Home On The Range
(Directed by Will Finn and John Sanford, with the voices of Roseanne Barr, Judi Dench, Jennifer Tilly and Randy Quaid)

For what is apparently its last foray into the hand-drawn 2D-animation style upon which the studio was built, Disney takes a trip to the Wild West for a bovine adventure like no other (are there any other bovine adventures?).

Bolshy show cow Maggie (voiced by bolshy show cow Roseanne Barr) is sold on to a new farm, the gloriously secluded 'Little Patch Of Heaven'.

Farm owner Pearl discovers that the farm is to be put up for auction, but she refuses to sell the animals to raise the money to keep her land - "They're not critters, they're family".

So Maggie and her fellow cows - uptight, prudent Mrs Calloway (Judi Dench), and the tone-deaf new-age Grace (Jennifer Tilly) - set off to capture notorious cattle-wrangling outlaw Alameda Slim (Randy Quaid), claim the reward and save their home.

Will they succeed? Will Alameda make rawhide of them? Will Disney finally make a bit of money?

After a fairly slow start, Home On The Range quickly finds its way.

hit and miss

There's the amusing, though shamefully unexplored, side characters: a kung-fu loving horse called Buck (Cuba Gooding Jr); a lucky wooden-legged rabbit Jack, and a vocal cameo from Steve Buscemi.

There's also a foot-tappingly good hoe-down score from Oscar winning composer Alan Menkin (The Little Mermaid, Aladdin). And the ending is true, rollicking Disney, utilising the best of 2D with computer-aided animation.

The film doesn't reach the delirious heights of Disney's best, but that will probably come as no surprise.

Their animation output has been decidedly hit and miss over the last few years; Lilo & Stich, Atlantis and Mulan have all gone towards tarnishing the reputation of this once great empire.

Though unlikely to reverse fortunes, this is a nice, if uninspired, bow out for such a wonderfully enjoyable form of family entertainment.

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