Disney Movie Challenge: Home on the Range (2004)

 Disney Movie Challenge

Home on the Range (2004)

WHAT IS THE DISNEY MOVIE CHALLENGE: With Disney+ making available almost all of their films from the vault I thought it was a good time to watch all the theatrically released feature length Disney Studio Animated films. That’s a lot of qualifications so what does it all mean? It must be a film developed and released under the Walt Disney Animation Studios (so no PIXAR or Tim Burton stop motion films). Must have been released in theaters (no direct to video releases). And feature length (no shorts that played prior to the features). Currently there are 59 films. Starting with Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs in 1937 going to Raya and the Last Dragon in 2021. 

 I always hope when watching a movie that has a bad reputation it will prove it’s reputation wrong.  Unfortunately for this one it didn’t do that. Home on the Range is truly a bizarre film and not in a good way.  The production of this film is one I would love to know more about.  I really want to know who at Disney decided that what was missing in the world was a movie with Dame Judi Dench and Rosanne Barr playing cows.  And for added effect lets throw in Jennifer Tilly and Randy Quaid as a yodeling cowboy.  

The movie is about three cows Mrs. Calloway, Maggie, and Grace (Dench, Barr, and Tilly) who in an attempt to save their farm set out to capture the notorious outlaw Alameda Slim (Randy Quaid) to earn the reward.  Also trying to capture Slim is the bounty hunter Rico (Charles Dennis) and the horse Buck (Cuba Gooding Jr.).  When they catch up to Slim the cows witness how he is able to steal so many cows at once.  When Slim starts to yodel he hypnotizes the cows and gets them to do anything he wants.  Both Mrs. Calloway and Maggie get hypnotized but for some unexplained reason Grace does not and she must stop her friends from being herded up. The next morning a jack rabbit tells them that Slim is in an abandoned mine and that he can lead them to it.  They follow the rabbit and have a big standoff with Slim that involves a train heist.  

One of the good things you can say about this movie is it’s short and moves pretty briskly.  Other than that there isn’t much good to say about this movie.  I can see kids maybe liking this movie because it is very silly. As an adult it just left me agaped especially the scene when we see Slim yodeling and rounding up the cattle, that is like some psychedelic fever dream.  I can’t say enough about how odd the voice casting was in this film.  Judi Dench as a cow in the Old West is just bizarre.  Why would a cow in the Old West have a British Accent?  On paper I can see how pairing Barr with Dench would really highlight how opposite the two cows are,  but in the film it just doesn’t work. Maybe it’s because I find Barr’s voice pretty annoying.  While Jennifer Tilly might also seem like strange casting it actually works.   

Overall: The film definitely deserves the reputation it has as one of the worst films in Disney Canon. Sometimes a movie is made for kids and maybe it’s too much to expect more from it.  

Random Facts:

The last traditionally animated movie until 2009’s The Princess and the Frog. The movie was such a financial disappointment that Disney decided it wasn't worth the cost to make hand drawn animated films.

Director Will Finn wouldn’t direct another animated feature till 2013 when he directed Legends of Oz: Dorothy’s Return which was also a huge box office flop. 

When /Film did there ranking of all 58 Disney films at the time this was 57 and this is what they had to say  "The cast is, whatever else is true, unexpected: Dame Judi Dench, Roseanne Barr, Jennifer Tilly, Cuba Gooding, Jr., and Randy Quaid all play some of the main characters, making for a…uh…unique aural experience." https://www.slashfilm.com/disney-animated-movies-ranked/ 

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