Hey guys! Gerawallstar here, and I am here to review the 45th Walt Disney animated film, and quite likely their worst film called Home on the Range, which was released in 2004. When this film came out, it was a huge critical and commercial flop that it almost killed Disney’s 2D animation department until The Princess and the Frog 5 years later. In my opinion, this film is just mediocre. It’s not as bad as Chicken Little or The Aristocats, but it is one of their worst films that Disney has made.
Story:
The story is about a cow named Maggie voiced by Roseanne Barr who gets sold off to a new farm called Little Patch of Heaven, while the owner Mrs. Calloway gets a letter informing about her farm about to shut down. So it’s up for Maggie and the other cows to save the farm before the farm gets sold off. This story right off the bat is bland. Its your typical save the building storyline. But that’s not the main problem with the story. My main problem with the story is that its dull and unoriginal to the fact that this feels like a storyline you see in Barney the Dinosaur. This is not the story aimed at adults, but only little kids. Even toddlers ages 2-5. Another problem with the story is the terrible pacing. It’s too fast paced where they dont ever slow down the pacing. It’s like the movie is on a rollercoaster. The only good thing about the movie is the climax. It’s not much but it is at least entertaining. The story is dull and uninspiring. I give the story two stars.
Animation:
The animators is good. The backgrounds are colorful and the animators did pull off bringing the visuals a western feel to the film. I love the character designs. One of the songs did provide some solid animation feeling reminiscent of the nightmare scene from the mini adventures of Winnie the Pooh. My big problem with the animation is that while it is good on it’s own, it’s not Disney level good. The animation feels like it’s from a Disneytoon direct to dvd film, and that is fine if the film was from there. But from the best animation company in the world that is Disney animated studios?! They had no excuse to pull off THIS level of animation. On top of that, the cows are designed weird with their geometric angular designs. I give the animation seven stars.
Characters:
These characters have got to be the lamest and frustrating characters that I have seen. The cows like Maggie and Mrs. Calloway are annoying with how mean spirited they are. Maggie is just annoying while Mrs Calloway is just so stuck up. Grace the Cow is just your typical voice of reason. The absolute worst character in this film is Buck the Horse. My god. He is so annoying and loud that I wanted to shoot it with a gun. Pearl is a sweet and kind hearted farmer who cares so deeply about her farm animals. The villain Alameda Slim is terrible. His motivation is dull and he is just so forgettable. Thankfully what prevents these characters from being awful are the good voice acting and their performances. I loved Jennifer Tilly as Grace. She was hilarious in her role as Grace. Dame Judy Dench and Carol Cook were good as well. I also liked Randy Quaid’s perfromance as the villian, even though I loathe the villian itself. Patrick Warburton despite being an irrelevant cast member/celebrity was also funny. The voice performances I despised were Roseanne Barr, and Cuba Gooding Jr as the horse. I’m sorry, but I found them to be very annoying playing these characters. The characters are dull on it’s own but thankfully the terrific voice performances of the actors make up for it by being passable. I give the characters five stars.
Songs:
The songs are performed by the legendary musician Alan Menken, and I feel so sorry for him composing the songs. I dislike the songs for the most part in this movie. The opening title song was good. “Little patch of heaven” is not only forgettable but ridiculously sappy. “Yodel-adle-eedle-idle-oo” the villain song is one of the worst villain songs I have heard of. All the song is about the villain Alameda Slim singing about yodeling cows. “Will the sun shine again” was decent but on the nose about it being emotional. The score is just there. The songs for the most part are forgettable. I give the songs four stars.
Verdict:
Home on the range is a mediocre film on it’s own but as a Disney film, it truly is one of the worst. While it has good animation and excellent voice performances that save it for being a bad movie, the story, songs, and characters, make this film stand out as the film that almost killed 2D animation. I would never recommend this film to adults or Disney fans but I would recommend this to little kids or toddlers as it is a harmless distraction for them to watch. I give Home on the Range a five out of ten.
5/10.
