The Land Before Time VII: The Stone of Cold Fire (2000)

 

Genre: Family/ Adventure

Time: 1h 15mins

Director: Charles Grosvenor

Quick Summary: A mysterious object crashes near the great valley, and Petrie's untrustful uncle arrives in search of it, believing it to be "a storm of cold fire", a supposed rock of great powers.

Thank god they got rid of the Cell animation. It looks so much better now that I assume all the animation is done on a computer. Though, that now makes room for really ugly CGI stuff. It's so out of place too because of how ugly and cheap it was back then. Whenever the dinosaurs would be interacting with whatever CGI thing, it looked so bizarre like they weren't even touching anything because they didn't even bother to put shading on it. 

I did think that they were going to go in a new direction and not have any songs. I was wrong. It took until thirty minutes into the film for a song to start and I don't even remember it. After luring me into a false sense of security you'd think the song would be memorable. 

The kids do feel more like kids now, in the sense that they're absolutely stupid. Obviously, they're not going to know they are being manipulated, that's not the point. But when adults tell kids that another adult is bad, you'd think they'd listen and stay clear. Or after their friend is kidnapped, you'd think that might connect a few dots. I guess it does try to teach kids that people who may seem cool and want to help you do something, might not always be as nice as they seem. I mean the story that they were told about this guy, is that he indirectly killed the heard he was leaving because "he forgot they couldn't fly like him" and "He just wanted to get away as quickly as he could." There is a flashback for this moment and it's pretty brutal watching a bunch of dinosaurs fall to their death.

We do get more with Ducky and Petrie after being pushed to the background for the last three films. I'm glad Ducky isn't as clueless anymore and just feels a bit more naive because it was a little funny hearing her comments as she realises something wasn't what she thought. But, and this is a big but. Why the hell did they have to make her scream so much. It was worse than the two toddlers from the last film, and that is saying something. It was also really nice to have a film that isn't centred around Littlefoot or Cera for a while. Even though Cera kicks up a stink about not being involved much in what's going on, the focus is on Petrie. I love this little guy now. He's not quite timid, but a little awkward and nervous to do things but he comes out with the most hilarious comments about what's going on around him. 

The strange thing about this one which was a massive curveball is Aliens. There are literally alien dinosaurs introduced into this franchise. It's a little funny admittedly because these aliens are talking to dinosaurs about space and science, and the creation of the universe, probably knowing they wouldn't last that long. 

Strangely, this one felt very long. I couldn't wait for it to be over. It might have been the burnout kicking in, but this was a struggle to get through. It wasn't that I was bored, because it had plenty of things going on, it just took a long while for anything to happen.

5/10

"Pterano: Don't tell me, you must be old threehorn's daughter.

Cera: How'd you know?

Pterano: Let's just say there's a *strong* family resemblance."