Note: This blog post came out two days before the release of the now fairly well known trailer for The Land Before Time XIV: Journey of the Brave on Rotten Tomatoes, and is thusly not an accurate representation of the final film.
Thought it would be fun to come up with some speculation for Journey of the Heart.
Plot[]
The film opens with a usual narration about the reign of the dinosaurs, the voiceover provided by Corey Burton (filling in the role of the late John Ingle). The plot itself begins in the Great Valley. Littlefoot the "long neck" (Apatosaurus, Felix Avitia) is greeted (in a dream) by his deceased mother, making the young apatosaur as happy as can be. He is awoken from his dream by his grandmother (Miriam Flynn) and grandfather (Jim Cummings), who reminds the young dinosaur that his father, Bron (voiced by Cam Clarke) is going to be in the valley by the time the bright circle is high in the sky. Unfortunately, Bron fails to appear on time, worrying Littlefoot and his grandparents into believing something may have happened to him. The adults rally a search party to find Littlefoot's father, though Littlefoot is told to stay in the valley with Tria (Camryn Manheim) to stay safe.
While Tria is asleep, the young sauropod gathers his friends, Cera the "three-horn" (Triceratops, Anndi McAfee), Petrie the "flyer" (Pteranodon, Jeff Bennett), Ducky the "swimmer" (Saurolophus, Aria Noelle Curzon), and Spike the "spiketail" (Stegosaurus, Rob Paulsen), and the five set off to find Bron (singing the song "Finding my Dad" prior to leaving). Not so much as a few minutes after they leave the valley, the gang is attacked by a hungry "sharptooth" (Abelisaurus). They manage to coax the predator into getting its head stuck between two trees, and run off. They eventually make it to a rocky area, and encounter a "club-tail" (Euoplocephalus) named Rooter (Corey Burton). Littlefoot asks the old dinosaur if he had seen any longnecks pass, and is greeted with an unfortunate "no".
The kids continue to trek through the wastes, and eventually come across a fern prairie. The little dinosaurs feast on the greens, only to be attacked by a flock of giant, meat-eating "longneck flyers" (Hatzegopteryx). The kids manage to evade the giraffoid creatures by hiding in a log, with Littlefoot only barely managing to avoid being skewered by one of their beaks. Unfortunately, the pterosaurs are not phased by their attempt to hide; they begin to stab their beaks through the wooden shaft in attempt to kill the kids once more. One of the "long neck flyers" snatches Ducky and very nearly eats her, though she is spared when the pterosaur is smashed away by a "club-tail" (Talarurus) named Larr (voiced by Chris Pratt). The ankylosaur leads the children away from the sharp-beaked predators, and it is revealed that Larr has seen a herd of "long necks" (noting that Littlefoot carries a resemblance to what he believes to be the herd's leader) following a route towards the Great Valley, and into the territory of the monstrous "horned sharpteeth" (Carnotaurus).
Littlefoot quickly heads in the direction of his father's herd, though his friends are suddenly too frightened to follow. The young "long neck" gives his friends words of encouragement ("Being Brave"), and they travel to the domain of the "horned sharpteeth" together. Along the way, they find one of their old friends, Chomper the "sharptooth" (Tyrannosaurus, Ty Simpkins) alongside his parents. The young T. rex tells the gang that he and his parents had noticed a herd of "long necks" pass through, though what they assume to be the leader was split from the rest of his group due to an earthshake causing a rock-slide in "horned sharptooth" territory. Littlefoot, Cera, Ducky, Petrie and Spike head towards the domain of the "sharpteeth", and discover that a multitude of familiar "long necks", including Littlefoot's adopted brother, Shorty the Brachiosaurus (Elizabeth Daily), have been cut off from Bron. The kids (including Shorty) manage to scale the rock pile, discovering that Bron's leg has been caught under a large boulder.
The gang tries to get the stone off of the Apatosaurus's leg, only to be ambushed by a pack of "horned sharptooth". The carnivores unleash most of their energy on the stubborn, handicapped adult dinosaur, much to the horror of Littlefoot and Shorty, with the former even having a flashback to the time his mother was killed by Sharptooth. The Carnotaurus pack eventually overwhelms Bron and the kids, though before any of them can be killed, Grandma and Grandpa Longneck, alongside the rest of the search party, burst through the pile of rocks trapping Bron's herd outside. Grandma destroys the boulder trapping Bron's leg, allowing him to fight the predators alongside the other adults. They manage to narrowly defeat the marauding "sharpteeth" by using teamwork and numbers, though, ultimately, Bron is mortally wounded after he is bitten in the neck. Littlefoot and his father embrace, and his grandparents take the injured sauropod back to the Great Valley, where Bron eventually passes on. The residents of the Great Valley mourn the loss of the brave "long neck" ("A Time Passed"), and Littlefoot is gently told by his grandparents that, no matter what happens to those he loves, they will always love him no matter what. The rest of the children reunite with their parents, and they continue to live a peaceful life in the Great Valley.
Characters (by order of appearance)[]
- Narrator (voiced by Corey Burton)
- Littlefoot (voiced by Felix Avitia)
- Grandma and Grandpa Longneck (voiced by Miriam Flynn and Jim Cummings)
- Cera (voiced by Anndi McAfee)
- Ducky (voiced by Aria Noelle Curzon)
- Petrie (voiced by Jeff Bennett)
- Spike (voiced by Rob Paulsen)
- Daddy Topps (voiced by Corey Burton)
- Tria (voiced by Camryn Manheim)
- Abelisaurus (voiced by Pete Sepenuk)
- Rooter (voiced by Corey Burton)
- Hatzegopteryx (voiced by Frank Welker)
- Larr (voiced by Chris Pratt)
- Chomper (voiced by Ty Simpkins)
- Chomper's Parents (both voiced by Frank Welker)
- Shorty (voiced by Elizabeth Daily)
- Bron (voiced by Cam Clarke)
- Carnotaurus (voiced by Frank Welker)