Before ‘Jurassic Park,’ Steven Spielberg and George Lucas Co-Produced One of the Best Dinosaur Movies of All Time

Sorry, Bambi, but this film takes the cake for the most distressing death in a children’s film ever. For Bambifans everywhere, the Disney animated film still sends shivers up the spine when thinking about the heartbreaking ending with Bambi’s mother dying. But The Land Before Time’s first few minutes remains one of the most devastating moments in children’s movie history, with an equally devastating death. Co-produced by Steven Spielberg and George Lucas, Spielberg had already caught the dinosaur bug and helped create one of the greatest dinosaur movies even before Jurassic Park. A sprawling, animated film released in 1988, it was based on the children's book series of the same name and didn't shy away from difficult subject matter such as death, prejudice, and environmentalism. Leave it to innovators like Spielberg and Lucas to make an unexpectedly moving film about family and friendship through a dinosaur movie marketed to children, and all these decades later, it remains one of the most touching projects of either director.