I was never a 90’s kid, but having said that I do remember watching a little known Disney movie called Homeward Bound the Incredible Journey. It was bold, It was adventurous, it had laughs and most of all, it had a great amount of heart. These were claims that young me made back in the day and I'm happy to report that those claims still rein true to this very day. This movie is such an underrated gem and quite possibly one of the best live action talking animal movies that anybody has ever done.
Chance is a young pup who spends his life out in the streets until he gets picked up by a family, bringing him into their lives. He shares the home with a himlanian cat named Sassy and a wise golden retriever named Shadow. Chance however, knowing his past experiences, expresses no interest in his child owner or being in a family. The family then takes the pets to their mother’s friend, who has a ranch in the mountain range. They drop the pets off so they can relocate to San Francisco temporarily because of the father’s work but the pets begin to worry especially Shadow for his owner Peter. Shadow then decides to take matters into his own paws to leave the ranch and head into the Mountains to find his way home. Sassy and Chance soon follow after and from here on out a ton of stuff happens. They happen to come across Waterfalls, a Mountain Lion and even a Dog Pound.
The adventure that the animals go on is epic and surprisingly suspenseful. There are many dangers that they come across which makes it more and more difficult for our heroes to get back home safely. There is always something going on and there is rarely a dull moment because the movie moves at a very brisk pace. When it’s funny, it’s really funny and when it’s sad, it directly punches you in the heartstrings. The best thing about the movie is definitely the main animals and the people they got to voice them. Chance, Sassy and Shadow all have great personalities and each of them have their own ways of expressing their feelings. I also like how the lips don't move on the animals when they're talking but instead it's the voice acting that brings all the emotions to the characters. I also like how they work off each other because they communicate like an actual sibling relationship which makes for some real funny and even real genuine conversations.
You got to give credit to both the cinematography and the way they trained these animals to be in dangerous situations (Assuming none of them were harmed in the making of this movie) First off, the film looks gorgeous especially when we're in the mountains. It is shot wonderfully and it greatly captures a lot of the beautiful landscapes of the "Sierra Nevadas". Also, I have to say that the actions they give the animals to do are quite outstanding knowing it was all live action with no CGI in sight and I love it. Lastly, Let us not forget what is honestly one of the most underrated movie music scores ever. Its tone plays out mellow for the most part which is great for heartfelt scenes and showing of beautiful scenery. However, when the moments get intense so does the music and it captures the movement of the action beautifully.
I don't care if it's an older movie cause I still find it brilliant. It's a movie that everyone should go see right now and I hope that one day Disney can put this movie on Blu-ray because it so deserves it.
(Final Grade: A)