Review of Home on the Range (2004) by Jane L — 02 Feb 2015

The film is ok and doesn't really go off the tracks (it does but that's intentional) but Home on the Range never really lives up to the Disney standards set so long ago. For me the voice acting of Roseanne Barr never seemed to matched the character in the film and the character of Buck played by Cuba Gooding Jr. wasn't needed and actually took away from the main focus of the film. The film should have been about three cows in the old west righting the wrongs done to them, their farm, and the farm folk around them but with the addition of a few other characters and giving them their own side stories, focus is pulled away. Though done well enough, these side stories weren't needed and could have been filled with more character development on the part of the cows.

Character design is ok but rather generic and uninspiring. The story as a whole is cliche and boring. The animation tries to combine traditional 2D with some 3D elements but never really does it enough for it to be a standout aspect of the film. The backgrounds have an old school traditional look to them while the characters are all new and computer clean which you either like or don't. I personally found the two styles didn't mix as well as they could have in certain scenes but overall it worked.

Home on the Range is not the worst Disney film ever created and it could have been a lot worse but it still isn't exactly something I'd recommend. What could have been a great Disney animated western turns out to be something without heart that you just wouldn't write home about... even if it was located on the range.