“They destroyed it”: Steven Spielberg May be Responsible for Nerfing Down One of the Greatest Villains in ‘The Land Before Time’

Steven Spielberg was associated with a dinosaur film even before Jurassic Park came out in 1993. While the legendary filmmaker revolutionized cinema with the incredible dinosaur franchise, it was not his first time in the genre. He also acted as a producer in the 1988 animated film The Land Before Time. 

Despite being a fun-filled animated dinosaur film for kids, The Land Before Time spoke on some mature topics like homelessness. However, if it was not for Spielberg, the film was also about to carry a more violent and darker tone, unlike a traditional children’s film.

Some of the saddest sequences in films like The Lion King and Up have proven that even animated films come with loads of emotions and tearful scenes. But Steven Spielberg felt that the villain in The Land Before Time was becoming too scary to be in a children’s movie.

How did Steven Spielberg change The Land Before Time?

The Land Before Time featured the story of a young Apatosaurus named Littlefoot, who ends up an orphan after his mother dies after being attacked by a massive T-Rex. He, along with his four little friends go on a journey to save themselves from famine and search for the Great Valley.

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The Land Before Time went on to be a massive franchise with 14 movies to date. But the first film in the franchise was something special as it was produced by the legendary Steven Spielberg and George Lucas.

In an interview at the Mega-Con, the director Don Bluth admitted to Comicbook.com that he initially planned to show a more violent villain in the film, before it was cancelled by Spielberg. The Jaws director felt that such scenes would lead to “mothers holding their crying children in the lobby”.

Nevertheless, it cannot be denied that creations are also like children to the artists. Don Bluth added that he was very sad about how some scary scenes involving T-Rex were taken out, which were very beautiful.

So they went in and took it out, never put it back in, and they destroyed it. And it was incredible. It’s too bad because if you’re going to go through all the business of drawing the film, first of all, drawing the sketches and finally animating it and finally bringing it to life, and finding when you see them in color, it takes your breath away, something you’ve been working on. It’s like you created something that was really, really beautiful. 

According to /Film, Don Bluth planned to go all out with The Land Before Time and even the script was scarier. The first T-Rex attack scene was much more impactful and was slated to add a more traumatizing touch to the film than what we got in the final cut.

Will there be more The Land Before Time films?

After its release in 1988, The Land Before Time was a critical and commercial success earning $84.5 million worldwide (via Box Office Mojo). The first film’s success led it to spawn 13 direct-to-video sequels and a TV Series. However, Bluth, Lucas, and Spielberg were not associated with these sequels and they failed to achieve the bar set by the first film.

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In 2023, some rumors speculated that Disney and Pixar may develop a 15th The Land Before Time film after 2016’s The Land Before Time XIV: Journey of the Brave. But it was soon debunked by various sources like Dexerto that the rumors were fake and lacked any official reports.

Moreover, with the rights being still with Universal, it is tough for The Land Before Time to have a sequel made by Disney and Pixar.

The Land Before Time (1988) can be streamed on Netflix, while the sequels can be rented or bought on Apple TV+.