The Land Before Time IX: Journey to Big Water (2002)

This long chain of DTV sequels to the beautiful The Land Before Time has its ups and downs and this is one of the downs. While not being awful it just disappointed badly. I had expected a lot more of the under water experiences which was promised in its title, but was only briefly shown at the very end. And thinking about how well the movie was animated in general the lack of contact with the under water world just made me sad. Most of the time nothing really happens on dry land, not even much of real threat or the life lessons these sequels normally did. It's just boring most of the time.The new characters are all underdeveloped and that only added to the tediousness of it. Mo could have been so much more of an insight to the under water world and have more personality. He surely is the most memorable of this movie, but that does not make him a good character, because he was mostly just smiling and jumping around. The "Sharptooth Swimmer" could have been used a lot more, but wasn't.The songs in general were forgettable and seemed to come out of nowhere. I am not a fan of TLBT take on musical numbers in general and this one proves it.I have seen much more offensive attempts of sequels to great movies and I think many TLBT sequels have something to offer, but this one dumped its potential into the deep.

Generally, 'The Land Before Time' sequels are not so bad, though none of them come close to the near-perfection of the charming and poignant original film. Of the sequels, from personal opinion 'Wisdom of Friends' was the only bad one, the rest range from slightly mediocre to pretty decent.'Journey to Big Water' has problems, but generally it's one of the better later sequels (made around a point where the franchise was starting to feel over-milked after the eighth instalment or so). In fact, perhaps one of the better entries in the series.On the most part, with the exception of some rushed-looking character designs, awkward movements and plastic-looking trees (for example), the animation is decent. There are some lovely vibrant colours, the backgrounds and sceneries are detailed, the underwater scenes are very beautifully animated and the storm and nature effects are some of the most vivid of the series. The music score fits nicely, with its share of whimsical parts, sinister parts and energetic parts, all lush in instrumentation and clever in orchestration.The story may be predictable and episodic, but it's paced breezily, has real cuteness and charm without laying it too thick with the sentimentality and sugar, the conflict does have some genuine tension and the messaging and values (important ones that anybody can identify with) don't feel forced or heavy-handed. The characters are a mixed bag, Mo is adorable (almost as much as Chomper) and the sharptooth swimmer is suitably antagonistic. Ducky and Spike never fail to bring a smile to my face, both are cute and amusing.However, the adult dinosaur characters are underwritten and have little in their material of worth. Petrie is a little annoying at times, Littlefoot is sometimes likable but bland in other parts while Cera is an annoying (sometimes to the point of being insufferable) brat. The voice work is also mixed, John Ingle's distinguished narrator and Kenneth Mars' distinguished Grandpa stand out in the adults, while the best voice work overall comes from Aria Noelle Curzon and Rob Paulson as Ducky and Mo. Thomas Dekker varies in confidence as the voice of Littlefoot, sometimes sincere but he struggles being natural in the weaker material, while Jeff Bennett and Anndi McAfee over-compensate, especially McAfee.'Journey to Big Water's' biggest weaknesses are the dialogue and the songs, criticisms that are true for most of the sequels actually. The dialogue too often doesn't sound very natural, with the humorous parts coming over as corny and the emotional parts mawkish too often, though both have their moments. The songs are not just forgettable and unnecessary (not to mention very badly sung), but the lyrics are likely to have even the most tolerant of children squirming in their chairs in embarrassment, "Imaginary Friend" is particularly hard to sit through.Overall, not great but decent. One of the better sequels. 6/10 Bethany Cox

This has to be the most successful animated series ever. I've collected them all. This is one of the best. Our heroes help a dolphin find his way home. It's cute and full of fun. Mo is a lively new friend and the water setting creates a unique adventure. 8/10

Now there is going to be a number 10 coming out in December!! Enough already! I am so burnt out on these! The characters were cute a few times but not 10 times now. The adventures are old as you can see from the ratings on this movie (LOW). Enough with the land before time, these are getting really old and the quality is steadily declining each time they make another. A new idea would be so much nicer!