Toon Talk: Home on the Range DVD
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(c) Disney
You will get a little bit more backstage insight in the Art Review, a welcome alternative for the staid still gallery. Narrated by art director David Cutler and background supervisor Cristy Maltese, who walk you through the film’s visual development via early concept art (showing the bold colors and strong stylization used), background paintings (drawing heavily from the classic “Arts and Crafts�? movement of the time period and locale) and character evolution (where we learn that Pearl was original a man (!) and an early, Rafiki-esque approach to Lucky Jack).
Finn, Sanford and Dewey can also be heard on the Audio Commentary track, a surprise feature as it was curiously not mentioned in any advance press materials or even on the disc’s packaging itself. A welcome addition indeed, wherein we find:
The Top 10 Things We Learn From This Commentary:
- Believe it or not, Maggie’s udder line is what netted the film it’s PG-rating.
- Co-director Sanford voiced the cock-of-the-walk rooster.
- Popular western actor Dennis Weaver voiced Abner, Maggie’s original owner.
- Watch for the aspect ratio change into Buck’s dream sequence, used to enhance the scene’s homage to Sergio Leone’s spaghetti westerns, such as The Good, the Bad and the Ugly which starred …
- Clint Eastwood, an obvious inspiration for the look of bounty hunter Rico, who, interestingly, originally had his own song, titled “Round ’Em Up�?.
- Story artist Sam Levine voiced all three Willie brothers, whose individual names or Phil, Bill and Gil.
- Another story artist, Mark Walton, was drafted for voicing duties as well. He voiced both Barry and Bob, the two … amorous longhorns.
- Lucky Jack was inspired by the “ol’ coot�? characters common in many western films, who were more often then not played by Disney live action favorite Walter Brennan.
- Charles Dennis, who voiced Rico, contributed the cinematic reference (heard in his last lines) to Little Caesar, a classic of another popular film genre, the gangster movie.
- Watch the credits for the cute little patchwork icons of the cast. They were suggested by Disney’s consumer products division and can also be seen in the DVD’s intro (which has several versions which alternate each time you start the disc in your player) as well as …
The DVD’s Bonus Short, titled A Dairy Tale: The Three Little Pigs. Created by the same directors and starring the original voice cast of Home on the Range, this charming little cartoon has Mrs. Calloway trying to tell the story of the Three Little Pigs, but chaos results when the other characters keep butting in with their own off-the-wall embellishments. Through the use of flash animation, this short harkens back to the days of “limited animation�?, seen in such cartoons as, appropriately enough, Pigs is Pigs.
Rounding out the bonuses are a batch of “Games and Activities�?, including The Joke Corral (a cross between Laugh-In and Hee-Haw, the characters pop out of a barn to tell corny jokes and puns; you can play them all at once or, for no logical reason, separately) and a trio of features inspired by Slim’s yodeling (Jessie the Cowgirl should love these): Yodel Mania! (a memory game similar to that old toy Simon … worth it just to here Dame Judi Dench yodel), a YodelMentary (mini doc on the history of yodeling and how to do it) and the Yodel Maker (accessible through your own PC’s DVD-ROM drive, it’s just like it sounds: make your own yodels with the characters or even use your own voice). Curiously enough, although he inspired all these games, Slim is nowhere to be seen in any of them …
Toon Talk Rating: B+