Disney puts out poor effort in ‘Home on the Range’

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In theaters

HOME ON THE RANGE, written and directed by Will Finn and John Sanford, 76 minutes, rated PG.

At the Little Patch of Heaven farm, where bossy bovines, chickens, pigs and roosters exist in vegetarian harmony, life is about to become a little patch of manure if Pearl, the sweet widow who bought the farm, can’t hold onto it.

Unfortunately for Pearl (Carole Cook), she doesn’t have the $750 needed to keep the farm from bank foreclosure. It’s a situation that has everyone here in a cluck, particularly cows Grace (voice of Jennifer Tilley) and Mrs. Caloway (Judi Dench), who agree to form ties with the farm’s abrasive new cow – three-time prize-winner Maggie (Roseanne Barr) – in an effort to retain the farm and keep all as is.

That’s the setup for Disney’s “Home on the Range,” the new animated movie from the mouse house that never really breaks free from the barn. As written and directed by Will Finn and John Sanford, the movie should have gone straight to video.

Save for two excellent songs by k.d. lang and Bonnie Raitt, the film is a throwaway disappointment that likely will appeal only to the smallest of tots. But even their patience might be tested. After the success of the superior “Finding Nemo” and “Brother Bear,” which engaged their audiences with rich stories and strong animation, “Home on the Range” is curiously flat. It probably wouldn’t even appeal to PETA.

What’s missing from the movie – other than consistent laughs – is a formidable villain to give the film tension. Remember when Disney’s villains were evil enough to cause a measure of dread? Not so for a while – and certainly not so here.

In this case, we’re saddled with Alameda Slim (Randy Quaid), a wild-eyed cattle rustler and land baron who steals steers through yodeling hypnosis and then, when the farm he rips off goes bankrupt, buys it cheap at the foreclosure hearing.

Maggie, Grace and Mrs. Caloway are on to him, as is the rambunctious horse, Buck (Cuba Gooding Jr., high-strung and no good as usual). Together, they put up a fight to stop Slim from getting fat off poor Pearl.

The look of the animation is pure Chuck Jones, whose iconic Warner Bros. cartoons of the 1950s and ’60s have yet to be topped for their wit, panache and charm. There are moments when “Range” tries to lift itself to Jones’ level, and some of the dialogue does pop, such as when Maggie notes to one character that “we don’t eat meat – it’s kind of a professional courtesy.” Or when she comments that yes, her udders are real – so quit staring.

Barr is, in fact, the one saving grace in “Range.” She’s having more fun than anyone here. But the script, which lets her down time and again in spite of her caustic, snappy delivery, doesn’t do its part to support her.

As Disney gears up to provide only computer-generated animation, this will allegedly be the studio’s last hand-painted, two-dimensional film. That distinction should have inspired the company to put forth its best effort. Instead, it has come perilously close to turning this moo into a boo.

Grade: C-

On video and DVD

THE MATRIX REVOLUTIONS, written and directed by Larry and Andy Wachowski, 129 minutes, rated R.

To enjoy “The Matrix Revolutions,” it’s best to enter it with lowered expectations. As written and directed by Larry and Andy Wachowski, this ambiguous, bloated, occasionally stunning and technically magnificent concluding chapter in the “Matrix” franchise offers no primer as to where it has gone before. If you do decide to see it, the two previous films are not only required viewing, but required recent viewing. Otherwise, you’re almost certain to be lost.

Picking up where “The Matrix Reloaded” left off, “Revolutions” opens with a comatose Neo (Keanu Reeves) hovering somewhere between this world and the machine world. It’s up to Trinity (Carrie-Anne Moss), Morpheus (Laurence Fishburne) and Seraph (Collin Chou) to find a way to bring him home, which involves several sidetrips with the all-knowing Oracle (Mary Alice, replacing the late Gloria Foster) and a mesmerizing battle sequence that involves the liberation of Zion.

Whether you find the movie worthwhile will depend on what you’re seeking. What began in 1999’s “The Matrix” as a reasonably fresh, interesting collision of New Age ideas and religious retrotalk in a computer world, has become a technically masterful yet thematically stunted sci-fi blockbuster whose alleged depth has turned out to be mostly smoke and mirrors backed by cliches.

Having run out of steam, the Wachowskis resort to that persistent bane of the movie industry – film piracy. They try to bolster “Revolutions” by pilfering liberally from a wealth of other sources – “Alien,” “Aliens,” “Star Wars,” “Superman II,” “The Wizard of Oz,” “The Thing,” “Mad Max,” “War of the Worlds,” “Frankenstein,” “Robocop” and “Tron,” to name a few – with the movie losing its own identity along the way.

The best, most memorable performances come from the supporting cast – Jada Pinkett-Smith as the fiery Niobe, Harry Lennix as Commander Lock, and Harold Perrineau as Link. With them, there’s at least a measure of passion, a welcome reprieve from the tight-lipped solemnity offered by Neo, Morpheus and Trinity. If these three are the face of the future, then the future looks unfortunately humorless and glum.

Grade: B-

Christopher Smith is the Bangor Daily News film critic. His reviews appear Mondays and Fridays in Style, 5:30 p.m. Thursdays on WLBZ 2 and WCSH 6, and are archived at RottenTomatoes.com. He can be reached at BDNFilm1@aol.com.

The Video-DVD Corner

Renting a video or a DVD? NEWS film critic Christopher Smith can help. Below are his grades of recent releases in video stores. Those in bold print are new to video stores this week.

American Splendor ? A-

Anything Else ? B+

Bad Boys II ? C-

Beyond Borders ? D

Brother Bear ? B

Cheaper by the Dozen ? B-

Cold Creek Manor ? D

Dirty Pretty Things ? A-

Dr. Seuss’ The Cat in the Hat ? D-

Freaky Friday ? A-

Good Boy! ? C+

Gothika ? D

House of Sand and Fod ? B+

Intolerable Cruelty ? B-

Le Divorce ? C-

Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers ? A-

Lost in Translation ? A

Looney Tunes: Back in Action ? B-

The Magdalene Sisters ? A-

Matchstick Men ? A-

The Matrix Reloaded ? A-

The Matrix Revolutions ? B-

The Missing ? B+

Mona Lisa Smile ? B-

Open Range ? B+

Pieces of April ? B

Pirates of the Caribbean ? A-

Radio ? C

The Rundown ? B

Runaway Jury ? B

School of Rock ? B+

Shattered Glass-B+

Something’s Gotta Give ? A-

Swimming Pool ? B+

Sylvia ? B-

Texas Chainsaw Massacre ? D

Thirteen ? B+

21 Grams ? A

Under the Tuscan Sun ? B+

Veronica Guerin ? B