Originally posted by PixyJunket
I liked Black Caludron.

Originally posted by necros
It looks like Just Another Disney Cartoon. But, it will do well when it first comes out, because it's disney and likely there'll be no other kids movies out then.

Originally posted by RyoHazuki
I hope this does well regardless because 2d needs to stay.

The battles at Disney are far from over… even if the media frenzy is over for a while. Of course, the media will continue to act more like a bunch of frenzied rubes than professionals with editorial perspective, forgetting to look at the studio’s product in the perspective of the year, instead obsessing on each release.

How did they end up spending over $100 million on a horse movie with no star who has ever opened a movie? Why did they invest over $75 million in a historical drama, again, with no movie star to open the picture? These are valid questions. But they miss the point. No movie is an island and no one bad call defines a studio’s year. And you have to know that no one is going to write about the upswing at the studio this summer, as they release Garry Marshall’s Raising Helen, Jerry Bruckheimer’s King Arthur, Phil Anchutz’s Around The World in 80 Days, The Princess Diaries sequel and M. Night Shyamalan’s The Village.

But before we get to the real summer, Disney gets an early start with the aforementioned The Alamo and a “traditionally” animated film that has had been the subject of a lot of negative buzz as it slowly limped to the marketplace.

But here’s the punchline…

Home on the Range is an absolute joy of a movie. It is old fashioned, silly, anthropomorphic, non-digital and the only way it will not leave you grinning is if the stick sticking out of your ass is distracting you.

In many ways, it is more reminiscent of a Warner Bros. animation film than any Disney film that’s come before. One gets the feeling from the original title, Sweatin’ Bullets, that it was more Yosemite Sam-my in the past. But whatever the process that brought us to this final product, the movie has that feel of something you could watch over and over and over. And given that the movie has eight weekends as the only real kids film in the marketplace between this weekend and Shrek 2, that is, I suspect, exactly what will happen. Home on The Range is not Finding Nemo or even Lilo & Stitch. It is breaking old ground, not new. But it is a joy from start to finish and does, with just a few songs, what Disney has been trying to do for a few years… make country music a commercial viability in the family arena.

Roseanne Barr is the Ellen Degeneres of this film, though she is not quite as shocking a breakthrough. But one is reminded of why she became a national phenom before she got distracted by her own success. Jennifer Tilly is perfectly cast and gives a pitch perfect performance, even when shattering glass with her tone deafness. And Cuba Gooding, Jr. does his best Eddie Murphy.

But it is the number of characters and ideas that really make this movie special. Every animal has a purpose in the storytelling. The humans are gently iconic. And for all of the comedic violence, the tone is endlessly sweet.

The plot is so simple that it’s barely worth mentioning, though it does take some fun surprising (and some not so surprising) twists along the way. Think of it as Easy Rider with cows… and that’s less facetious a characterization than you would imagine. (You’ll know when you see the movie.)

The last smaller Disney animated feature that seemed to take a turn during production was The Emperor’s New Groove, which I also liked. But that film had a lot of holes that audience members were kind of left to navigate. I was willing. But this film required no such effort. It was a real pleasure.

Also, there is a cameo from a major indie actor that breaks modern Disney tradition, serving as a perfect animated caricature and not just a character that picks up on some of the voice talent’s facial highlights and physicality. He is in maybe 10 shots and I found myself laughing pretty much every one of those times he turned up on screen.

The boys will like Home on The Range, but they are going to love Hellboy. A week later, Ella Enchanted gives the pre-teen and teen girls something on which to focus. A week later, the adult toychest opens with Kill Bill, Vol. 2, The Punisher and the gay-themed comedy, Connie & Carla, followed a week later by Denzel in Man On Fire. And that doesn’t even get to 13 Going On 30 and The Girl Next Door, which could become romantic comedy sleepers.