The Atlanta Journal AND CONSTITUTION FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 18, 1988 ..... Dinosaurs Romp Again, But Story Line's Subtlety Is Extinct in Land Before Time' ..A TERRIFIC NEW COMEDY... TAKES ON A MARX BROTHERS MANIA THAT'LL HAVE YOU HOWLING. 'Without a Clue' is without a doubt, one of the most lovable comedies "Here is a of the year." - Lisa Karlin, WABC RADIO movie with everything"...A that explanation, though, and remained concerned throughout the film for her whereabouts. Still, we all survived "Bambi.") Littlefoot's band of pals includes a feisty triceratops named Cera, who exhibits some racist (or rather, species-ist) tendencies ("Three-horns never talk to longnecks,' she declares) and insists she can manage the hardship alone. One wishes she were not quite so severely reprimanded for her budding independence, but she does wounded in the giant Earth Shake Film Review - several million years of geological history in a few seconds of colorful animation - but tells her son she'll always be with him, adding, "Some things you see with your eyes - others you see with your heart." (My 3-year-old didn't buy learn that other "types" are not all bad and that communal efforts have their advantages. A charmingly trepid pterodactyl learns to fly just in time to help his friends out of a jam, and a sluggish spiny-backed stegosaurus named Spike discovers his particular strengths. Together, they learn to survive not only the journey but the attacks of the evil Tyrannosaurus rex, Sharptooth. The team cheerleader is a nervous anatosaurus named Ducky. The story does have a certain degree of charm, but the biggest flaw is that it covers several Major Life Themes without much subtlety or use of symbolism. The great cycle of life and death, as well as a child's struggle toward independence, are handled in ways that are unlikely to captivate adults. Even more importantly, as child psychologist Bruno Bettelheim might agree, the lack of subtlety ultimately underestimates children's responses, as well. Twentieth Anniversary HIGH MUSEUM ANTIQUES SHOW & SALE NOVEMBER 18, 19, 20 = "The Land ed adventure. Gwynne, Pat rected by Don Before Time." An animatStarring (the voices of) Fred Hingle and Helen Shaver. DiBluth. Rated G. By Amy Greene Special to The Journal-Constitution When "The Land Before Time" the new animated production from Steven Spielberg and George Lucas - ends ever peacefully in The Great Valley, parents a only hope the kids don't ask, "Where are the dinosaurs now?" But then, this isn't a historical documentary. It's a children's movie that is, at least visually, Disneyesque. It was produced at the Sullivan-Bluth Studios in Ireland by the same team that worked on the phenomenally successful "An American Tail" (director Don Bluth, writers Judy Freudberg and Tony Geiss, musician James Horner),. "The Land Before Time" is set in the world of dinosaurs, who, in spite of their extinction, have in recent years been enjoying a great comeback in popularity, particularthe young. The film cenly among ters on a young brontosaurus named Littlefoot who, on a migration toward more vegetation, finds himself orphaned. He teams up with a number of other orphaned dinosaurs and together they make their way, meeting with grave dangers, to The Great Valley. Littlefoot's mother is mortally
