Simply A Masterpiece

Good concept, poorly executed.

what a terribly boring film. I'm sorry but this is absolutely not deserving of best picture and will be forgotten quickly. Entertaining and engaging cinema? No. Nothing performances with flat faces and mistaking silence for subtlety.

The film's masterful storytelling did its job. The message was clear. No need to overdo.

Homeward Bound is a 1993 film that is a remake of the 1963 film of the same name and tells the story of 2 dogs named Chance and Shadow alongside a persian cat called Sassy who's owners are happily married and decide to go off on a honeymoon,leaving the three animals to stay where they are. Of course Shadow doesn't want to go anywhere else and so he decides to go off on an adventure to find his owner. Chance and Sassy also agree and they go off in their little cute heartwarming adventure together. The last time I seen this movie was when I was a kid and it was a pleasure to pick it up for a bargain on Sunday in HMV. The story is really nice and I like the part where Sassy goes missing and the two dogs mess around with a leopard and the part near the end where Shadow falls down a wrecked train railing and Chance won't leave without him.You have to be the biggest cynic not to love this movie and its now one of my all time favourite movies. It was as a kid and it is now at the age of 23.

"Home, with my thoughts escaping home, with my music playing home, where my love lies waiting silently for MMMEEE..." Um sorry, just having a 'moment' there. Don't worry Mr Doctor, I'm still taking the meds.Lets talk about the movie, shall we? We all love pets, right? Well, apart from goldfish. No one likes them. They're B-O-R-I-N-G. Or perhaps I feel that way because of flashbacks from my many uncomfortable hours spent in a dentist's waiting room. *Feels Dentures*. SWEETS ARE JUST TOO GOOOOD. Oops, going off track again. Time for a double dose...I'm back. Much calmer now. Yes, this is all about two dogs who get the wrong end of the stick (ho ho), along with a cat when they are temporarily left at a ranch while their family relocates. Thinking they've been abandoned, they run off to begin a perilous trek through the wilderness to find their owners. Encounters with bears, waterfalls and mountain lions are guaranteed, along with plenty of infighting from these very different species.Yes, of course... what with this being Hollywood, one of the canines is an old, loyal, sensible stick-in-the mud (Coincidentally, this happens to him at one point) and the other is a young, irresponsible, hyperactive ball of fun. I shouldn't need to tell you about the feline. In Movieland, they have but one default setting: Sarcastic, self-obsessed, sneaky narcissists. Hey, I love it. Reminds me of someone...Together, they brave the elements, overcoming whatever obstacles cross their path... and of course, discovering that co-operation and friendship is key to their survival. It's Disney, whadya expect?! We hear LOTS of jokes about the various stereotypical views the creatures have towards each other, including one too many butt sniffing gags for my liking. It's all in good fun though, and certainly more palatable than coming from the mouth of say, Adam Sandler.The animal training is top notch... how they managed to line-up the four legged cast to do so many scenes together with absolute unity is a marvel all on it's own. It's not quite Babe, but mostly seamless nonetheless. Their many adventures will err towards kids, but don't think we as adults would be immune to it's charm. If you don't get a warm glow at the very last scene... then I don't wanna know you. Although some would say that isn't such a bad thing... 6/10

My sister had a VHS copy years and years ago, but our mom got rid of it feeling we had outgrown it. Maybe in adolescence, she was right. Fast forward to 10+ years later and I decide to check a DVD copy out of the library just for old times' sake for no real reason. Prior to now (I'm a 27-year-old single man), I have discovered lots of movies I was too young to see circa 1993...A Clockwork Orange, Reservoir Dogs, The Terminator, Road Trip...OK, that movie didn't come out 'til 2000 and it's not an absolute classic like the first three, but you get the idea! I popped the movie into my player this evening to see if the movie held up. And wouldn't you know it...it does! In fact, I cried so much at the end, my ears are still moist half an hour after it ended.Truth be told, however, the first few minutes are pretty stupid, but it does show Chance and Sassy's resentment to one another, which is important to the story. The real magic comes when the three animals (especially Chance) realize what home and family really means when their child owners leave them on a farm. That's when they decide to make their escape and from there, it's an adventure that may be dangerous, but in the words of Sassy, "I laugh at danger." The most touching scenes are Sassy finding her way back to Chance and Shadow after she was rescued from being drowned and Shadow finding the lost Molly in the woods. The touching musical score from Bruce Broughton is also a major factor.I'd like to note I work with pets sometimes, so I know how it would feel if one of them (or even all of them) just disappeared. My family's favourite cat died of old age in July 2011. As you can imagine, I was heartbroken, but at that time, I was sharing a house with a middle-aged couple who had two shihtzus, so before I went out to do my errands that day, I made sure to say hello to the two little dogs because although one of my family pets was gone, I had two other ones who could be a beacon of hope for me.No matter how old you are or what your tastes are or if you generally can't stand anything that comes from Disney, you seriously must see this film and you'll feel redeemed that way. And as piece of advice: don't be afraid to let a song or a movie or a TV show turn on the waterworks for you; it means you have a soul.

I haven't seen the original "Incredible Journey" since I was a child, so I can't really compare the two versions. This version tells the story of three animals, two dogs and a cat, whose owners leave them with friends in the countryside when the father of the family has to take a new job in San Francisco. The pets, believing that they have been abandoned, escape and set out on a long homeward journey through wilderness.This story might have been most easily filmed as a cartoon, but both versions are in fact live-action films made using real animals. One major difference is that in the later version the animals speak in human voices, giving each its own distinct personality, something that was not done in the original film. (A similar device of talking animals has been used in other recent children's films such as "Racing Stripes"). Some critics have been rather sniffy about the use of this device, but my own view is that giving the animals distinctive personalities of their own helps to strengthen the film rather than weaken it. The animals were voiced by big-name stars, Don Ameche, Michael J. Fox and Sally Fields.Both dogs are male, and their relationship parallels that between many humans in "buddy-buddy" movies. Shadow, a golden retriever, is the wise, experienced older dog; Chance the younger one is brash, cocky and impulsive. To British eyes Chance looks like a boxer, but is actually an American Bulldog, which is apparently a different breed to its British cousin. Sassy the cat is female with a rather prim and proper personality. She is very proud of her status as a cat, which in her eyes makes her vastly superior to any mere dog. ("Cats rule, dogs drool!").From an adult viewpoint the film has a number of faults; it can be sentimental, some of the incidents (such as the one in which the animals manage to catapult a mountain lion into the river) are quite incredible, and the human characters are all completely forgettable. This, however, is a film which is mainly aimed at children, and I suspect they will enjoy it immensely. Certainly, any animal-loving child will do so. (Comments by some professional critics such as James Berardinelli, who complained that the animals' voices lessened the film's "grandeur", only serve to strengthen my view that professional critics are not always the best guides to children's movies. I doubt if many playground conversations about "Homeward Bound" concentrated on its supposed grandeur).One thing adults will appreciate is the photography of California's Sierra Nevada mountains. They may also appreciate the film's blend of humour and excitement as the runaway pets encounter perils such as bears, mountain lions and porcupines in the wilderness. This is a very enjoyable family film. 7/10