If you have been following along with my Disney reflections, you may have noticed a theme. I have a pretty specific form of animation that I really like. I like hand drawn with clean lines. I don't love the shaky hand style of the late 70s and I prefer the clean lines of the 1950s and 60s. The 80s were mediocre but I also really like the resurgence of my childhood. My least favorite this far is the bubbly computer animated form from the early 2000s.
"Home on the Range" is often cited as beginning of the modern downfall of Disney animation. "Home on the Range"was the last hand drawn film before the studio switched to fully computer animated for a time until the reverted back to hand drawn with "The Princess and The Frog". This is all to say I was expecting this movie to be a shit show. I was thinking I would walk away with another "Chicken Little".
"Home on the Range" is a pretty cute movie. It actually sticks to the classic Disney animal film roots. It has some famous people voicing animals that are trying to save their home and their human. They are funny and caring and resilient. They need to learn to work together in order to accomplish a goal. They do a great job of including a plot twist and double crossing. The humor is a little more crash than I really like (similar to "Meet the Robinsons") but it was still pretty funny.
I really loved the animation though. I have a particular fondness for the southwest and the cowboy. I love the art of the prairie and the plain and I think they did a great job of bringing it to life in an animated setting.
I think the downfall of this movie has less to do with the movie itself but more changing tastes. With everything, you can't always be on top and all 53 Disney films can't be the best but I would watch this with my niece and nephews and enjoy it. It isn't the best but it was funny and cute and touching. It just couldn't compete with the emerging love of "Shrek".
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