Home on the Range DVD Review:

My expectations run high for any Walt Disney animated film, and I’ve rarely been disappointed. Sadly, “Home on the Range” fails to live up to the quality standards I’ve admired in Disney productions for such a long time. Granted, actors providing voices for the movie’s cartoon characters deserve credit for delivering some silly lines with style and grace, but the animation lacks pizzazz – and one or two scenes are too coarse for youngsters.

The protagonists here are three cows, voiced by Roseanne Barr, Dame Judi Dench and Jennifer Tilly. I know what you’re thinking -- a more unlikely trio would be hard to find. And you’re right. Maggie (Barr), the newest addition to a farm called Patch of Heaven, likes to make wise cracks; Mrs. Caloway (Dench) wears a funny hat and thinks she’s running things; Grace (Tilly) sings off key while trying to be the peacemaker of the group. To save their farm from being sold at auction, the three join forces. They embark on a perilous journey that brings them in contact with a yodeling cow rustler (Randy Quaid), a horse who thinks he’s the next kung fu champion (Cuba Gooding, Jr.) and a lawman who belongs in a spaghetti Western.

Jokes about udders and a scene where the cows are crudely accosted by bulls seem out of place in a movie aimed at young children. Fortunately, there’s not much bathroom humor here, and the kiddies will probably love all the little animals living on the Patch of Heaven dairy farm. Another plus is the film’s toe-tappin’ Western music, written by Alan Menken (“Beauty and the Beast”) and sung by Tim McGraw, k.d. Lang and Bonnie Raitt.

On the DVD version, my favorite bonus feature is the hilarious “Joke Corral.” It cleverly showcases deleted gags in a “Laugh In” format. I also found “The Making of Home on the Range “featurette quite enlightening and entertaining. Believe it or not, key people involved in working on the movie actually went out West to get ideas. The opening of this featurette comes across as better than anything in the full-length movie. Two cowboys face each other for a gunfight. When someone yells “Draw,” they both pull out sketch pads and start drawing as fast as they can. Too bad that kind of amusing creativity didn’t carry over to “Home on the Range.”

Betty Jo Tucker

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