The Land Before Time X: The Great Longneck Migration

The Land Before Time X: The Great Longneck Migration (known internationally as The Land Before Time X: The Great Migration), directed by Charles Grosvenor, is the tenth film in The Land Before Time series. It was originally released direct-to-video on December 2, 2003. The plot of the movie focuses on a large quantity of Longnecks anticipating a solar eclipse, believing it to be a sign that the Bright Circle (sun) is about to fall from the sky, and that only they can stop this from occurring. A subplot involves main character Littlefoot finally meeting his father, Bron.

Arguably one of the better-received sequels to the original The Land Before Time, The Land Before Time X: The Great Longneck Migration has also been re-released several times, while the guest characters Bron and Shorty have become iconic characters among fans of the series.

Plot
Plagued by mysterious dreams, Littlefoot, Grandma and Grandpa Longneck decide that the time has come for a journey, however they have no idea why, where to, or when they will leave. After telling his friends, Littlefoot is told that it is time to leave, and departs from the Valley with his grandparents. Ducky, Petrie and Spike wish that they could go with them, but Cera insists that the whole idea is stupid. But a later dream, in which the longneck family returns in glory to the Valley to a standing ovation from the other dinosaur herds, she decides to follow them to find out what is going to happen.

Littlefoot and his grandparents travel through the Mysterious Beyond, where Littlefoot is saved from a Belly Dragger by young Supersaurus named Sue, who laments about how no matter where she goes, she is always the tallest. They soon meet other Longnecks who have had similar dreams. These Longnecks travel together, soon numbering in the hundreds. Finally they arrive, at an enormous crater, where hundreds and hundreds of Longnecks have gathered.

Cera and the others who have been following them, are attacked by the same Belly Dragger, and shortly after are attacked by a gray Tyrannosaurus, who walks off after they hide. They them neat an oldApatosaurus named Pat, who joins them on their journey.

Littlefoot is in for a surprise, however. As Littlefoot is confronted by another young longneck named Shorty, an argument between the two ensues, which is broken up by an older Longneck. As he apologises for Shorty, Grandpa Longneck recognises the longneck and reveals to Littlefoot that he is his father, Bron, whom he has never met before. Littlefoot runs, upset and confused by this sudden revelation, but Bron finds him and explains his absence to Littlefoot: when the region in which Littlefoot was born suffered from a drought, he went off in search of a better land to raise Littlefoot (who had not hatched at the time). When Bron returned, the Great Earthshake (earthquake) seen in the original film had occurred, and he could not find his family anywhere. He continued to search for them, hoping every time he saw a young longneck that it might be Littlefoot, but found no trace of them. Another dinosaur informed him of what happened to his wife, but had no information on what became of Littlefoot or his grandparents. In the meantime, dozens of longnecks of various ages, including Shorty, looked to Bron for support, and he ended up as the leader of a new herd.

As Bron and Littlefoot bond over a matter of days, Bron informs Littlefoot that while most of the orphaned Longneck children he found were adopted, Shorty never got adopted. Shorty grows jealous of Littlefoot for now receiving most of Bron's attention, since Littlefoot is his biological son, and bullies Littlefoot consequently. At dawn one day, Shorty plans to run away, but Littlefoot persuades him not to leave, suggesting that they cease in their rivalry and form a brotherly bond. As they return to the other herds, Petrie appears to tell Littlefoot that the others will be along shortly. Cera, Ducky and Spike do indeed show up, but are being chased by an Orange-Brown Tyrannosaurus. As Bron rushes in to rescue the children and fends off the Sharptooth, the gray Tyrannosaurus and another Green Tyrannosaurusarrive and attack the group. A battle ensues with Littlefoot and his friends, Bron, Grandma and Grandpa Longneck and Pat banding together against the  three Sharpteeth, and after a fierce struggle, drive them off. Suddenly, the rest of the Longnecks appear on the ridge of the crater as the sky goes dark. Believing the Bright Circle to be going dark and falling, the Longnecks stretch their necks up, ready to push the sun back into the sky, just as their ancestors did in the legends. As it happens, what is truly happening is a solar eclipse, which soon passes. The Longnecks rejoice, believing they have averted disaster.

With their mission completed, the herds depart. However, Cera notices that Littlefoot seems upset. He informs her and the others that now that the longnecks have done what they set out to do, he is stuck with the choice of either returning to the Valley with his grandparents and friends, or living with his father's herd. Cera, Ducky, Petrie and Spike tell him that no matter what he chooses, and no matter where he goes, they will always be his friends.

Ultimately, Littlefoot realises that his friends and family need him, and he needs them, and tell Bron that he's not ready to leave them behind. Bron insists that they will meet again, and heads off with his herd, Shorty by his side. Littlefoot watches him leave, and then joins his friends and family to return to the Great Valley.

Cast
This is the only film in the series in which Alec Medlock provides Littlefoot's voice. In every film from this one onward, the character has been voiced by a different actor (although Cody Arens voices the character in every episode of The Land Before Time TV series). This is also the only time Kiefer Sutherland and Brandon DePaul voice Bron and Shorty. Cam Clarke and Elizabeth Daily voice the characters in the TV episode "The Big Longneck Test".
 * Alec Medlock as Littlefoot
 * Kiefer Sutherland as Bron
 * John Ingle as the Narrator/Mr. Threehorn
 * Kenneth Mars as Grandpa Longneck
 * Miriam Flynn as Grandma Longneck
 * Aria Noelle Curzon as Ducky
 * Jeff Bennett as Petrie
 * Rob Paulsen as Spike
 * Anndi McAfee as Cera
 * Brandon DePaul as Shorty
 * James Garner as Pat
 * Bernadette Peters as Sue
 * Frank Welker as Belly Dragger/Cool Gray Sharptooth/Orange-Brown Sharptooth/Metallic Khaki Sharptooth

Music
The music for The Land Before Time X: The Great Longneck Migration was scored by Michael Tavera. This was the first film in the series that did not use James Horner's original score, and was Michael Tavera's first and so far only completely original score in the series, as older themes from the previous sequels, the original The Land Before Time and An American Tail were not used in this film.

Songs
The songs are written by Michele Brourman and Amanda McBroom. The end credits version of the song, "Bestest Friends", is performed by Olivia Newton-John.
 * Adventuring
 * Me and My Dad
 * Bestest Friends - also known as "Best of Friends". The music of this song is heard multiple times throughout this movie in the background. It is heard when Cera, Ducky, Petrie, and Spike are missing Littlefoot after he leaves the Great Valley with his grandparents, and when Littlefoot tells Bron he wants to stay with his grandparents and friends in the Great Valley.

Soundtrack

 * Bittersweet - When Cera goes to Littlefoot to ask him why he's upset, and Littlefoot explains to his friends that he doesn't know whether he should go with his dad or stay with them. This music is similar to Tender Moment, but has a different key.
 * Broken Engagement - When Littlefoot tells Shorty he'll always be special to Bron, and proposes that they be brothers.
 * Eclipse - When the eclipse happens and the Longnecks believe the Bright Circle is falling.
 * Father Son - When Bron confronts Littlefoot and explains why he was gone for so long.
 * Hard Choices - When Littlefoot talks to Shorty who has left the crater because he thinks Bron wont pay any attention to him now that he has Littlefoot.
 * Sue A - When Littlefoot runs across the rocks in the swamp right towards a Belly Dragger, only for Sue to save him at the last moment.
 * Tender Moment - When Littlefoot and his Grandparents talk about their strange sleep stories, and when Bron tells Littlefoot he wants him to stay with him. This music is similar to Bittersweet, but has a different key.

Trivia

 * Mo makes a cameo appearance in the "Adventuring" musical number. This, along with his cameo appearance in the "Flip, Flap, Fly" musical number in The Great Day of the Flyers makes him the only reacurring character from the sequels besides Tria to appear in three films.
 * It is revealed in this film that Bron was called "Littlefoot" as a child. This would seem to imply Littlefoot's mother gave her son her husband's nickname as a given name, contradicting an earlier explanation given in a tie-in book.
 * Pat's name is likely derived from his species name, Apatosaurus. Similarly, Bron's name is apparently derived from "Brontosaurus" the now obsolete scientific name for the species, and Sue may be derived from the name of her species, an extremely large sauropod named Supersaurus.
 * Bron's referral to Grandpa Longneck as "Papa Longneck" indicates that he is Grandpa and Grandma Longneck's son-in-law.
 * Although Littlefoot and Bron are both saddened by the loss of Littlefoot's mother, Littlefoot understands Sharpteeth better than his father does; this is likely due to his experiences with Chomper. With nothing to dissuade him, however, Bron hates carnivorous dinosaurs and thinks of them as "cowards".
 * The movie's title sparked rumors that the guest character Ali (from The Land Before Time IV: Journey Through the Mists) would make a reappearance, as she was part of a migrating herd, and many of the character's fans were disappointed that she did not appear. However, she does reappear in "The Brave Longneck Scheme" episode of the TV series. It's also possible that Doc would've appeared in this film, but did not what so ever and since Doc is much of a loner it's highly possible he refused to join the other longnecks in the migration.
 * Littlefoot is no longer considered an orphan, as he meets his father.
 * Littlefoot's eyes twinkle when he's dreaming.
 * This is the third film in which Grandma Longneck is shown crying.
 * This is the fifth film in which Littlefoot cries.
 * The three Sharpteeth in the tenth movie are either Tyrannosaurus or Daspletosaurus. They may be twins, partners or siblings.

Goofs

 * When Cera whispers her plan about crossing the fast water to Ducky, Spike, and Petrie, the latter three run off towards Pat in fear. Petrie shouldn't have to be afraid of the idea, since he could easily fly over the river. However, he could have fled out of concern for [the well-being of] Cera, Ducky, and Spike.
 * The story regarding the supposed "feud" between the Night Circle (moon) and Great Circle (sun), and how the longnecks acquired their namesake by saving the latter, contradicts the supposed story as to how longnecks got their long necks as told by Saro in the TV series episode "The Legend of the Story Speakers".
 * When Littlefoot wakes up in the middle of the night to sneak back and sleep with Bron, Grandpa Longneck's lower jaw has the same coloration of his upper jaw.

Character Debuts

 * Recurring characters:
 * Bron
 * Shorty
 * One-off characters
 * Pat
 * Sue
 * Belly Dragger (The Great Longneck Migration)
 * Cool Gray Sharptooth (The Great Longneck Migration)
 * Orange-Brown Sharptooth
 * Metallic Khaki Sharptooth (The Great Longneck Migration)
 * Species Debuts:
 * Amargasaurus
 * Mamenchisaurus
 * Sarcosuchus
 * Supersaurus
 * Ultrasauros
 * Camarasaurus
 * Saltasaurus
 * Barosaurus
 * Jobaria
 * Argentinosaurus
 * Cetiosaurus
 * Daspletosaurus