Many reviewers compared "The Land Before Time" to films from Disney's Golden Age. Steven Rea of the "Philadelphia Inquirer" said that the movie "looks and sounds as if it came out of the Disney Studios of the '40s or '50s. Which isn't necessarily a bad thing," calling it "meticulously crafted" but was also "mildly disappoint" that the dialog wasn't as sophisticated. In her review for the "Sun-Sentinel", Candice Russel similarly remarked, ""The Land Before Time" works by evoking the simple virtues of this art aimed at children, as it was in the beginning when Disney animated Mickey Mouse." A review from the "Motion Picture Guide 1989 Annual" notes that the film "has been called a sort of prehistoric "Bambi"". David Kehr from the "Chicago Tribune" similarly felt that the film's title "also refers to the Disney past, but it goes for all the marbles. Its model is nothing less than the life-cycle saga of "Bambi", and that Bluth gets even half the way there is proof of a major talent." Kehr gave the movie three-and-a-half out of four stars, calling it "as handsome and honest an animated feature as any produced since Walt Disney's death; it may even be the best."