The Land Before Time VII: The Stone of Cold Fire

The Land Before Time VII: The Stone of Cold Fire is a 2000 American direct-to-video animated adventure musical drama and the seventh film in The Land Before Time series, produced and directed by Charles Grosvenor. It stars the voices of Thomas Dekker, Anndi McAfee, Aria Curzon, Jeff Bennett and Rob Paulsen, and introduces Charles Kimbrough, Patti Deutsch, Jim Cummings and British actor Michael York. This was the only Land Before Time film to be written by Len Uhley. This is the first installment to not have John Ingle's narration. Starting with The Stone of Cold Fire, Taiwanese-American studio Wang Film Productions takes over the overseas animation work on the entire Land Before Time series until the 2007–08 television series of the same name and The Land Before Time XIII: The Wisdom of Friends, after South Korean studio AKOM provided their animation for the last five direct-to-video sequels: The Great Valley Adventure, The Time of the Great Giving, Journey Through the Mists, The Mysterious Island, and The Secret of Saurus Rock.

The Land Before Time VII:
The Stone of Cold Fire
DVD cover
Directed byCharles Grosvenor
Produced byCharles Grosvenor
Written byLen Uhley
StarringThomas Dekker
Anndi McAfee
Aria Noelle Curzon
Jeff Bennett
Rob Paulsen
Michael York
Jim Cummings
John Ingle
Miriam Flynn
Kenneth Mars
Charles Kimbrough
Patti Deutsch
Tress MacNeille
Music byMichael Tavera
James Horner (music from The Land Before Time)
Production
company
Distributed byUniversal Studios Home Video
Release date
  • December 5, 2000 (2000-12-05)
Running time
74 minutes
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish

Plot

One night, Littlefoot sees a strange blue-colored meteor falling from the sky and crashing into Threehorn Peak, a volcano in the Smoking Mountain range. When Littlefoot describes it the next morning, the adults in the Great Valley do not believe him except for two newcomers, the mysterious "Rainbow Faces", who speak about possibilities of wonders beyond what they know. The Rainbow Faces suggest the rock may be a "Stone of Cold Fire", which is capable of possessing magical properties. Cera's father, however stops the Rainbow Faces and forbids them or anybody else to "fill the children's heads with rubbish". Littlefoot tries to tell Cera's father that he knew where the flying rock was and how he can find it. But Cera's father warns Littlefoot about the Mysterious Beyond and how it's off limits. Littlefoot's grandfather agrees and tells Littlefoot that until the far-walkers leave the Great Valley, it would be better if they don't make any more fuss about the flying rock.

Pterano, the outcast uncle of Littlefoot's friend Petrie, overhears the conversation and conspires to use the rock's powers to take control of the Valley. Pterano asks Petrie, who idolizes him, for the location of the rock and learns its location. Littlefoot's friend Ducky overhears Pterano's plan, but before she can warn the others, Pterano and his cronies, Sierra and Rinkus (a pair of Cearadactylus and Rhamphorhynchus), abduct her and set out to find the Stone. Upon discovering Ducky's kidnapping, the adults tell the young ones how Pterano led some of their herd during their search for the Valley, but had accidentally brought his followers to a pack of Deinonychus. Pterano was able to fly away, but the event left him emotionally scarred. He was expelled from the herd as punishment for leading his followers into danger.

Because the adults are slow to reach a decision, Littlefoot, Petrie, Cera, and Spike take off by themselves in search of Ducky. Meanwhile, Ducky escapes and falls into a cave while fleeing. After the children find her, Ducky comforts Petrie, who is distraught about his uncle's actions, by stating that she could tell that Pterano is the least wicked of the three Flyers, and that he still has a potential of doing good. Meanwhile, Sierra displays mutinous feelings towards Pterano, but Rinkus convinces him to hold off betraying Pterano until they find the Stone.

The children pursue the Flyers, hoping to reach the Stone before them. Aided by the Rainbow Faces, who suddenly appear and offer their knowledge of volcanoes, they manage to arrive at Threehorn Peak before the Flyers. However, both groups discover that the Stone is just an ordinary meteorite. Lamenting over this realization, Pterano explains that he had meant to create a paradise with the power of the stone, not realizing that this paradise already exists in the form of the Great Valley. Unwilling to believe the Stone is not magical, Sierra and Rinkus betray Pterano. However, as they attempt to get the Stone to give them power, the volcano begins to erupt, and Pterano saves Ducky when she falls off the mountain.

Petrie's mother arrives with a friend (who is one big flyer) to evacuate the children, leaving Sierra and Rinkus to be caught in the Stone's explosion. Pterano is thanked for saving Ducky. Meanwhile, Rinkus and Sierra get exploded from the meteorite (which they tried to bash) and they land back at the site where they camped earlier (quite burned, singed, and bruised). Back in the Great Valley, the grown ups have a meeting and decide about Pterano's fate. As punishment for his plan (spoken by Littlefoot's grandfather), Pterano must be exiled from the Valley until five of the cold times have passed (five years). Petrie cuts in and tries to plead against the punishment, begging the grown ups to let Pterano live in the Valley forever. However, Petrie's mother tells Petrie that even though Pterano may be sorry, it does not change what he did (erase his actions) and he must still be held responsible. Pterano, agreeing with the banishment, tells Petrie that everyone (including himself) has to take responsibility for their actions and assures Petrie that he should be fine. Accepting the result, Petrie tearfully bids Pterano farewell with the latter saying he will miss Petrie before Cera's father forces Pterano away (begging him to move on). This prompts him to remark to the latter that there are things he will not miss at all.

That night, Littlefoot finds the Rainbow Faces and asks them if the meteorite really was a Stone of Cold Fire. They admit that while it wasn't, his effort to search for it was what really mattered, and reiterate that there are many unknowns to be discovered "beyond the Mysterious Beyond". Littlefoot is then momentarily distracted, and when he turns around, he finds the Rainbow Faces have disappeared in a pillar of light. As his friends find him, an inspired Littlefoot reflects that there are many unknowns and that such unknowns make life wonderful.

Voice cast

Songs

The songs are written by Michele Brourman and Amanda McBroom.

Soundtrack

"If We Hold on Together" (instrumental)

Production

Production of the film had concluded by June 2000.[1] This is the first film in the series to use Digital ink and paint rather than traditional cel animation that was used in the first 6 films.

Home video release history

  • December 5, 2000 (VHS and DVD)
  • December 4, 2001 (VHS and DVD)
  • December 2, 2003 (VHS and DVD - 4 Movie Dino Pack (Volume 2) and 9 Movie Dino Pack)
  • November 29, 2005 (DVD - 2 Mysteries Beyond the Great Valley)

Reception

Entertainment Weekly gave the film a "B" and wrote that it "beats the heck out of Barney's infantile dinosaur tales," with its "velociraptor-fast pace and a minimum of treacle".[2] In August 2014, the New York Post ranked each of the 13 Land Before Time films released up to that point and placed The Stone of Cold Fire at number 10, writing, "Though not quite as annoying as 'Tinysauruses,' the name 'Rainbow Faces' comes pretty close."[3]

The film received nominations for "Best Animated Video Premier" and "Best Animated Character Performance" for Littlefoot and Pterano at the Video Premiere Awards in 2001, losing to Joseph: King of Dreams and Batman Beyond: Return of the Joker, respectively.[4] Aria Curzon received an award for "Outstanding Young Voice-Over" at the 23rd Young Artist Awards in 2002 for her role as Ducky in this film, as well as The Land Before Time V, The Land Before Time VI, and The Land Before Time VIII.[5]

AwardDateNominationNomineeResult
Video Premiere Award2001Best Animated Character PerformanceThomas Dekker (voice, Littlefoot), Zeon Davush (supervising animator, Littlefoot)Nominated
Michael York (voice, Pterano), Zeon Davush (supervising animator, Pterano)Nominated
Best Animated Video PremierCharles Grosvenor (producer)Nominated
Young Artist AwardApril 7, 2002Outstanding Young Voice-OverAria Curzon (Ducky) (1997-2001)Won

References

  1. Hettrick, Scott (23 June 2000). "Video bows mint coin". Variety. Retrieved 4 December 2016.
  2. Fretts, Bruce (December 1, 2000). "The Land Before Time VII". Entertainment Weekly. Retrieved January 3, 2017.
  3. Miller, Gregory E. (August 13, 2014). "A rundown of the best and worst 'The Land Before Time' movies". New York Post. Retrieved January 3, 2017.
  4. "Video Premiere Awards 2000". DVD Exclusive Awards. Archived from the original on November 28, 2001. Retrieved February 16, 2019.
  5. "23rd Annual Young Artists Awards". Young Artist Awards. Archived from the original on April 23, 2016. Retrieved February 15, 2019.
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.