Sharptooth is the main antagonist in the 1988 animated film The Land Before Time. It is unlikely that Sharptooth is his real name as it is also the name of his species; in production art, it is simply labeled "Tyrannosaurus Rex".
Background
Physical Appearance
Personality
Little of Sharptooth's personality is seen in the movie. However, the book that was sold along with the original movie gives more insight on his actual thoughts. Sharptooth appears to be very persistent, given by the fact that he continues fighting Littlefoot's Mother despite the Earthshake and multiple wounds, and that he continues to pursue the main characters throughout the movie even though they would be of little food to him.
According to the book, much of this persistence is derived from vengeance, as he takes pleasure in cornering Littlefoot and Cera after the former had accidently blinded him in one eye with a thorn. It is evident that he will continue fighting even when it is obviously hopeless, snapping at the children even when his head is trapped in a small tunnel and they are far out of reach. He doesn't stop trying when he is in extreme danger, as he tries to crush Littlefoot And Cera while falling to his apparent doom in the Great Earthshake, and pulls Petrie down with him in his last moments, plummeting into a lake.
It is shown in the book that Sharptooth does not forget grudges he holds against others; it is explained that after he spots the main characters for the second time, he immediately recognizes them and thunders towards them in about of hatred. Even after they escape through the narrow pathway he continues to claw and snap at them with rage. It is also implied in the book that Sharptooth enjoys killing, as it is said that when he finds the entrance Great Valley he sniffs the air with "evil joy", suggesting that he may get more out of killing than just food.
Role in the Film
The Land Before Time
On the night after they begin their journey to the Great Valley, Littlefoot the longneck, his mother, and grandparents stop to sleep when Littlefoot notices a hopper (frog) and begins to chase it when he runs into Cera, the threehorn, to which she chases it with him. Shortly after they begin to play with it, a dark shadow falls over them and they look up to notice a Sharptooth from which they run. During the chase, Littlefoot gets caught in some thorny vines and escapes, only for the vines to fly into Sharptooth's face (as he was right behind Littlefoot) where one of the thorns flies into one of his eyes, blinding him there.
Luckily, Littlefoot's Mother hears their cries and comes to the rescue and fights the Sharptooth. During the fight, the Sharptooth lands on the longneck's back and bites her but she manages to knock him off her back and with a big hit from her tail pushes him into a dark cave cavern where he is presumed dead.
A few days later, after getting separated from her family in the Earthshake, Cera begins looking for them in the cave caverns and comes across Sharptooth's presumed dead body. She at first begins to run but when he doesn't chase her she begins to believe that he's dead and begins pushing his body with her horn but as she begins to run and push him again his eyes open and she looks at her reflection in his eyes to which she screams in fear and runs out of the caverns before he wakes up. Cera then runs into Littlefoot and his friends Ducky the bigmouth and Petrie the flyer and tells them about Sharptooth. However, Littlefoot doesn't believe her and thinks the T-rex is dead, so Cera acts out her experience to make them believe her and accidently knocks Ducky away from the group, where she meets a spiketail and names him Spike, who also journeys with them on their way to the Great Valley.
That night, the five of them sleep in a nest and the next morning, Cera hears a roar, looks up, and sees Sharptooth. She warns her friends, leading to them running through a small cave through which Sharptooth can't follow. A few days later Littlefoot, Ducky, Spike, and Petrie are continuing their journey to the Great Valley after Cera accidently led them into danger and left the group feeling ashamed. Petrie hears a roar and the four look up to see Sharptooth climbing up into a cave nearby. They decide to get rid of him once for all by pushing a big rock onto his head and causing him to fall into the water and drown. Ducky goes into the cave and gets Sharptooth to chase her out of the cave and into the water. Littlefoot and Spike try to push the rock on Sharptooth, but it's too heavy for the two of them to push and Sharptooth jumps onto the rock trying to get them. But luckily, Cera arrives and helps them push both the rock and the Sharptooth into the water. Sharptooth, in a last vain effort to get revenge, grabs Petrie as he falls into the water and drowns. The four dinosaurs mourn the loss of their friend, but luckily Petrie survives and returns to them.
Gallery
Trivia
- This Land Before Time character does not speak; he just roars. In the Jayden Shiba Show, he can speak like an evil warlord.
- He is a Tyrannosaurus rex.
- One of his eyes is red while the other one is yellow.
- When The Land Before Time underwent its cutting and editing, many of the scenes cut out and/or edited featured Sharptooth's initial attack.
- Sharptooth is very similar to the Tyrannosaurus Rex from Disney's 1940 film Fantasia, Carnotaurus (Dinosaur) from Disney's 2000 film Dinosaur, Spinosaurus From Star Fox Adventure and Rudy from Ice Age 3: Dawn Of The Dinosaurs