great Valley and causes an explosion in the Mysterious Beyond. Fortunately, no one is injured severely. But the next day, the Great Valley dinosaurs wake up to find the Thundering Falls, their main supply of water, drying up. The increasing lack of water causes conflicts between the adults. Considering his species the wisest (even singing a whole song about it), Cera's dad is insistent that he make the drinking arrangements. He becomes so conceited that he gets unreasonable. In fact, he accuses Littlefoot of wasting water when he gets sprayed by a splash caused by the bullies, who hightail it out of there to not be noticed. Despite the fact that the gang had no knowledge of the water problem, Cera's dad cites Littlefoot as a bad influence and forbids Cera to be around him. To bring an end to all the bickering, Cera sneaks out with the others to set out on a water hunt of their own.

One of the most graphically stunning sequences in the movie, the animation of this wildfire fire that spreads through the Great Valley is dazzling and the score is appropriately alarming for the situation, sounding much like that of the Firebird stage from Fantasia 2000.

"Kids Like Us", is the best song in the movie. While the other two have great instrumentals, their lyrics aren't very top notch. This one is very meaningful, if somewhat preachy, and hopefully will show children how to deal with bullying.

The only real issue with this movie is that it kind of makes it seem like children are always the ones with the solution to a problem while the adults are just helpless and argumentative. This movie could have benefited more by encouraging children to always seek adults' help. Even so, it's better than "The Great Valley Adventure", as it deals with the grown ups as much as the kids, and it offers great messages for both children and parents of cooperation and preventing bullying.

The storyline, though formulaic, is pretty well-developed, and though the kids' dialogue is juvenile, that isn't so much a bad thing when working with characters who are still very young. Kids will be kids. The action scenes are sufficiently entertaining, the animation is outstanding, and Michael Tavera's score is most beautiful here, making for a fine addition to the Land Before Time canon.

8/10 for "The Land Before Time III: The Time of the Great Giving".

Like the original, an amazingly crafted heatwarming tale. This storyline is full of morals and lessons from bullyng, arrogance, pride, prejudice, discrimination, teamwork, friendship, sharing and much more.

The animation is traditional and simplistic with some innccuracies of depictions of species' features and some inaccuacies between Mesozoic and Cenozoic periods. However the dubbing is amazing with characters vocal patterns and use of language being correlative to the species presumed intelligence.

Unlike the original this has several musical numbers which seem dubious in the context of the series. The songs are marginally better than the second film, but still quite ropey.

However a must watch for kids.