The (Not Quite) Last Hurrah: Film #230 - Home on the Range (2004)
Viewed August 18, 2006
Home On The Range at one point looked to be the last traditional animated film fom Walt Disney Feature Animation. Then CEO Michael Eisner, stung by the relative failure of the last few Disney animated features, declared that, starting with 2005’s Chicken Little, all Disney animated features would be computer generated. He oversaw the dismissal of a large number of animators and the dismantling and selling off of all of Disney’s 2D animation equipment. Thankfully, much of this damage was undone following Eisner’s ouster and Disney’s acquisition of Pixar, which put John Lasseter in charge of all Disney animation. One of his first moves was to put Disney back in the business of traditional animation.
But none of this seemed likely back in 2004 and Home on the Range looked like it was going to be the swan song for a style of movie making that Walt Disney pioneered back in 1937 with the release of Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs. As the last in that noble line, Home on the Range is sadly lacking. Now that it won’t be the end of the line, it can be viewed with a more sympathetic eye. It’s fairly entertaining, but does suffer from some of the staleness that marked much of Disney’s 70’s and early 80’s output.
One area that cannot be criticized is the voice cast. Led by Roseanne, who is able to bring to her role as Maggie the show cow some of her more appealing nature missing in a lot of her more recent work. Playing a perfect counterpoint is Dame Judi Dench as Mrs. Calloway, the cow who is the established leader of the farm and is put off by Maggie’s more outgoing nature. Jennifer Tilly completes the trio as Grace, a fun-loving cow with a penchant for off-key singing. The villain, a cattle rustler named Alameda Slim is played with gusto by Randy Quaid and Cuba Gooding Jr. brings his charms to the part of a vain and glory-hungry horse named Buck. Smaller parts are played effectively by Steve Buscemi, Joe Flaherty, Estelle Harris, Patrick Warburton (yes, again), Debi Derryberry and Edie McClurg.
The big problem is that this story has been told (many times) before. I can’t even begin to imagine how many times a rag-tag and disparate group has to band together to save the farm/school/business, etc. There’s the usual arguing over whether the plan will work, the usual fail-succeed-fail-succeed roller coaster ride, the usual coming-together-just-when-things-look-bleakest. There’s really no surprises or original storytelling here.
The style of the animation is also questionable. With the potential for beautiful scenery, it’s odd that the filmmakers chose to make things so cartoony as to not take advantage of it. Some things, like the musical numbers, are quite effective in this style. But others, like the aforementioned scenery, look good, but not as good as they might have.
Still, it’s a fun movie and younger audiences will enjoy the wackier aspects and the songs. Older audiences will find themselves longing for something with more depth or at least an original story to tell. Thankfully, Home on the Range will not stand as the last traditionally animated film from Disney. That would have been a darn shame.