Home on the Range

DISCLAIMER: This blog is not for profit. I do not claim ownership of this material - all images and footage used are property of their respective companies unless stated otherwise. 

                                                                       

How can a film be so obnoxiously loud and crazy and yet so boring at the same time? Other than a slightly catchy opening song, I can’t think of a single redeeming quality in this thing…

For those of you lucky enough to have not sat through Home on the Range, it’s the film widely regarded as having killed of hand drawn animation at Walt Disney Animation Studios for good and is  about a group of cows who go to catch a cattle rustler to save their farm. The characters are all unoriginal archetypes – you have the snooty posh cow, the one who shakes things up, the ditzy one, the horse who wants to be the hero. No depth is added to any of them, so the characters and storyline come across as boring and unoriginal. Which they are.

The villain is just as irritating and forgettable as the rest of the characters and the way in which many of the characters fall for his scheme is simply stupid.

As I said, this film’s tone is also too zany and cartoony for its own good, meaning it just becomes annoying for the most part. There’s so much crazy action going on that the whole thing comes across as garish and the fact that the majority of the film is entirely unfunny doesn’t help matters either.

You can see where the storyline is going from a mile off, with them all not getting along and going on a journey to bond, so there aren’t really even any surprises along the way, except for one twist involving a character that no one really cared about in the first place. 

Overall, this is definitely one to skip.

Ratings

Good guys: A majority of the characters in this are irritating archetypes, so the good guys get 1/10

Bad guys: Slim is also pretty annoying, although slightly less so than the heroes, so the bad guys get 2/10

Animation: For much of the time, the animation only contributes to the garish tone of the whole thing, although it doesn’t look too bad overall, so the animation gets 4/10

Music: All of the songs are either incredibly irritating or incredibly forgettable, with the exception of the alright opening song, so the music gets 3/10

Plot: Boring and predictable, the plot gets 1/10

Overall score: 11/50

Next review: Chicken Little

Brother Bear

DISCLAIMER: This blog is not for profit. I do not claim ownership of this material - all images and footage used are property of their respective companies unless stated otherwise.

                                                                       

Brother Bear is a very sweet film, with some pretty decent animation, but unfortunately it’s held back but it’s incredibly predictable plot, weak music entirely unfunny comic relief.

The story sounds odd on paper – an Inuit hunter named Kenai kills a bear and then learns the error of his ways when he himself is turned into one. The first part of the film is probably it’s strongest point, as the conflict Kenai experiences as a human is built up very well. But you can see where the story is going from a mile off and, unlike the Emperor’s New Groove for example, it isn’t funny enough to distract from it’s rather weak and very predictable plot. In fact, most of the comic relief characters in this film are awkwardly unfunny and they make the film too goofy for its own good overall.

The only way in which the plot redeems itself is in it’s sweeter moments, as it is a very heart-warming story, but a few cute moments don’t make up for a poor overarching plot. Additionally, it has a good score, but the songs themselves are not exactly Disney’s best.

It does have some nice animation and a lovely colour palette, but that’s pretty much all that’s truly good about it. When it comes to Disney’s lesser known films, this might be one to dodge.

Ratings

Good guys: Kenai is a decent lead, but the majority of the side characters are unfunny at worst or annoying at best, so the good guys get 4/10 overall

Bad guys: Although he doesn’t really count as a villain, Denhai makes for a fairly compelling person-in-an-antagonistic-role for much of the film, so the bad guys get 5/10

Animation: Visually, this is a rather enjoyable film, so the animation gets 7/10

Music: It has a good score, but it’s songs are some of the weakest in the canon so far, so the music balances out to 5/10

Plot: Sweet in places, but completely predictable, the plot gets 5/10

Overall score: 26/50

Next review: Home on the Range

 

Treasure Planet

DISCLAIMER: This blog is not for profit. I do not claim ownership of this material - all images and footage used are property of their respective companies unless stated otherwise.

                                                     

Treasure Planet is the adventure film that Atlantis wanted to be – and it works far better, because it has a much stronger emotional core. Unfortunately, it also suffers from some of the same pitfalls as Atlantis, but we’ll get into that later. As it’s tragically underrated, many of you might not know the story and it admittedly does sound very bizarre on paper (it’s essentially Treasure Island set in a high-tech alien world) but it works really well due to it’s heart and fantastic animation.

Quick disclaimer by the way: I've never read Treasure Island, so I won't be able to comment on the film's accuracy to it's source material and will instead be judging it entirely on it's own merits. 

Much like Lilo and Stitch, has a very sweet story, without becoming too cheesy, due to the grounded emotions at the centre of the story. The relationship between John Silver and Jim Hawkins is very heartfelt and genuine and speaking of John Silver, it’s always very interesting to have an anti-hero in an antagonistic role. Jim could’ve been a stereotypical teenage rebel, but as you find out the reasons for his behaviour, he narrowly swerves becoming one of the most boring archetypes in film. Additionally, Silver’s alien sidekick Morph is actually really cute, although I will admit that I don’t find the robot they meet later on in their adventure, named BEN, very funny. Unfortunately, much like Atlantis, many of the other side characters are a little flat, which is a real shame considering how great the film is overall.

The animation is also fantastic, as the mix of CGI and Hand Drawn animation shown to brilliant effect in Tarzan is at it’s best here. Disney doesn’t do action much, but all of the action sequences in the film are also really well done.

In general, Treasure Planet is a fantastic adventure and it’s a real shame that more people haven’t seen it.

Ratings

Good guys: The protagonists are great, but some of the side characters are a little flat, meaning that overall the score for the good guys balances out to 6/10

Bad guys: John Silver’s black and white nature makes him a really interesting antagonist, so the bad guys get 7/10

Animation: The often stunning animation gets 10/10

Music: I’m Still Here is a nice song, but the rest of the soundtrack isn’t great 5/10

Plot: A bizarre idea, but it actually works really well 7/10

Overall score: 35/50

Next review: Brother Bear