The Land Before Time IX: Journey to Big Water is the ninth film in the Land Before Time series. It was released on December 10, 2002.
After the Valley is flooded by rain, Littlefoot goes exploring and meets a swimming creature called Mo. Mo explains that he is from "Big Water" and ended up in the Valley because of the flood. Littlefoot tries to persuade the adults to help Mo get home, but they think it's too risky. When Littlefoot and his friends are separated from the Valley in an earthquake, they go on a journey to help Mo get home.
Tropes:
- Big "NO!": Littlefoot shouts "No!" as he watches Mo lead the swimming sharptooth away.
- Casting Gag: The song "No One Has to Be Alone" is sung by Littlefoot (Thomas Dekker) and his friends during the movie, while the end credits version is sung by Donny Osmond. Funnily enough, Dekker played a young Donny Osmond on the 2001 live-action TV movie Inside the Osmonds.
- Draw Aggro: When the kids are cornered by the sharptooth, Mo leads it away from them by letting it chase him.
- Expy: The swimming sharptooth, who is a Liopleurodon, has a bit of a resemblance to the one in Walking with Dinosaurs.
- Perilous Prehistoric Seas: This film places aquatic creatures on central focus, namely an Ophthalmosaurus named Mo, who befriends Littlefoot, and an antagonistic Liopleurodon. The titular "Big Water" is really the sea, which Mo wants to return to as his family is really there, and while the Liopleurodon is a massive threat, it only attacks Mo and The Gang of Five because they're nearby food, is starving to a lack of preferred prey, and is stranded in a lake.
- Shown Their Work: The Liopleurodon is very accurately depicted, especially for the time the movie came out in (though it is closer in size to a Kronosaurus). Most dinosaurs in the series, including sharpteeth, have a stylized, cartoony look about them. The Liopleurodon does not, and looks like a real animal. The effect makes for a fairly threatening villain, even if it never gets to cause any real damage.
- Siblings Wanted: Littlefoot, upset when his friends can't play with him on that day, wishes his mother gave him a brother. His grandparents respond:Grandma Longneck: "Now little one. Your mother would have loved to have given you a brother, Littlefoot."
Grandpa Longneck: "Yes, but because you were her only child, you were very, very special to her." - Vocal Evolution: Littlefoot’s voice is a bit deeper in this movie due to Thomas Dekker going through puberty (this was the last time Dekker voiced him).
- You Are Not Alone: Littlefoot's grandfather explains to him that "In a world so full of life, you are only as alone as you choose to be." Later on, Littlefoot finally understands this, leading to the song "No One Has to Be Alone".
