April 11, 2004 -- “Home on the Range” is said to be the last hand-drawn Disney animated feature to be released by the studio that invented the genre. If that's true it is sad, because it is not one of the studio's better efforts. It is a silly, but enjoyable film, with passable humor and music, more suited for children than adults. Disney executives are convinced, as are many fans, that the future of animation is in computer-generated creations like those of Pixar Studios. That may be true, but I and many other people believe Pixar's current domination of the genre is mainly due to the strength of its stories, not because of its heavily computerized animation techniques. No matter how good the animation is, you have to have a good story, or good characters, or both, to make a good movie.

“Home on the Range” has some good characters, but the story is merely passable as is the artwork. The story is about three cows in the Old West who try to capture a criminal in order to collect the reward money, which they plan to use to save the family farm. It is quite an adventure. They are up against a very wily criminal in cattle rustler Alameda Slim (voice by Randy Quaid) and they are competing against a skilled bounty hunter, Rico (voice by Charles Dennis), who is also determined to get the reward. Rico is aided by a kung-fu horse named Buck (voice by Cuba Gooding Jr.), who is looking for respect. The cows, Mrs. Calloway (Judi Dench), Maggie, (Roseanne Barr) and Grace (Jennifer Tilly), undaunted, remain determined to save the farm.

Grace is a bit ditsy, while Mrs. Calloway is a proper lady, and Maggie is a prize dairy cow who is nevertheless uncouth. The cows are aided in their quest by a peglegged jackrabbit named Lucky Jack (Charles Haid), who has his own score to settle with Alameda Slim. They make for an entertaining team of sleuths. The best characters in the film are the cows, the rabbit, the horse and a very large buffalo named Junior (voice by Lance LeGault). The movie also has some fairly good music by the award-winning Alan Menken. It is a cute movie that should appeal to kids, and it is not too boring for adults to sit through, either. There are the usual movie in-jokes, like music from the western classic “The Good, the Bad and the Ugly.” There are also a lot of references to martial arts movies, including “The Matrix.” This film rates a C+.

If this is truly the last traditional animated feature made by Disney, it is historic. Disney invented the genre with classics like “Snow White and the Seven Dwarfes,” “Fantasia,” “Cinderella,” “Pinocchio,” “Bambi,” and in more recent years, “The Lion King,” “The Little Mermaid” and “Beauty and the Beast.” One of the things that hurt Disney in recent years was the untimely death of the great songwriter Howard Ashman who had teamed with Alan Menken on some of the best recent Disney features. Although Menken continues to labor on (he wrote the musical score for “Home on the Range”), Disney never again found a lyricist of Ashman's calibre. Although Tim Rice and Elton John teamed for Disney's biggest animated hit, “The Lion King,” neither the music, nor the movie itself was as good as the award-winning “Beauty and the Beast,” the only film ever nominated for a Best Picture Oscar prior to the creation of a separate Academy Award category for animated features. That film was Disney's artistic high water mark, at least in recent years. Disney's pairing with Pixar Studios led to some great films, the “Toy Story” films, “Finding Nemo” and others, but the pairing seemed to suck the creative life out of Disney's animated division. The quality of Disney's traditional animated films has dropped off markedly in recent years. Now Disney's animated division will try to outdo Pixar at its own game. No easy task, that.

I don't know if there is enough residual creativity left at Disney to hold off the fierce competition in the field of animation, a field it once dominated completely. How could a company that was once the leader in animation technology suddenly become so outdated? I think part of the fault lies with leadership. It is no coincidence that Disney stockholders are not happy with company boss Michael Eisner. Disney is now so weak it could become a hostile takeover victim. Perhaps some of the problem is arrogance and neglect. Maybe the company failed to recruit and retain its most creative people. Maybe it tried to get by on the cheap. Whatever the reason, Disney has abandoned what was once the heart of its mighty empire.

Is this the end of traditional animation? I doubt it. I think the Japanese, at least, will contine this art form for a few more years. The Japanese have produced the best animated features for the past few years, winning the Academy Award for “Spirited Away.” Last year's best animated feature was “Millennium Actress,” another classic animated Japanese feature was “Princess Mononoke.” These three films are all better than any American animated feature since “Toy Story II.” The Japanese haven't won their fair share of Academy Awards because American audiences and academy voters remain largely unaware of the best Japanese animated features. There is, however a strong “anime” subculture in America. While these films are seldom widely distributed in U.S. theaters. There are few video stores in this country that don't carry a selection of Japanese animation DVDs. The Japanese are certainly well qualified to carry the torch of traditional animation.

Click here for links to places to buy or rent this movie in video and/or DVD format, or to buy the soundtrack, posters, books, even used videos, games, electronics and lots of other stuff. I suggest you shop at least two of these places before buying anything. Prices seem to vary continuously. For more information on this film, click on this link to The Internet Movie Database. Type in the name of the movie in the search box and press enter. You will be able to find background information on the film, the actors, and links to much more information.

Copyright © 2004 Robert Roten. All rights reserved.
Reproduced with the permission of the copyright holder.

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