Home On The Range

At the rate that animation is progressing (Shrek 2, m'lurd), it's almost quaint when a film like the very 2-D animated Home on the Range happens along. (Almost being the operative word in that last sentence.) In what is reported to be one of the last pieces of traditional animation that will emerge from the House of the Mouse, the plot revolves around a sassy cow (Rosanne Barr, in a perfect piece of vocal casting) whose only talents seem to lie in her ability to annoy her fellow bovines at the Patch of Heaven dairy farm. Chief amongst those antagonised is Mrs Calloway (Dench) and her bewildering pal Grace (Tilly). Minor squabbles have to be put aside, however, when the farm is threatened with closure and the animals with a night at the abattoir. A decent idea which is laboured in its execution, Home on the Range may look like a throwback to Disney of yore, but its sensibilities appear contrived and trite. Lacking structure in its plot, the filmmakers stampede from one dramatic crisis to the next, filling in the gaps in the narrative with the odd, predictably soporific, musical number. (Mercifully though, Sting and Phil Collins appeared to be busy the day they were throwing out the musical accompaniments.) What saves Home on the Range from animation hell is the inclusion of a couple of decent scenes and the odd gag that will whiz right over younger heads. But in the light of recent efforts, that really doesn't cut it. And please, no jokes about milking it.