With Easter coming up,I started to search around for a 2004 animated film which I could give to a friend as a gift.Taking a look at a list of Disney titles from 2004,I spotted the movie credited with killing odd the studios hand-drawn method!,which led to me getting to take walk on the range.The plot:After all of their other cows have been stolen by infamous outlaw Alameda Slim,the farmers decide that they have no choice but to sell their last remaining cow Maggie,to Pearl Gesner-owner of Little Patch of Heaven,the last remaining farm that Slim has not destroyed.As Maggie tries to get on with Gesner's cows Mrs. Caloway & Grace,Gesner receives a visit from Sheriff Sam Brown,who gives Gesner the bad news that she is $750 in debt,and that if she does not pay in 3 days,then her farm will be put up for auction.Horrified at the threat of losing their home,the animals start searching round for a way to pay the $750.Getting close to giving up all hope,Maggie,Grace and Caloway spot a sign offering a $750 ransom for the arrest of Slim,which leads to the trio leaving their Little Patch of Heaven behind,for the great range of the outdoors.View on the film:Originally planned as an adaptation of the Pied Piper (some bits of which remain) the screenplay by 16 (!!) writers is never able to fully decide on what the movie should be,with the Spaghetti Western action riffs running at a blazing pace,which are turned down to simmering pace,as the movie builds a very dry friendship between Grace,Maggie & Mrs. Caloway (voiced by the fine trio of Judi Dench/ Roseanne Barr & Jennifer Tilly.)Whilst the title has an uneven pace,the writers do well at lighting up the movie with a number of delightfully oddball moments,from a would-be action hero horse,to a yodelling boo-hiss bandit.Backed by a selection of disappointingly dull songs,co- writers/directors John Sanford & Will Finn give the title an extremely distinctive appearance,by giving all of the characters and locations a triangular appearance,which gives the movie an oddly "edgy" atmosphere.Along with the rough edges drawing style,Sanford and Finn also take a minimal approach to the details to the colours,which helps to give the movie a delightfully mad-cap feel,as the film goes from splashing a sharp Spaghetti Western spoof,to a near fairy-tale spin on the farm,as Gace,Maggie and Mrs.Caloway find their home on the range.

Which made the animation look worse than it really is. I'm an animation student and when I watched it I was AMAZED. Fluid, organic, and full of life! So when I read in the reviews that, oh, "the animation sucked, it's like one of those Saturday morning cartoons", I'm like, oh my god were we watching the same movie? But the story SUCKED. Big time. The characters were 2 dimensional. Maggie was annoying. The farm animals were annoying. The plot is really unbelievably stupid... I mean, what the hell, the villain is an idiot with an idiotic motive with 3 idiot henchmen. The horse is annoying and stupid. The script is stupid. Everything that happened was so absurd I threw up a little in my mouth.It's sad that Disney decided that it was 2d animation's fault and not that of the story. Otherwise I'm sure they'd have made more masterpieces.The only reason why I watched to the end was because the animation and art was so amazing. Everything else was bad.

The jokes suck, the animation's flat, and the plot is stupid. Compared to the famous Disney movies of the Disney Renaissance, Home on the Range has forgettable songs and a pointless plot. Even the children will dislike this movie, because the "Yodel Adle Eedle Idle OO" song would give them nightmares. No wonder it wasn't nominated for any Oscars or Golden Globes or Kid's Choice Awards! Alan Menken has done a better job at writing songs like "Beauty and the Beast", "A Whole New World" and many more songs that are way more memorable than the songs in Home on the Range. What was Disney thinking?! How could a Disney film this dull have a high budget of $110 million?! If Disney had the time to improve the music and plot, this film wouldn't have been such a box-office bomb! Disney announced that this would be their last hand-drawn animated film, because of the failure of this film. In 2009 however, Disney released their next hand drawn animated film called The Princess and the Frog. This film was way better than Home on the Range. The Princess and Frog had a well developed plot, well developed music, beautiful animation, and cool characters. The film was way more successful than Home on the Range. The Princess and the Frog earned $270 million worldwide at the box-office while Home on the Range only grossed $103 million. Disney never should have released Home on the Range in theaters. It should have been released directly to DVD and video.

Pleasantly fast-moving and cartoonish Disney fodder with a funny basic premise and some nice gags thrown in for good measure. The old-fashioned animation is refreshingly low key.Unfortunately, there's no dramatic heft to the hectic and generic storyline and the characters aren't fleshed out at all. The musical interludes are average, too. Where's the emotional resonance we found in movies such as "Beauty and the Beast"?At least, the voice-work is excellent.A minor diversion, that's all. 5 out of 10 yodeling villains