Home on the Range-Panic on the Prairie (2004)

Directed by: Will Finn, John Sanford | 73 minutes | comedy, western, animation, family, musical | English voice cast: Roseanne, Judi Dench, Jennifer Tilly, Steve Buscemi, Cuba Gooding Jr., Estelle Harris, GW Bailey, Bobby Block, Carole Cook, Charlie Dell, Charles Dennis, Marshall Efron, Patrick Warburton, Ross Simanteris, Keaton Savage, Dennis Weaver, Ann Richards, Richard Riehle, Sam J. Levine, Charles Haid | Dutch voice cast: Marjolijn Touw, Jenny Arean, Anneke Beukman, Howard Komproe, Ernst Daniël Smid, Reinder van der Naalt, Hero Muller, Wim van Rooij, Corry van der Linden, Arnold Gelderman, Laus Steenbeeke, Pim Koopman, Bram Bart, Carolina Mout Jurre Wieten, Bas van der Werf, Joy Kramer, Fred Meijer, Hein Boele, Just Meijer

‘Home on the Range’ is the latest in a long line of Disney Classics and was released in Dutch cinemas in the summer of 2004. Traditional 2-D animation had to lose its popularity with the advent of 3-D animation and computer-generated animation films. For younger viewers ‘Home on the Range’ is a source of entertainment, older kids will appreciate the somewhat childish story less, and their parents have to make do with just a few fun adult moments tucked into it, such as when cow Maggie says to the viewer about her gigantic udders “Yeah, they’re real. Quit staring!”

As Maggie is bursting with milk, the original voice cast is bursting with talent. Roseanne is perfect as the prize-winning cow, it seems as if the role was made for her. She gives Maggie a nice stubborn character, although this is of course not only due to her acting, the script writers have also done their job well in that regard. Jennifer Tilly is the naive, peace-loving new-age cow, and is more cute than funny. A shared first place with Roseanne, however, gets Judi Dench, who succeeds in making her character look very distinguished. Her voice suits Mrs. Calloway, the perfectionist cow who has to get used to Maggie’s straight-to-the-cow nature. Cuba Gooding Jr. speaks the voice of Buck, the horse that wants to prove itself if necessary, and Randy Quaid yodels it as Alameda Slim, the villain in the story.

The story is very simple, too simple even. Although the film lasts less than five quarters of an hour, there is a good chance that the older audience will look at the clock while watching. There is simply too little happening, the whole story could easily have been told in a shorter film. The music isn’t special either, unless you’re a big Bonnie Raitt, Tim McGraw or kd lang fan.

It is a pity that Disney’s last 2-D film for the time being is of a somewhat lesser quality. Less attention has been paid to the script; a more in-depth story or more character development and better animations could have made ‘Home on the Range’ a real classic. Now it’s nothing more than a nice, if meaningless cartoon. The film is still worth watching because of the great cast. In any case, this film is not a cause for panic – for whatever reason.