Product Details

• Actors: G.W. Bailey, Bobby Block, Steve Buscemi, Carole Cook, Charlie Dell
• Directors: John Sanford (II)
• Format: Closed-captioned, Color, NTSC
• Language: English
• Rating: PG (Parental Guidance Suggested)
• Number of tapes: 1
• Studio: Walt Disney Video
• VHS Release Date: September 14, 2004
• Run Time: 76 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 3.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (84 customer reviews)
• ASIN: B00029LO18
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #6,412 in Video (See Bestsellers in Video)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com

A spiky animation style and cowboy yodelling give Home on the Range some charisma. A trio of cows--Maggie (voiced by Roseanne, She-Devil), Mrs. Calloway (Judi Dench, Iris), and Grace (Jennifer Tilly, Bound)--hit the high prairie to track down a cattle rustler named Alameda Slim (Randy Quaid, Kingpin) in hopes that the reward money will save their farm. With the aid of Buck, a horse with heroic ambitions (Cuba Gooding Jr., Jerry Maguire), the bovine avengers track the villain to his lair and save the day, to the accompaniment of tunes warbled by k.d. lang, Bonnie Raitt, and Tim McGraw. These songs--composed by Alan Menken (who wrote the music for The Little Mermaid and Beauty and the Beast)--are the movie's strongest element; the characters are largely trumped up to fit a number of weak jokes that reference current pop culture, thus rupturing the movie's Old West world. Still, it looks nifty. --Bret Fetzer

Dallas Morning News/Nancy Churnin

"The plucky bovines will have you rooting for them all the way."

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

26 of 32 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Busted Moo-vie, April 7, 2004

By	Bruce Aguilar (Hollywood, CA) - See all my reviews (TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)

Disney's last hand-drawn feature isn't a Disney film at all; it's an attempt to make a Warner Brothers Looney Tune feature, which is as sad an end to Disney's legacy as I can think of. To abandon all that made the studio great and try to ape another's success is a sure sign of management's faithlessness in Disney's legacy.

Things start off well enough when a decidedly unlucky rabbit continually gets into ever more hilarious situations (getting run over by a wagon wheel, stuck by a cactus, bitten by a snake, you get the idea). It was the one moment in the film where the audience as a whole was laughing. But after this sequence, I only heard sporadic chuckles.

Although the fast pace and simplistic story accurately mimic the Looney Tunes shorts, the characters aren't nearly as entertaining. None have charisma of Bugs, Daffy or even Pepe Le Peu. Without strong characters the comedy comes off hollow and didn't hold my (nor the audiences' it seemed) interest. The film is a brisk 71 minutes or so, but I was looking at my watch anyways. Someone sitting next to me even fell asleep!

There seems to be a general lack of imagination in this film. The one exception being the completely unexpected way in which the cows are being stolen. It's a great idea that had the potential to be classic moment in Disney animation, but feels roped in, constipated, as if the filmmakers were afraid to trust the idea and let it guide the action.

Young children will mostly enjoy this film while it lasts but it's sure to be forgotten soon afterward. There are a few jokes that are meant for older audiences, but it's not enough to make a lasting impression. This film will be best enjoyed on DVD as a babysitter.

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars My kids love it, whatelse matters?, September 13, 2004

By	Douglas M. Downey "ddowney71" (Indianapolis) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

I am in that period of my life where I am watching a lot of children's programming. The tendency is to start to impose my own adult tastes on these children's movies. I think this is because the bar has been raised with Shrek and other movies that plant plenty of jokes for the parents.

The problem with Home on the Range is the adult jokes are just mildly humorous. The joke does not as much make you laugh as it makes you say to yourself, "Oh yes, they are trying to make me laugh. Cute."

Well guess what, that does not really matter. I have a four year old little girl that loves horses and a two year old boy who loves whatever his sister loves. They talk about that movie non-stop. And they have only seen it twice!

Heaven help me. When the DVD comes out, I will see it another 2...hundred times!!

Bottom line. The people who should like this movie do, not some grown-up reviewing kid's movies with the same scrutiny of a Sundance entry.

17 of 22 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars It All Ends With Cows, April 10, 2004

By	Family Movie Critic "familymoviecritic" - See all my reviews

"Home on the Range" is the last Disney traditionally animated film due to the increasing demand for computer animation. This film has a lot of heart, and the story hits close to home. Maggie(Roseanne Barr) is a prize winning show cow. When the other cows on her farm where stolen by Alameda Slim, her owner had to sell the farm and give Maggie away to Pearl at Patch of Heaven. The farm appears to be just what it's name suggests, but Pearl has fallen into trouble with the bank, and the farm will be auctioned off if she can't get the money she needs. When the cows hear about the bounty put on caddle rustler Alameda Slim, they set out on a wild west adventure to capture him and collect the reward money to save the farm. However, there are other people after Slim, so it becomes a hilarious race. The film is rated PG, but there really wasn't anything too bad. The reason for the PG rating is burping and slaptick violence. The violence is exactly like what you would see in a Looney Tunes cartoon. That big long lump even appears on peoples heads. I don't think parents will have a problem with the content of this film.

The style of animation is very good. The scenery is so pretty, and the animals are so cute. The voice work is amazing. Dame Judy Dench provides the voice to lead cow on Patch of Heaven, Mrs. Calloway. I wouldn't have pegged Dench to play a western cow, seeing as she is british, but it really does work well, giving her the feeling that she thinks she is better than everybody else. Jenifer Tilly is the voice of my favorite cow in the film, Grace. Grace is a little slow and very peaceful. She provides most of the comic releif during the film. Randy Quaid is the voice of the yodelling outlaw, Alameda Slim. He really is perfect at it, creating the second funnyist Disney villain, just next to Yzma from "The Emporor's New Groove."

"Home on the Range" is the type of Disney film that will please everybody. It has a great story, as well as good humor, and a lot of heart.