Home on the Range

The trailers - especially the trailer on the Finding Nemo DVD - suggested comedy to rival "The Emperor's New Groove," etc. The movie WAS amusing, but not what we've come to expect from recent animated films targeting adult audiences. However, my kids LOVED it, and the theater was full of hearty laughter from all the other kids as well.

"Home on the Range" is full of slapstick humor aimed at a young audience - THIS is a cartoon that remembers what cartoons are supposed to be. And there are plenty of amusing one-liners to keep mom and dad from being bored.

A good, old-fashioned cartoon... "You know, for kids!"

Disney's animation studio, immediately after 'Lilo & Stitch', experienced a major financial loss. Competitors such as the soon to be acquired Pixar, DreamWorks and even Blue Sky Studios were dominating the earlier part of the twenty first century. Disney's features, the once leading studio, were broken. Productions enduring extensive lengths, costly visualised conversions and downsizing of employees. Home on the Range, rather unfortunately, was a misfired product from a studio encountering corporate instability. A western styled tale involving three mismatched dairy cows attempting to capture an infamous cattle rustler to receive a generous bounty that will pay off their farm from foreclosure.

Finn and Sanford's hearts were in the right place, just bordering the rustic picket fences of Patch of Heaven. The trio of dairy protagonists, comprising of brash show-cow Maggie, sophisticated Mrs. Caloway and the stupendously ditzy Grace, garnered sufficient interactions with each other that prolonged their brief characterisations. The rivalry between Maggie and Mrs. Caloway was earnest and provided moo-ments (I promise, no more cow puns...) of friendship during times of great need. The plot itself was punctual and cohesive, with functional albeit predictable beats found in any other Disney animation. Voice acting was solid for the most part, particularly Dench, Tilly and Gooding Jr., whom all suited their characters. Barr was too bullish, and lacked the subtlety required to tenderise Maggie's emotional conflicts. However, the biggest asset Home on the Range withholds, is the throwback to the classic cartoon style. The humour is refreshingly slapstick and acquitted itself with nothing more than a fun adventure. It'll keep children entertained, adults not so much.

As I said previously, this feature was produced during a rough period of time for the studio, and consequently resulted in a functional yet unmemorable tale. Despite the modesty of the leading "three maids are milking", their journey is hugely unmemorable, lacking the originality and timelessness of previous productions. Yes, questing across the dusty Grand Canyon, encountering perilous flash floods and traversing exhilarating mines, should've made for an exciting comedic adventure. Alas, the milk in these cows had expired. The narrative lacked innovation, the dialogue lacked energy and the animation itself lacked charm. Even Menken's original composition, featuring "all-time favourites" including *cough* "Will the Sun Ever Shine Again" and the painful antagonist's theme tune "Yodel-Adle-Eedle-Idle-Oo" resembled outdated traits that Disney failed to avoid. Hypnotising cows into an LSD trip by expressively yodeling at them, should've been one of the most unforgettable scenes the studio had pumped out. Sadly, not the case. Everything was shoved into a minuscule runtime, and the breezy pace emphasised the one-dimensional aesthetic.

Home on the Range is, undoubtedly, formulaic. Whether the formula for this dairy goodness is to your taste, is clearly down to personal preference. Undeniably though, the sour aftertaste of a studio no longer caring was beginning to present itself. A feature with the consistency of semi-skimmed milk, avoiding the delectability of full fat wholesomeness. Udderly disappointing.

I really took a chance when I bought the DVD of "Home On The Range" because I had not seen it. It is not my normal practice to buy something that I am totally unfamiliar with. However, I was happily surprised. This movie was wonderful! My kids and I thoroughly enjoyed it.

Roseanne provided a funny voice to one of the cows. Love her or hate her, the casting was perfect, like Ellen DeGeneres was for "Finding Nemo".

I read here on IMDb that "Home On The Range" is the last Disney film to be done with traditional animation. Maybe there are faster or cheaper ways of making these movies, but a great history is coming to an end. Kind of sad… I recommend this movie. While it may not be a masterpiece, it is a delight that is better than most Don Bluth or Dreamworks films.

I would give it *** out of four. Fun and funny stuff!

where did it all go because it certainly wasn't spent on the animation. It was just your regular Saturday morning cartoon animation. I guess most of the money must have been spent on the stars who played the voices. Since Rosanne's been out of work lately, she probably asked for a pretty penny to do this.

It didn't have any fun songs that stand out in my mind. Plus, the plot was very generic. And it needed more animals. The main animals were cows, a rabbit, and a horse. There's also a goat, pigs, buffalo, and chickens, but they weren't shown a lot. One of the reasons people liked the story of Finding Nemo so much was all the different animals used to tell the story.

FINAL VERDICT: I guess 5 year olds will like it, but I didn't think it was too great.

Ignore the hate if you fell in love with this film. I just watched it and I thought it was fine. Yes, it has it's issues, but I wouldn't consider it as a terrible film from Disney.

Home on the Range was kinda unique. It had nice animation and the characters like Maggie, Mrs. Calloway, Grace and Lucky Jack are pretty good.

The villain, Alameda Slim was pretty weak. He's so dang goofy it's hard to take him seriously.

Here are some things I would change about Home on the Range:

1. Have the characters be more interesting. Don't make them flat.

2. Delate some of the cow jokes. There are too many of them.

3. Make Slim a better villain.

4. The yodeling song could use some work with lyrics.

Overall, this is an okay Disney film. I wouldn't say it's bad, but it's okay.