A young boy draws on the inspiration of legendary western characters to find the strength to fight an evil land baron in the old west who wants to steal his family's farm and destroy their idyllic community.Director Jeremiah S. Chechik brought us "national Lampoon's Christmas Vacation" (a classic) and "Benny and Joon" (a cult hit), and then this. Despite a great cast, it just sort of flops around and goes nowhere. The plot really ought to be: kid hangs out with legendary figures, ruins their lives. Why they put up with him is beyond me.One of the more disappointing things, actually, is how little we get of Calamity Jane. For me, if I had Catherine O'Hara on my payroll, I would find a way to expand her part. But I guess not. I will give them credit for Paul Bunyan, though, as their interpretation is certainly unique.

This has been my favourite "Western" film since I was a youngster, and it will continue to be.Where... do... I... begin...???? This is my favourite Disney film of all-time!I'm a mixed foreigner from Japan, and I feel like one of the PRIVILEGED people who got to see this movie! It's an educational film for those studying American Tall Tales.This is a Disney Drama Classic!! It has many big Hollywood names in it! Nick Stahl, Patrick Swayze, Oliver Platt, Scott Glenn, Stephen Lang, etc... why isn't this film more popular!??? They ALL play such memorable & much better roles than in the overrated & nonsensical movies they're mostly known for. I was really hoping for Doug Walker to review this film during his last "Disneycember" (yeah I know) Great family movie, with a great story, and good morales, too! I actually learned a lot from this film. Great father-son story-arc in this, it could really likely make son's bonds with their father's stronger! ;)And in my book, it seems quite Biblical too, with the facts that 3 legendary characters, Pecos Bill, Paul Bunyan, & John Henry are sent to help this boy, Daniel Hackett; they're somewhat like 3 GUARDIAN ANGELS (since the Number "3" appears quite a lot in the Bible). Also, Randy Edelman's score for the film is *especially* underrated! He deserves an Oscar nomination for SOMETHING! A *MUST SEE*!!!9/10PS: Quite ironic too that the director also directed the movie that's universally considered bad, "The Avengers" (1998)

This film is geared to those who are young or young at heart. The movie takes one through an enchanting tale. It is a good all around family movie. The movie takes us through some American mythical characters who we can reminisce about such characters as Pecos Bill. It is light hearted fun and keeps one interested as to what will happen next. It is a good film to eat popcorn or have pizza with. Good musical scores with the film, wholesome and uplifting. This is a film when after its over, it leaves you with a good feeling. You may not remember each and everything. But the feeling is like after a cup of hot chocolate -- you don't remember every sip, but the good feeling sticks. In fact, you can watch it again a month later and just enjoy the feeling all over again. I give it a six thumbs up out of ten.

First of all, the casting is perfect. That's the one good thing I can say about this movie. Patrick Swayze, Oliver Platt, and Roger Aaron Brown make the most of their characters and have great chemistry together. Swayze is particularly hilarious as a tough-as-nails Pecos Bill. But the rest of this movie is a disaster. It has almost NO plot, and what little shreds of a plot it has are ridden with holes. I'll explain.You see, there's this guy Stiles who wants to buy up all the land in a community. So he holds a town meeting promising to give people vast sums of money in return for their land. Everyone is positively giddy about it, until this guy Jonas stands up and makes a touching speech about how the land is their heritage and it would be a sin to sell. Everyone gets on his case about it, and he concludes with, "Well, I ain't selling." Then what happens? Do they discuss it further? Does Stiles resume the meeting? No! Everyone just gets up and LEAVES! The meeting isn't even adjourned; they all just... walk out of the building! Did they forget what they were doing? Do they have Attention Deficit Disorder? Someone please explain this scene to me.Now, if I remember correctly, Stiles is so mad about Jonas ruining his meeting that he does the logical thing and... shoots Jonas. At the last minute, Jonas's son Daniel gets ahold of the deed to their land and runs away with it, because Stiles will stop at nothing to snatch it right out of his hands (a tried-and-true legal tactic). Daniel runs away and falls asleep in a boat. Then he dreams about being in the Old West with Pecos Bill. Then he wakes up, and Stiles tries to run him over with a train. Suddenly all the townspeople are on his side and he gets to keep the deed. It's all very confusing.What a dumb movie. 2/10 stars.