Not secret: I love children’s movies.
I’ve always loved kid’s movies. I grew up watching Disney films — movies like The Rescuers, The Fox and the Hound, and The Sword in the Stone. I still love them, long after I’ve had any excuse to watch them on a regular basis.
But my favourite movie, and the one I remember watching the most when I was young, was The Land Before Time.
As with many of the movies I loved as a child, I don’t remember a lot of details. I clearly recall the earthquake, particularly because I remember having many earthquake-related nightmares afterwards. I also remember the name of the Triceratops (Cera), because to my little-kid mind, it sounded so much like my name (Sarah). There are other very vague images I remember, the strongest being something about flying.
And so more than twenty years since the last time I saw The Land Before Time, I sat down to watch it.
My memories came flooding back almost immediately. The tree star, Little Foot and Cera jumping on the frog bubbles, Sharptooth, the way Ducky repeats words, Petrie trying to fly, Spike, the tar pit… so many things that I thought I’d completely forgotten. I found myself remembering the music, something I’d never expected my child-self to have even been aware of.
Rewatching The Land Before Time was magical. I’ve learned that some movies don’t live up to the memories. But some movies do. Some not only live up to the memories, but far exceed them.
I’m so glad I finally had the opportunity to watch this one again. And I’m even happier that I have another movie to share with a generation of children who haven’t seen it.
Actually, The Land Before Time is simply another movie I look forward to sharing with anyone who hasn’t seen it, child or not.
