Home on the Range Review

 

Home on the Range Review

Here is my review of a Disney animated film that is now 20 years old and was one of the last 2D animated films before they went back to Princess and the Frog and Winnie the Pooh 2011, and after that, nothing. Home on the Range is regarded as a box office flop, losing to Hellboy in 2004 and getting mixed write-ups. I remember seeing this film when I was a kid and thought it was fun. I wasn't crazy about it, and this film wasn't on the level with Beauty and the Beast, Lion King, Mulan, Hercules, or Emperor's New Groove.

The film is about a cow named Maggie, voiced by Rosanne Barr. You know from her that the tweet she made that got her canceled, and she blamed it on her medication. Maggie lived on a range until a bad guy named Alameda Slim, voiced by Randy Quaid, might know him for his illegal problems. So Maggie is sold to this farm owned by an old lady named Pearl, who owns Patch of Heaven. Maggie meets the farm animals, and two cows named Mrs. Calloway and Grace, who are voiced by Judi Dench and Jennifer Tilly. 

We also meet Buck, a horse who dreams of becoming a hero and going on adventure because he's the sheriff's horse and wants more action instead of doing nothing. So, like the cows, he goes to take down Alemda too, but he's doing this because he wants to be the stead of Rico, a famous bounty hunter who he looks up to until he learns Rico was working for Alemda. Buck helps Maggie, Grace, and Mrs Calloway take down Alemda together. Buck was one of the best characters in the film, along with Grace and Lucky Jack, voiced by Charles Haid. Cuba Gooding Jr voiced Buck, another actor in this film whose career went down the drain after some illegal stuff. I remember watching Drunk Disney, and one of the guys said. "Was this his attempt at a comeback after Snow Dogs?" 

They learn that the farm will be shut down and up for auction. Pearl can't pay for it, and she doesn't want to sell her farm animals as they are family, too her. So, the cows decide to hunt down Alemda and claim the reward. Buck wants to take down Alemda and become Rico's stead, a famous bounty hunter. 

Alemda is a greedy villain who wants to buy land and control cows. He's just an average greedy villain, and he's boring, to be honest. I did find it funny when his henchman's head blocked a Patch of Heaven on the map.

The film does have good animation, but the story falls flat. There were some funny moments in the movie. The animation was good, and I liked the characters in the film. Some of the music and songs in the movie was good, too. As I wrote before, the film's writing fell flat, and there were moments I was like, "That doesn't make any sense." 

Still, this film got most of the blame for killing Disney 2D animation and made Disney rely on Pixar from the 2000s till 2009. Overall, this film is alright. It's just a fun movie, and that's all it needs to be. It's like Black Cauldron. It was the black sheep of Disney films, but now it's a classic, a film many people want to see a remake of. Home on the Range would not work as a live-action remake. Still, it's a fun movie, and that's all it needs to be. I give a 5 out of 10. That's all I give it, and does it deserve all the hate it gets well after some of Disney's recent movies. This film is considered a classic compared to what we get now with movies like Wish.