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Home On The Range
Release Date: April 2, 2004
Studio: Walt Disney Pictures
Director: Will Finn, John Sanford
Screenwriter: Will Finn, John Sanford
Starring: Roseanne Barr, Judi Dench, Cuba Gooding, Jr., Steve Buscemi,
Jennifer Tilly, Randy Quaid, David Burnham, Ja'Net DuBois, Gregory Jbara
Genre: Animation, Family, Musical, Western
MPAA Rating: PG (for brief mild rude humor)
Official Website:
Disney.com/HomeontheRange
Plot Summary: When a greedy outlaw named
Alameda Slim (voiced by Randy Quaid) schemes to take possession of the "Patch of
Heaven" dairy farm, three determined cows (voiced by Roseanne Barr, Dame Judi
Dench, and Jennifer Tilly), a karate-kicking stallion named Buck (voiced by Cuba
Gooding Jr.), and a colorful corral of critters join forces to save the farm in
a wild quest full of high-spirited adventure. Braving bad men and the rugged
western landscape, this unlikely assortment of animals risk their hides and
match wits with a mysterious bounty hunter named Rico in a high stakes race to
capture Slim and collect the reward money.
Reviewed by Peter
Veugelaers © 2004
- Better than a cheese royale: buy one while its hot
Home
on the Range is a milestone movie in the history
of the Walt Disney Company. As Disney’s last traditional hand drawn animated
feature, Home on the Range is a worthy end that began with the enchanting
ground breaking prestige picture Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs in 1937.
Disney has produced well loved classics such as Bambi, Sleeping
Beauty, and Fantasia, this one signals Disney’s triumph of
technology, closing the curtain on that era. Home on the Range is not an
instant classic like others in the Disney repertories, but is good spirited
entertainment.
In a throwback to the traditional Western, the movie’s semantics echoes that
genre’s. With a young audience in mind, it is about the auctioning of the Patch
of Heaven ranch unable to repay its mortgage. Set in the Old West, three cows
voiced by Dame Judi Dench, Roseanne Barr, and Jennifer Tilly go yonder to find
the money and save their ranch. A reward for the bounty of an outlaw (Randy
Quaid) is their chance.
Adults old enough might identify Western icons and motifs such as the Clint
Eastwood parody as the lonesome gunslinger riding his horse into town and
carrying a gravel voice (by Charles Dennis), the bar brawl, and the scheming
outlaw.
But unlike Dreamworks’ parodies of the fairy tale and gangster flick such as,
respectively, Shrek and Shark Tale, the humour in Home on the
Range is straight forward and innocuous enough not to be as noticeable as a
parody. There’s more light weighted banter than the black humour of the former
film’s, and although there are a few comedic inserts alluding to the old Western
it doesn’t have the same rustic edge as say Shark Tale. This is good for
younger children who will get it.
Dame Judi Dench is getting more roles in Hollywood formula, such as this, since
acting in drama Iris and winning an Oscar for Shakespeare in Love.
Unsurprisingly, she is out of place among the carefree tones of Roseanne Barr
and Jennifer Tilly, and her role stands out as too Brit than American West,
although she has been cast as the complimenting stiff upper lip among those
spirited Americans. Cuba Gooding Jr can’t seem to shake his Jerry Maguire
persona as the voice of a horse that has much the same temperament as that
football talent. But it’s Randy Quaid who shines (who starred in Independence
Day and Kingpin) as the indelible and sometimes likeable outlaw.
Adults might notice lulls in pace and a paint by numbers plot but there’s an
entertaining yodelling sequence (by Randy Quaid) and the climax tops off a
short, but satisfying, fun filled 1 ¼ hours. |
