The Land Before Time VII: The Stone of Cold Fire

The Land Before Time VII: The Stone of Cold Fire is a 2000 direct-to-video animated adventure musical drama and the seventh film in The Land Before Time series, produced and directed by Charles Grosvenor. It stars the voices of Thomas Dekker, Anndi McAfee, Aria Curzon, Jeff Bennett and Rob Paulsen, and introduces Charles Kimbrough, Patti Deutsch, British actor Michael York and Jim Cummings. This was the only Land Before Time film to be written by Len Uhley. This is the only installment to not have a narrator.

Plot
One night, Littlefoot sees a strange blue-colored meteor falling from the sky and crashing into Threehorn Peak, a volcano in the Smoking Mountain range. When Littlefoot describes it the next morning, the adults in the Great Valley do not believe him except for two newcomers, the mysterious "Rainbow Faces", who speak about possibilities of wonders beyond what they know. The Rainbow Faces suggest the rock may be a "Stone of Cold Fire", which is capable of possessing magical properties.

Pterano, the outcast uncle of Littlefoot's friend Petrie, overhears the conversation and conspires to use the rock to take control of the Valley. Pterano asks Petrie, who idolizes him, for the location of the rock and learns its location. Littlefoot's friend Ducky overhears Pterano's plan, but before she can warn the others, Pterano and his cronies, Sierra and Rinkus, abduct her and set out to find the Stone. Upon discovering Ducky's kidnapping, the adults tell the young ones how Pterano led some of their herd during their search for the Valley, but had accidentally led his followers to a pack of Sharpteeth. Pterano was able to fly away, but the event left him emotionally scarred. He was expelled from the herd as punishment for leading his followers into danger.

Because the adults are slow to reach a decision, Littlefoot, Petrie, Cera, and Spike take off by themselves in search of Ducky. Meanwhile, Ducky escapes and falls into a cave while fleeing. After the children find her, Ducky comforts Petrie, who is distraught about his uncle's actions, by stating that she could tell that Pterano is the least wicked of the three Flyers, and that he still has a potential of doing good. Meanwhile, Sierra displays mutinous feelings towards Pterano, and Rinkus convinces him to betray Pterano once they find the Stone.

The children pursue the Flyers, hoping to reach the Stone before them. Aided by the Rainbow Faces, who suddenly appear and offer their knowledge of volcanoes, they manage to arrive at Threehorn Peak before the Flyers. However, both groups discover that the Stone is just an ordinary meteorite. Lamenting over this realization, Pterano explains that he had meant to create a paradise with the power of the stone, not realizing that this paradise already exists in the form of the Great Valley. Unwilling to believe the Stone is not magical, Sierra and Rinkus betray Pterano. However, as they attempt to get the Stone to give them power, the volcano begins to erupt, and Pterano saves Ducky when she falls off the mountain.

Petrie's mother arrives with a friend (who is one big flyer) to evacuate the children, leaving Sierra and Rinkus to be caught in the Stone's explosion. Pterano is thanked for saving Ducky. Back in the Great Valley, the grown ups have a meeting and decide about Pterano's fate. As punishment for his plan (spoken by Littlefoot's grandfather), he is exiled from the Valley (banished to the Mysterious Beyond) until five of the cold times have passed (five years). Pterano does accept it. But Petrie cuts in and tries to plead against the punishment, begging the grown ups to let Pterano live at the valley forever. However, though he tries to plead against it, Petrie's mother tells Petrie that it might be. But it does not change what Pterano did and Pterano, he must be responsible for that. Pterano (after agreeing with the banishment) tells Petrie that sometimes everyone (including himself) has to take responsibility for their actions. Petrie says that he is going to miss him and Pterano responds back ("I should miss you too, Petrie"). Then, Cera's father scares Pterano away (after ordering him to move on), and flying off, he says that then again there are other things he must not miss at all.

That night, Littlefoot finds the Rainbow Faces and asks them if the meteorite really was a Stone of Cold Fire. They admit that while it wasn't, his effort to search for it was what really mattered, and reiterate that there are many unknowns to be discovered "beyond the Mysterious Beyond". Littlefoot is then momentarily distracted, and when he turns around, he finds the Rainbow Faces have disappeared in a pillar of light. As his friends find him, an inspired Littlefoot reflects that there are many unknowns and that such unknowns make life wonderful.

Voice cast

 * Thomas Dekker as Littlefoot
 * Anndi McAfee as Cera
 * Aria Curzon as Ducky
 * Jeff Bennett as Petrie / Spokes Dinosaur
 * Michael York as Pterano
 * Rob Paulsen as Rinkus/ Spike
 * Jim Cummings as Sierra
 * Kenneth Mars as Grandpa Longneck
 * Miriam Flynn as Grandma Longneck
 * John Ingle as Cera's father
 * Tress MacNeille as Ducky's Mom / Petrie's Mom
 * Charles Kimbrough as Rainbow Face #1
 * Patti Deutsch as Rainbow Face #2

Songs
The songs are written by Michele Brourman and Amanda McBroom.
 * "Beyond the Mysterious Beyond" - Littlefoot, Cera and Rainbow Faces (Thomas Dekker, Anndi McAfee, Charles Kimbrough, and B. J. Ward)
 * "Good Inside" - Littlefoot, Cera, Ducky, Petrie and Spike (Thomas Dekker, Anndi McAfee, Aria Noelle Curzon, Jeff Bennett and Rob Paulsen)
 * "Very Important Creature" - Pterano, Sierra and Rinkus (Michael York, Jim Cummings and Rob Paulsen)

Soundtrack
"If We Hold on Together" (instrumental)

Production
Production of the film had concluded by June 2000. This is the first film in the series to use Digital ink and paint rather than traditional cel animation that was used in the first 6 films.

Home video release history

 * December 5, 2000 (VHS and DVD)
 * December 4, 2001 (VHS and DVD)
 * December 2, 2003 (VHS and DVD - 4 Movie Dino Pack (Volume 2) and 9 Movie Dino Pack)
 * November 29, 2005 (DVD - 2 Mysteries Beyond the Great Valley)

Reception
Entertainment Weekly gave the film a "B" and wrote that it "beats the heck out of Barney's infantile dinosaur tales," with its "velociraptor-fast pace and a minimum of treacle". In August 2014, the New York Post ranked each of the 13 Land Before Time films released up to that point and placed The Stone of Cold Fire at number 10, writing, "Though not quite as annoying as 'Tinysauruses,' the name 'Rainbow Faces' comes pretty close."

The film received nominations for "Best Animated Video Premier" and "Best Animated Character Performance" for Littlefoot and Pterano at the Video Premiere Awards in 2001, losing to Joseph: King of Dreams and Batman Beyond: Return of the Joker, respectively. Aria Curzon received an award for "Outstanding Young Voice-Over" at the 23rd Young Artist Awards in 2002 for her role as Ducky in this film, as well as The Land Before Time V, The Land Before Time VI, and The Land Before Time VIII.