I first saw a preview for Home on the Range sometime last year. I thought that it looked like the movie would be cute, and I did want to see it. I enjoy animated movies and I do tend to see most of them. I was recently able to go and see Home on the Range. I did enjoy the movie for the most part.
Maggie was a show cow that had won many ribbons. Her owner also had a herd of cattle. One morning he discovered that his whole herd had vanished, but Maggie was still in the barn. He lost his farm, and couldn’t even afford to keep Maggie. He took her to a farm called Patch of Heaven that was owned by his friend Pearl. She agreed to give Maggie a home even though she already had two cows, Mrs. Calloway and Grace. Mrs. Calloway was very refined and proper. The other animals on the farm looked to her for leadership. Grace was a little flaky but very sweet. Mrs. Calloway wasn’t happy about Maggie moving in because she was loud and brash. Grace and the other animals were more welcoming to Maggie.
Sheriff Sam Brown came and told Pearl that the bank was going to foreclose on Patch of Heaven unless she came up with $750.00 in only a few days. Pearl didn’t have the money and didn’t know what she was going to do. The animals were upset as well. Maggie came up with the idea that if all the animals entered the fair and won, then they could get the money to save the farm. The fair was still a few weeks off though, so Maggie was going to try to get Buck, the Sheriff’s horse, to extend the deadline. Grace didn’t hesitate about going along. Mrs. Calloway didn’t want to go, but she changed her mind.
In town, Buck was playing a game with Rusty, a dog, and day dreaming about catching outlaws. Maggie, Mrs. Calloway and Grace arrived and talked to Buck, but he wasn’t understanding or willing to help them. Rico, a well known bounty hunter, arrived. Buck idolized Rico and wanted to work with him. The Sheriff sent Rico after Alameda Slim, a cattle rustler. Rico needed another horse and took Buck. Maggie saw that the bounty on Alameda Slim was $750.00, so she decided that they should catch him to get the bounty so they could save their farm. Mrs. Calloway didn’t like the idea at all, but she ended up going.
Alameda Slim had a unique way of getting the cattle he was stealing. He put them in some sort of trance with his yodeling. Then the cattle went where he wanted with no trouble. Alameda stole the cattle and sold them. The ranchers who had owned the cattle were forced out of business. Alameda disguised himself and used the money he got for the cattle to buy up the ranches when they were auctioned off. He planed to own all the land. Patch of Heaven was the last farm that he didn’t own.
Voice Talent
Roseanne - Maggie
G.W. Bailey - Rusty the dog
Carole Cook - Pearl
Judi Dench - Mrs. Calloway
Jennifer Tilly - Grace
Cuba Gooding Jr - Buck
Estelle Harris - Audrey
Randy Quaid - Alameda Slim
Will Finn and John Sanford - Directors
Home on the Range was released to theaters on April 2, 2004. The movie was 76 minutes long and rated PG. I think the rating was probably because of some of the rude and somewhat crude things that Maggie said. This is a family movie, but I don’t think that younger children would stay interested in the movie.
Home on the Range was cute and entertaining. I did enjoy most of the movie. There were a lot of funny things that happened. Buck made me laugh every time he turned up. He had all kinds of dreams about catching outlaws like his idol Rico. Buck did act a bit silly in trying to prove himself. Maggie said and did some funny things, though she was sarcastic at times. She was also a bit crude at times. Grace was a bit ditzy, but she was kind. She liked to sing and thought she had perfect pitch, but she didn’t. Her singing wasn’t too good, but I’m very glad that she was singing and not Maggie since Roseanne was providing the voice for Maggie.
The animation in Home on the Range reminded me of some older Disney movies. It was still good animation, but it was simpler, especially in the backgrounds, than what has been used in some other recent Disney movies like Brother Bear or Treasure Planet. I think that the animated in those movies was better, and I did enjoy those movies more too. The movie was bright and colorful. I don’t know for sure, but I think this movie used hand drawn animation. It just didn’t look like computer animation. There was a sequence in the movie that was a bit weird. Alameda yodeled to put cattle in a trace so he could easily steal them. That is a bit different, but I just thought that was unique when he first started to yodel. Then the weird sequence started. All these cattle were marching here, there and everywhere across the screen. Then the cattle started changing colors and the background of the desert where they were when Alameda showed up vanished. So there were hundreds of flashing cows marching around in strange patterns while Alameda yodeled. I saw something about this movie and the yodeling on the Disney channel. Randy Quaid did very little of the yodeling. Professional yodelers were brought in. They wanted that to be a big number for the movie. It wouldn’t have bothered me if Alameda had yodeled and lead the cattle to his hideout. What they did with that was just bizarre.
There were songs in Home on the Range. Grace sang a few times, and Alameda did his yodeling. Other than that, none of the characters in the movie sang. Tim McGraw and k.d. Lang provided songs for the movie. Their songs played over what was going on in the movie. They were country songs, and sounded fine, but none stood out like the songs from earlier Disney movies like Beauty and the Beast. I am very grateful that someone didn’t decide to have Roseanne sing. That would have sent me running from the theater. Just her providing the voice for Maggie was bad enough at times. I have never been a fan of Roseanne, and even her voice got on my nerves at times. Her voice is grating. It did go with the personality of Maggie, but it was annoying. I liked Jennifer Tilly as Grace. Her voice was just perfect for that character. I thought that the voice that Cuba Gooding Jr did for Buck worked well for that character as well. The other voices were fine.
CHARACTERS
Maggie - She was a show cow. She was loud and a bit rude at times. She had to leave her home after the other cattle were stolen. She had a new home at Patch of Heaven. She was determined to do something to save the farm. She didn’t want to lose another home or have the other animals have to go through that either.
Mrs. Calloway - She had lived on Patch of Heaven for many years. She was proper and refined. She was the leader of the animals on the farm. She didn’t like Maggie. Mrs. Calloway wasn’t sure there was anything they could do to save the farm.
Grace - She was another cow at Patch of Heaven. She kept trying to help the other animals settle disagreements. She liked to sing. She was a little ditzy at times, but she had good intentions.
Buck - He was the sheriff’s horse. Buck dreamed about catching outlaws all by himself and he really wanted to work with Rico.
Alameda Slim - He was a cattle rustler. His yodeling put the cattle into a trance. Alameda had a plan to buy up all the land. He did have a temper when things didn’t go his way.
I did enjoy Home on the Range, but it wasn’t as good as other recent animated movies. It was cute at times and entertaining, though Roseanne’s voice was irritating.
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