The Land Before Time

"The Land Before Time" would hardly have come across as eloquently and mystical had it not been for James Horner's spectacular orchestral score which in another time would have made many classical greats take notice. So full of beauty is it, so commanding of our attention, that it works without the visual footage in the same way the classic music behind Fantasia does. Horner, The London Sympony Orchestra and The King's College Choir of England bring an all-encompassing sense of wonder. We feel the leaves blowing in the wind as angelic voices glide over hymns, the earth below us tremble with the steps of a giant carniverous "Sharptooth" and sheets of earth break apart with the pounding of a great divide. You may not be one to memorize wordless music, but if you listen to it and hear it somewhere else later, you will likely remember exactly where it came from. There is one lyrical song, written by Horner and Will Jennings. It is a soaring, splendid ballad, "If We Hold On Together," which is somewhat Biblical in its message, "Valley mountain, there is a fountain that washes our tears all away." The film, helped greatly by the music, seems almost like a face-to-face meeting between Creation and Evolution, though both sides will agree on one thing: it is amazing.