The Land Before Time/Tear Jerker

Littlefoot... let your heart guide you...

• "...Mother?"
• For some people, when the Sharptooth died.
  • Is it me, or did anyone else feel happy for Littlefoot when this happened? After all, Littlefoot was AVENGING his mother's death. I remember thinking "Go on, that's it, GET HIM!" when I was FIVE. Anyone else, or just me?
• This troper personally finds Littlefoot's mother's death very effective; moreso than Bambi's mother and Mufasa combined. Why? Because she fights a LETHAL predator to protect not only her son, but Cera as well. And she receives a fatal wound in the process, but still stays on her feet long enough to save them and get them to (relative) safety as an earthquake starts. And then of course, when she had succumbed to her injuries, her last words to her son are to head to the Great Valley and that she'll always be with him. He then watched as she finally died. The kicker? The end of the scene is pulled off with the camera pulling back, so that you can only see the outlines of the two characters against the darkness... you don't even realize she has died until you hear Littlefoot speaking to her and getting no response.
  • Even worse than his mother dying is when Littlefoot sees his shadow cast large on the side of a cliff, and mistakes it for his mother. Because you know she's dead, but he doesn't understand, and he's so sure she's back, he's so happy but you know better and you have to watch him, knowing what's coming...
  • This troper managed to last through the death of Little Foot's mother and his mistaking of his shadow as his mother, but then the little pterodactyl tried to cheer him up with food and Little Foot just stared dully, not even reacting...
  • And then the part after they have finally killed Sharptooth. His mother appears to him in the form of the clouds. As he tries telling her he tried and failed to find the Great Valley, her form seems to start departing. He chases it telling her not to leave and follows the trail through a cavern, as her form is seen in the clouds for the last time, they pull away from unblocking the sunlight, which reveals... THE GREAT VALLEY! Almost seemed as if her last gift before passing on for good, was making sure her son found his new home. Coupled with James Horner's soundtrack the entire scene is just beautiful.
  • The song "If We Hold On Together". Also the dialogue that comes before it; "And they all grew up together in the valley, generation upon generation, each passing on to the next. The tale of their ancestor's journey to the valley long ago. "
• Really, for a kid's film, this is pretty full-on. You see his mum die, watch his emotions toy with him (see above), and his depression. THEN all the arguments with Cera, the emotional bonding bits, Littlefoot's revenge (see above, but I won't spoil it), and THEN their discovery of the Great Valley (again, above). The ending, which would normally be "very nice" goes to "wonderful", because all the trials they had to endure beforehand make it seem that much more joyful in contrast.
• So, think about how a little kid feels watching that; Heartwarming (birth), scary, sad, SAD, VERY SAD, a mix of heartwarming and sad for about forty minutes, awesome, and then finally JOY. To any little child watching the ending, it would of course be very happy. But, because he's had to sit through all the horrible stuff, the ending is that much more wonderful, that much more emotionally intense -- THAT, I think, is why so many kids cried at the end. They cried because the film was an emotional rollercoaster that toyed with THEIR emotions, and putting the ending into contrast with the rest of the film makes it SO intensely happy that they cried simply because it was a cocktail of more emotion than their mind could handle. And, as noted, the music at the end just tops it off, especially after the closing lines.
• How in the world did Petrie's "death" scene not make it on this list? Especially the reaction immediately afterward. "Poor, poor Petrie" indeed!
  • The movie is made a thousand times more heart-wrenching when you discover what happened to Ducky's voice actress a few months before the movie was released. This troper will probably never be able to watch that movie again. (Warning: do not click that link unless you want a bigger tearjerker than all these examples combined.)
• This troper is almost guilty to admit this, but he felt like tearing up over the ending to Journey to Big Water (Mo just didn't want to leave his new friends) and during the song "No One Has To Be Alone" (especially the end credits version). Should...should I be ashamed that a Land Before Time sequel (especially a song from said sequel) left me in tears?
  • Only if this troper should be ashamed for choking up at "Family" in The Big Freeze. And then again at the end of the movie, where Mama Swimmer saves Spike from drowning in the icy water. If his cry of "Mama!" doesn't get me, the exchange that follows after ("You saved him!" "Of course I did, he's my boy") always does. Ahh, tearing up even now!
• " Always There" from the fifth movie always gets this troper. That last verse, when Littlefoot sings about his mother... gah.

I remember now
Like it was yesterday
She would hold me close
And then I'd hear her say
"You know I'll never leave you...
You can find me everywhere
In the morning light, the evening star
I'm always there"

• • Seconded. It's sad enough as it is, but to a troper with abandonment issues, it's just a plain kick to the teeth.
  • This troper would also like to add the final verse of "On Your Own" (From The Secret of Saurus Rock), and the entirety of "Bestest Friends" (From the end of The great Longneck Migration)
  • In fact, the entire ending of "The Great Longneck Migration". Definitely one of the better sequels, the ending always gets this troper. Just Littlefoot's distress at having to choose between his friends and grandparents, or his long-lost father. It helps that this troper watched it before the next sequels had been made, so the choice seemed all the more important at the time. And his final explanation to his father that he just isn't ready to leave his friends and grandparents, despite really wanting to go live with his father.
• "I tried to do what you told me... but it's just too hard. I'll never find the Great Valley." Geez, how much crap does this movie have to put Littlefoot and his friends through before it's satisfied?!
• Just the fact that Littlefoot would be reunited with his mother in one way or another is a enough to make this troper bawl her eyes out.
• Rooter comforting Littlefoot after his mother dies - he's initially gruff, but then when he realizes why Littlefoot is really so upset, tells Littlefoot that he'll always miss his mother, but she'll always be a part of him as long as he remembers what she taught him.