The cartoon western is a genre that Disney had neglected in my opinion. The Disney folks pretty much left it up to Warner Brothers to cover the old west with Yosemite Sam and Drip along Daffy. This is unfortunate, since a trip to Disneyland and Southern California often involved car travel through the Southwest. And both Disneyland and Knott’s Berry farm have themed rides in line with that. In fact Frontierland was high up on top destinations for those of us who visited the park.
Home on the Range brings us back to the old West with cattle rustlers and gun fighting heroes. The biggest heroes are the cows in this movie. Maggie, voiced by Roseanne Barr is assertive, yet vulgar. Mrs. Calloway, voiced by Judi Dench, is the senior leader. Grace, voiced by Meg Tilly is the comic foil for the Maggie and Calloway. Grace’s horrible pitch (probably an in-joke for Tilly), enables her to counter the hypnotizing effect of Alameda Slim’s yodeling. Alameda Slim is voiced by Randy Quaid. When he launches into the Yodel Adel Eedel Idel OO (titled Yodle-Adle-Eedle-Idle-Oo on the soundtrack list), I become as mesmerized as the cows. There are yodel voice-ins to support Quaid, but it seems like he does a fair job himself. I have run that particular scene over ten times. I love how the cows all form up to William Tell, Yankee Doodle, then Ode to Joy. The colors are great. It is reminiscent of the pink elephant dream in Dumbo. Alameda Slim even pulls a ZZ Top guitar spin.
This one is great for the kids. And I would not want to encounter Junior the buffalo as a bouncer in my neighborhood. The main character in this movie is an adult, so we do not get the typical missing parent Disney Drama. Nice!{BB}
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