The Land Before Time II: The Great Valley Adventure

Plot

A short time after the events of the first film, Littlefoot and his friends are living happily in their new home in the Great Valley, under their families' watchful eyes. One day, the gang attempts to get to the sheltering grass to play, but land in the sinking sand surrounding it. The grownups come and save them, and afterwards chastise them for crossing the sinking sand without help. The following night, Cera calls the others over for a secret meeting, informing them that they need to prove they are adults and suggests running away for a while into the Mysterious Beyond, a location just outside the Valley. Before they leave, they notice two Struthiomimus egg nappers, Ozzy and Strut, stealing an egg from Ducky's nest and chase them into the Mysterious Beyond. During an ensuing landslide, the five are sent to the Mysterious Beyond, while the egg rolls safely back to the nest. In the Mysterious Beyond, the five discover another, larger egg and mistake it for the original. And it is not a Saurolophus egg.

The gang transports the egg into the Valley, and despite finding the original egg back in Ducky's nest, they decide to hatch it. The egg eventually hatches, revealing a baby Sharptooth. While the others flee, Littlefoot quickly realizes that he is not yet dangerous, and tries to raise the hatchling on leaves; though this fails, the hatchling, whom Littlefoot names "Chomper", becomes content with a diet of insects. He then hears the others calling for help, as the vengeful Ozzy and Strut are attacking them. He runs to their aid, but Chomper's shadow ultimately frightens Ozzy and Strut away. Littlefoot exchanges introductions between Chomper and the others. They accept him as part of the group until he bites Cera by instinct. Chomper is told that this is considered bad behavior in the Great Valley, and runs off as a result. When the others follow him, they find him chasing insects on top of the Smoking Mountain.

At the Smoking Mountain, Ozzy and Strut attack the children again, but Chomper once more comes to the rescue, biting Strut's tail. At that moment, the volcano erupts, lava slowly oozing in the children's path. Littlefoot pushes a tree over a canyon to make a bridge for the others, though Ozzy and Strut fall into the canyon while attempting to cross it themselves. Once across, the group encounters two adult Sharpteeth on the other side. They escape them initially, but encounters go on and off for a while. Eventually the whole Great Valley population drives the sharpteeth off, and the kids make it back to their families, but Chomper feels left out and runs away again. After fighting the Sharpteeth off, the adults inquire as to how they entered the Valley, prompting the children to explain their adventure the night before and the landslide that resulted. Realizing the landslide created an opening used by the Sharpteeth to gain access to the Valley, the adults set off a plan to close the entrance for good, telling the children to stay behind.

Littlefoot runs off into the forest to find Chomper. After finding him, they are chased by the two Sharpteeth again. They are cornered by the Sharpteeth when Littlefoot gets his foot trapped in a rotting log. Chomper roars at them, and they recognize him as their son and leave with him. Littlefoot frees himself from the log, but winds up getting captured by Ozzy and Strut, who survived the fall into the canyon. Chomper hears Littlefoot screaming as Ozzy and Strut attempt to drop him off a cliff, and goes to intervene, but is unsuccessful. Then, Chomper's parents rescue him and Littlefoot, chasing Ozzy and Strut into the Mysterious Beyond. After they say their final goodbyes, Chomper follows his parents while Littlefoot returns to the Valley, later assisting the adults in sealing up the entrance between the Valley and the Mysterious Beyond. Finally, it is closed forever; that way the sharpteeth are never going to go back in again. Afterwards, Littlefoot tells his grandparents that being young is not so bad after all, but decides he still looks forward to growing up.

Voice cast

Songs and soundtrack

The songs are written by The Roches. This was the film that introduced the musical element into the series and it has consistently remained ever since. This was also the first time Spike "sings"; his lips can be seen moving during "You're One of Us Now".

Also, even though the film features an original score by Michael Tavera, it contains musical cues from James Horner's score of the original film. Tavera has been the main music composer for the sequels ever since.

Production

In July 1993, Universal Cartoon Studios announced that a direct-to-video sequel to The Land Before Time was in development. A release date was not set at that time.

Home video release history

Reception

In August 2014, the New York Post ranked each of the 13 Land Before Time films released up to that point and placed The Great Valley Adventure at number 5. The New York Post wrote that out of each film, The Great Valley Adventure "does the best job of maintaining some of the darker tone of the original movie while broadening its humor for younger audiences. But it's also responsible for introducing the musical format, so, boo." In 2011, Total Film ranked it as 7th among the "50 Worst Kids Movies".