Review of Home on the Range (2004) by Eric W — 17 May 2012

HOME ON THE RANGE is rock-bottom Disney animation. It's amazing to believe the studio that produced memorable classics could turn out a movie as bad as this (yes, it's worse than HERCULES and TREASURE PLANET).

The wire-thin storyline, which involves barnyard animals on the trail of an outlaw who can hypnotize animals by singing (huh?) is needlessly stretched out for 76 minutes (which is 70 minutes too long) with forced, unfunny gags, frantic but lifeless sequences and lame characterizations.

The animation, usually a high point in a Disney feature, is both pedestrian and unappealing to look at. Alan Menken supplies the music, but like the movie, his tunes are banal, insepid, and unappealing.

Failed Disney cartoons don't have to be this horrific; case in point: THE BLACK CAULDRON and ATLANTIS both fell short financially and were flawed as films, but at least they attempted to do something more complex and adult-oriented than typical Disney fare.

This film, on the other hand, feels like a big step backward from the start, and the hectic, pedestrian execution ultimately cripples it. The failure of this film killed off Disney's hand drawn animation department - it was advertised as their last anyway - and it wouldn't reawaken until 2009's THE PRINCESS AND THE FROG.

Either way, this was a pathetic flop for Disney to (initially) go out on. After seeing it the first time, I didn't even want to go near it again, nor did I want the soundtrack album. All of this, coming from a genuine Disney fan.