Buy it... if you're enamored with James Horner's lyrical orchestral work for the animated children's film genre, because The Land Before Time is the standard by which all his other related scores would be compared.

Avoid it... if you expect the few action cues in the score to rival the rambunctious intensity of Horner's concurrent work for Willow.

Horner

The Land Before Time: (James Horner) In the decade before Walt Disney reclaimed its domination over the animated film genre, Steven Spielberg and Don Bluth provided several noteworthy hits for Universal that would be so financially successful that most of them would spawn several sequels, both on the big screen and straight to video. While The Secret of N.I.M.H. and An American Tail would each merit more critical recognition than The Land Before Time, the 1988 tale about persevering dinosaurs would by itself inspire no less than ten sequels aimed directly at the video market. The migrating dinosaur story is insufferable in its cuteness at times, accentuated by James Horner's effervescent music. Horner had been widely recognized for his score and song work for An American Tail and by 1988 had established himself as an Oscar contender of mainstream status. That year in particular would prove to be among the best in the composer's career, with The Land Before Time and Willow serving as sister scores sharing many of the characteristics that have garnered them similar acclaim through the years. While Willow is superior in its more melodramatic statements of theme and rowdy action sequences, The Land Before Time is the softer, more consistently lyrical companion piece. One of the more interesting overarching aspects of The Land Before Time is precisely that consistency; animated film scores, especially those with romping characters in the animal kingdom, typically maneuver at such high speeds that it's difficult for a composer to provide significant lengths of flowing harmony. Horner not only minimizes his interruptions for comedy or action, he composes extremely long cues for The Land Before Time that in many regards emulate the style of concert suites. Despite slight changes in mood throughout the score's 50+ minutes of length on album, there really are only two full action pieces and one questionable comedy romp. Otherwise, The Land Before Time is both a delightfully consistent listening experience and, for those who have sought additional music from Willow for years, an extremely relevant replacement.

Three primary themes exist in The Land Before Time, with several surrounding motifs shared between them. A few singular moments of theme not reprised anywhere else in the score are also treats along the way. Rather than composing thematic ideas for each member in the troop of lovable characters, Horner provides representation for broader situations. First, he opens with a rousing and noble theme for the dinosaurs as a whole. Secondly, a bright and spirited comedy theme dances to softer rhythmic tones. Finally, the primary theme of the film is introduced last, and serves as the inspiration for the plight of the migrating dinosaurs; it's the "feel good" romantic melody that would double as the construct of the typical Diana Ross song for the film. Sadly, the most interesting theme is the one best promised by Horner but least utilized thereafter. After a respectful choral prelude, Horner unleashes the dinosaurs' general theme with remarkable majesty. A choral crescendo in the style of Willow leads to a rolling string and piano rhythm of resounding power, accompanying the powerful theme as it is passed around the brass and woodwind sections. Several aspects of this portion of "The Great Migration" are noteworthy. The theme itself is an intelligent combination of both prowess of strength and the clumsiness of size; the first three-quarters of its progression are particularly bold, and yet Horner tacks on four rather lazy notes after a natural conclusion that perfectly embody the lumbering movement of a large animal (along with some rolling timpani, which always helps). The transitions between the instruments carrying the melody is also creative in that the French horns, trumpets, trombones, and what sounds like a flugelhorn could very well each represent a different kind of dinosaur in the migration. A careful mix of the score allows the woodwinds, all in unison, to carry a portion of this theme. Although it's almost lost under the action, the piano sets its own elegant rhythm in this portion of the cue, playing a role that Horner would expand upon in The New World. The cue transitions to a light mid-range drum rhythm over which various woodwinds offer the cute comedy idea that would be fleshed out further in later cues. A beautiful, rising string interlude to this theme maintains its listenability.

After a brief burst of brass for a flurry of animated action, Horner concludes "The Great Migration" with an intentional statement of his theme from his obscure score for The Journey of Natty Gann on an exuberant flute. A foreshadowing of a choral segment from the forthcoming theme of inspiration in later cues will recall the delicacy of Casper. This theme would finally be heard in full at the outset of "Sharptooth and the Earthquake." Compared to Horner's other lyrical children's themes, this one is a bit anonymous, but the orchestration of the theme's statements, as well as the very good mix of the choir, elevate this one beyond most of his others. A minor sub-theme follows, meandering between major and minor key in its fragmented appearances throughout the score; its performances by flute and choir are quite intoxicating. The second half of "Sharptooth and the Earthquake" is one of the score's primary action pieces. Sharing most of its timpani rumbling, snare-ripping, and cymbal crashing qualities with Willow's numerous similar cues, the later parts of this cue have pieces of bombast from Brainstorm as well as a foreshadowing of tension heard later in Apollo 13. Despite its adequacy, the brief action music in The Land Before Time is its weakest element. The restrained beauty of "Whispering Winds" is the score's most prominent use of the inspiration theme. Aside from occasional, light romps, this 9-minute cue is a seamless performance of the theme in the most innocent sonic capabilities of the woodwinds and choir. One fascinating aspect of this cue is a bass string rhythm under piano and meandering choir (in three sequences during the cue) that would trick most casual listeners into thinking they were listening to Danny Elfman's Edward Scissorhands. Horner uses metallic percussion to simulate the sound of wind in much the same fashion as he did in Willow, but it's not as prominent in the mix here. An ensemble choral performance of the theme at the end of the cue is not to be missed. Throughout the score, the London Symphony Orchestra proves its credentials; not a single major flub is to be heard.

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One of the few reprises of the noble dinosaurs' theme from the opening cue is provided at the outset of "Foraging for Food," a cue that thereafter gives the playful comedy theme its primary airtime. A pan flute rhythm provides a unique variant on the theme's light tones. If you're adverse to tingling triangles, or despise Horner's sometimes wild percussive rhythms that build to an ambitious crescendo (as in Bicentennial Man), then avoid this cue. A triumphant brass and layered string performance of the inspiration theme opens "The Rescue/Discovery of the Great Valley," leading to a brief action sequence that soars with harmonic spirit most similar to The Rocketeer. As the dinosaurs reach the Great Valley, their overarching theme from the start of the score returns with a softer, more elegant rendition. As anticipation of the arrival builds, snare rhythms once again reminiscent of The Rocketeer eventually yield to a final, cymbal crashing ensemble performance of the inspiration theme. The theme's choral interlude provides a joyous conclusion that develops into an enthusiastic end credits cue that summarizes only parts of the score. A flourishing string rhythm propelling the cue recalls An American Tail, underlining the score's most ambitious layering of the comedy theme in all its upbeat glee. After two minutes, the inspiration theme plays to the end with performances very similar to those that came immediately before in the finale of the film. A big disappointment with this cue is the lack of a statement of the dinosaurs' main theme; while not as relevant at the end of the film as the other two themes, Horner extends the inspiration theme to unnecessarily dull lengths at the end of this suite, time during which he could easily have wrapped up the score's themes in their entirety. Otherwise, The Land Before Time is an outstanding genre score that is always a joy to hear on album. The Ross song is not offensive, though it's somewhat predictable given Horner's usual song adaptation habits, and Will Jennings' lyrics are atrocious. The album, despite being readily available in the 1990's, became quite scarce in the 2000's. Among the plethora of animated genre film scores that Horner has composed over the earlier years of his career, none has been able to recapture the consistent majesty and beauty of The Land Before Time. Along with Willow, it was easily one of the top highlights of 1988. *****   Amazon.com Price Hunt: CD or Download

Bias Check:

For James Horner reviews at Filmtracks, the average editorial rating is 3.13 (in 98 reviews) and the average viewer rating is 3.25 (in 184,725 votes). The maximum rating is 5 stars.