Theory on the Land Before Time:

Does anybody remember The Land Before Time? The movie with the anthropomorphic dinosaur hatchlings? One of Steven Speilberg’s efforts to get Don Bluth to make animated movies akin to the Disney movies of the 1940s? The really good animated movie that got a ton of “so-so” sequels (though I really liked the ones with Chomper in them; Chomper adequately challenges the status quo, and he’s just loveable in general)?

As an adult, I probably should have forgotten about it.

But as a student of animation, I can't.

This is a movie, more than almost any other, that is subject to internet theories, a most especially common one being that the earthquake killed them all and they are all in Heaven.

However, this is not the theory I’m going to present.  This one, and so many other “death” theories and “alternate take” theories have been done so many times.  It’s time to do something completely different.

My theory is that Littlefoot, the soft-spoken sauropod main protagonist, is actually adopted.

Yep, I said it.

Hear me out:

In the very beginning, we see a sauropod herd in a swamp.  There is a nest, with a lot of broken eggs; perhaps some hatched, perhaps others were poached (sadly, most look poached).  There is one whole one left, trying to hatch. 

But it’s not safe for him: A nearby ornithomimd (the script labels it Ornithomimus, but the design is the same used for Struthiomimus in later sequels, so I’m just labeling it as an “ornithomimid”) has other plans.  Ornithomimids were believed to be egg-eaters back then, and their diet is something of a mystery, though most of them were probably primarily herbivorous. 

Given that the dinosaurs in this movie have eyelashes, a feature I can assure you that most dinosaurs most probably did not have, and the movie admitted that most of them were starving anyway (herbivores such as deer and horses have been known to make drastic dietary decisions during famines), total accuracy is probably irrelevant here. 

What is relevant is that as soon as the Ornithomimid tries, the sauropod mother shows him how it feels to be a baseball with her neck, but in the process, the Ornithomimid drops the egg over a parasaurolophus skeleton (given that the dinosaurs in this movie are sapient, this is kind of a morbid sight, like seeing a human skeleton), then falls into brambles, plunks into a river, and over a waterfall…how could his biological mother trace this egg after this point?

Nevertheless, he is soon found by a group of sauropods, who claim him as their own, and dub him Littlefoot, likely after his foot bursting out of his egg, leading to a ridiculously adorable and heartwarming scene.  But how on earth did they know where to find him?

…Unless, perhaps, they actually didn’t know where to find him, that the mother we see wasn’t the same mother, and happened upon him by mistake and miracle, subsequently adopting him into their family.  Perhaps they are not related at all outside of being similar Sauropods, and seeing his egg showing up by mistake as a beautiful miracle, they adopt him into the family.

“What about Bron?” some might ask in reference to Littlefoot’s father, who was introduced in one of the later sequels (The Land Before Time X: The Great Longneck Migration, to be exact; like the Chomper entries, this too adequately challenged the status quo).  They might further ask, “Isn’t Bron all the proof that we need that Littlefoot’s mother is biologically related to him, and the real source of Littlefoot’s name??”

Well, first of all, we’re not actually entirely taking the sequels into account, and secondly, even if we were to take all of the sequels into account, why can’t Littlefoot count his mother’s mate as his father anyway? Again, biological relations don’t dictate familial ones.  The husband of your adopted mother can still be your father.  His mother wasn’t the one who gave birth to him, but rather who raised him; likewise, his father doesn’t need to sire him to be his father, he was with Littlefoot’s mother and was willing to have a familial relationship when Littlefoot approached him.  That’s father enough for me.

If Universal’s staff want a good sequel idea, the story could be about Littlefoot approaching his biological family, finding them again, perhaps even encountering his biological siblings, and realizing that his biological mother was hardly qualified to be a parent, leaving her prior eggs to be devoured by ornithomimds.  This irresponsible, useless mother might even be negligent to Littlefoot’s currently living biological siblings to this day.  Upon realizing this, and realizing what a real family is, he returns to his adopted family, to his grandparents, and to Bron (so a bit like Shazam!, but with animated dinosaurs.  With eyelashes). 

See? Things can go back to exactly being the same as before, and still the formula and status quo are adequately challenged, just like with the few good sequels.  Heck, such a premise would somewhat justify why things keep going back the way they were before: Because changing them isn’t guaranteed to work.

Also, the songs should either not be present (since the first movie didn’t have any, and it was just fine without them) or have less of an “Irish trabadour band” vibe like some of the sequel songs did, and should have more of a “Disney” vibe.  That way, they would be slightly less embarrassing when your dad spontaneously sings them (with changed lyrics) during unusual times.

Trust me on this one.  It’s absolute fact.  It’s happened a lot of times at home.  I’ve heard far more variations of “Friends for Dinner” from my dad than any human being ever needs to be subjected to.  He also says “eggs, dear boy” whenever he makes anything involving eggs.  If you want him to always talk normally, never allow your father near any of The Land Before Time sequels.