The Land Before Time V: The Mysterious Island

The Land Before Time V - The Mysterious Island (1997) is an animated movie directed by Charles Grosvenor.

Plot summary
After a cloud of “Swarming Leaf Gobblers” (locusts) descends upon the Great Valley, devouring all plants and leaving it a barren wasteland, the inhabitants have no choice but to leave and seek for another place where they can survive until the plants in the Great Valley have grown back. But the “Swarming Leaf Gobblers” have left a path of devastation behind with no food for the dinosaurs to be found. After erring days and days through this desolation quarrels between the members of the herd cause them to make a fatal decision, to split up so every kind has to move on for itself.

Littlefoot, Cera, Ducky, Petrie and Spike, not willing to let this grownup decision separate them, set out by themselves in order to keep the grownups who are going to follow them together and find enough food so they all can stay together.

When after a long walk, during which they try to leave a distinct trail for the grownups, they are already at the edge of giving up the endeavour when they finally reach something they have never seen before, the Big Water (ocean). Nearby they discover a green island connected to the mainland by a very thin natural rocky bridge. While they are crossing the bridge they are surprised by an earthquake that nearly drowns them with a large wave, and also destroys the thin bridge, thus trapping the group on the island.

Unable to call the attention of their folks, who have indeed followed the trail of their kids, to the island, they attempt to escape from the island on a floating log. This attempt fails, however, because of a hungry swimming sharptooth (shark) that attacks. The kids barely make it back to the island.

The next morning, they are surprised by a sharptooth. After he has pursued and corners them, he turns out to be Chomper, the sharptooth they hatched in The Land Before Time II: The Great Valley Adventure. Since then Chomper has grown, however, so the friends and especially Cera are very skeptical about Chomper’s ability to differentiate between friends and food. Chomper’s parents live with him on the island and are a danger to the group. Chomper assists in helping them hide.

Despite all efforts of Chomper to hide his friends, to make them feel comfortable and to provide them with green food (plants), Cera keeps a great distrust against Chomper and shows it in a most hurting way. Only Littlefoot’s loyalty to Chomper is unbroken.

Unaware of Chomper, his parents or anybody else, another big sharptooth (a Giganotosaurus to be exact) has come to the island and surprises the herbivores at their hiding place. The wild chase ends at the edge of a cliff above the ocean, where the sharptooth traps Littlefoot and his friends. At this moment Chomper, and soon after his parents, show up and begin a fierce fight with the foreign sharptooth. The fight ends when the foreign sharptooth is knocked over the edge of the cliff by one of Chomper’s parents. But while falling, the sharptooth sweeps Chomper off the cliff and into the Big Water. Firmly determined not to forsake his friend Littlefoot jumps after him to save Chomper from drowning. But just when Littlefoot has Chomper safely the swimming sharptooth appears.

The situation seems to be hopeless when suddenly Elsie, a longnecked sea creature emerges and sets Littlefoot and Chomper ashore. Thankful for the rescue of their son, Chomper’s parents promise that no harm will be done to Littlefoot and his friends by them. Still, even under the sharpteeth protection, Littlefoot and the others are wistful at the prospect to live on the island and never see their families again. Overhearing their trouble, Elzy offers to carry Littlefoot and the others over the Big Water back to their families, an offer they gladly accept despite Chomper’s sadness about this decision.

Meanwhile their parents have found a lush green place at the shore to spend the time until the regrowing of the Great Valley they finally return to.

Voice cast

 * Jeff Bennett .... Petrie (voice)
 * Aria Curzon .... Ducky (voice)
 * Thomas Dekker .... Littlefoot (singing voice)
 * Miriam Flynn .... Grandma (voice)
 * John Ingle .... Narrator/Cera's Dad (voice)
 * Brandon LaCroix .... Littlefoot (voice)
 * Tress MacNeille .... Ducky's Mother (voice)
 * Kenneth Mars .... Grandpa (voice)
 * Anndi McAfee .... Cera (voice)
 * Rob Paulsen .... Spike (voice)
 * Christina Pickles .... Elsie (voice)
 * Cannon Young .... Chomper (voice)

Songs
The songs are written by Michelle Bourman and Amanda McBroom. This is their second collaboration in the series.


 * Big Water
 * Always There
 * Friends for Dinner

Trivia

 * The first film in the series directed by Charles Grosvenor.
 * The first in the series to include blood explicitly (the original Land Before Time did include a scene of Sharptooth shredding Littlefoot's mother's skin off in shadow form, with no explicit gore, and scenes of blood in injury may have been cut)
 * The second appearance of Chomper and his parents. So far, Chomper is the only guest character to reappear in a full role (Mo reappeared in X, but he was a cameo).