The Land Before Time IV: Journey Through the Mists (1996)
Time: 1h 14mins
Director: Roy Allen Smith
Quick Summary: When Littlefoot's grandfather falls ill, the only way to cure him is with a flower from the forbidding land of the mists, which holds unexpected perils and danger.
Okay, we're actually getting back to the kids going on journeys instead of messing around in the valley.
I'll start with the songs, as I only remember one of them and you know what it's kinda sweet. Littlefoot's grandmother starts singing a song about the cycle of life and death and how important it is, and eventually, everyone has their time to go upon his grandfather falling really ill. I will praise this a lot too because it's done in a way that kids can take on board really easily without scaring them. It's gentle and soft and reminds me of the death of his mother in the first film. That has a lot more maturity to it, but this is simple and pleasant.
This puts in place the main plotline, to go find this magical flower that can potentially save his grandfather. Along for the ride is another longneck, who is basically the female version of Littlefoot in personality and looks. There would be times I actually got them mixed up. Because we have a newcomer in the group, guess what happens. They argue. All because Littlefoot found someone similar to him and does what kids do when they meet someone new. Want to play with them all the time. So the whole group gets jealous after Cera follows her father's footsteps, and convinces them to split apart from Littlefoot. Still a bitch I see...
Speaking of the new dinosaur, I never thought I'd come across Dinosaur racism in these films but here we are. After the group leaves Littlefoot, this bitch manages to convince Littlefoot is better than them because he is a Longneck, they are basically weaker and not as smart. I mean Cera's father has similar vocal thoughts, but hearing it from a KID made me double-take. The funny thing is, she doesn't even learn or say that she was wrong by the end of the film, she just stands there really far from the group and then leaves with her herd.
I could not care one bit for the villains in this. Sure, the Crocodile looked terrifying, especially for a small kid. I would have cried if I saw it back then. Thing is, it's a pair, and the pair are so annoying. Constantly bickering, fighting, getting into shenanigans that are jammed full of slapstick and over the top hurting each other. I can't quite put my finger on it but they feel offensive too. Like, they're incredibly stupid, with a hillbilly accent. It could be harmless enough, but still doesn't sit right. It's a shame because they could have been hilarious and scary at the same time, but if it wasn't for the fact they were useless at any attempt to get Littlefoot they just annoyed me.
Their song was even worse. Imagine the same notes, over and over and over again as the lyric repeats several times. It wasn't even good to start with and listening to it for two minutes really drained me as neither of them could sing so it was spoken instead of sung.
There is also this really random addition of an old turtle that is plonked conveniently right before the first encounter with these villains. Almost like he was made purely to help out Littlefoot in this one moment because we never see him again. The same goes for a mouse that is also conveniently plonked in front of the kids when they try to save Littlefoot.
Oh, as well, while Ducky was screaming at the top of her lungs and my ears were bleeding while she was falling, only to be caught by the bad guy bird, Spike finally did something aside from eating. He speaks. It's literally only the words "Ducky", but that shocked everyone including Ducky, and her surprise somehow surprised the bird causing her to be dropped? I'm not really sure about the logic here, but that is the only time Spike speaks throughout all fourteen films.
One small note which is pretty insignificant, but I loved the look of the medical flowers. There was just something so nice about looking at a glowing yellow flower. Maybe it was just a small amount of stimulation going to my brain as this film barely gave me any.
Another one of these that is okay and watchable, though it has its major flaws. I'm still baffled at how these films manage to fit several plotlines in one short film, though I did learn later on that it got really draining to follow three different stories at once within these. I still think that all these films were TV show plotlines that either got stretched out into an hour or were serval compiled into one.
4/10
"Grandma: Littlefoot, we all must learn to accept what the great circle of life hands us."
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