I personally know at least 3 or 4 friends who not only have golden retrievers thanks to Homeward Bound: The Incredible Journey, but they named the darn thing Shadow. Him or her, sorry. Such is the power of this really splendid film, probably getting the most out of a movie where human voiceover is used on animals. If you were on the fence as a pet person, Homeward Bound will make you want to get a Chance (Michael J. Fox), Sassy (Sally Field), or Shadow (Don Ameche) of your own.
Chance is a newcomer to the Burnford family, and owned by the youngest kid Jamie (Kevin Chevalia). Sassy is owned by middle child Hope (Veronica Lauren), and Shadow by oldest Peter (Benj Thall). Chance isn’t the only new Burnford: Bob Seaver (Robert Hays) is about to marry the kids’ mother Laura (Kim Greist), to the worry of the kids. The family temporarily relocates to San Francisco and leaves the pets with family friend Kate (Jean Smart) in the Sierra Nevadas on a ranch. Sounds great right? Except the pets feel like they are being abandoned, and “escape” the ranch in order to get home to their family.
It’s important to remember that a movie like Homeward Bound can never happen again, because CGI animals would replace the real ones so PETA wouldn’t crucify Disney with a lawsuit. But back in the day, animal movies were a dime a dozen, and made early and often. So what makes Homeward Bound stand above the rest? Behind the scenes legwork and strong decision making. Setting the story in the amazing Sierra Nevadas? Brilliant! It lets Reed Smoot (cinematographer) and Duwayne Dunham (director) run wild with epic montages that revolve around animals literally running wild through just the most majestic scenery you will see, like a reunion with a giant mountain in the backdrop or a mornful sunrise overlooking a stream. Enter Bruce Broughton (musician) to accompany these majestic shots with a swooning lovely score that will cleverly manipulate the audience to feel sad, happy, excited, scared, Mission:Impossibley, etc. But what if the animals aren’t cooperative? Well, Disney gave Dunham the money to hire a near 30 person animal crew to manage and basically direct the animals, allowing the director to have enough people to help get the perfect shots of these animals without having to wait for days. And most importantly, casting 3 winning animals: Ben (Shadow), Rattler (Chance), and Tiki (Sassy) who have the perfect look to match the voice actors projecting humanity onto them. Who’s young sounding? Fox, perfect. How about Sassy? Sally Field of course! And who’s wise? Don Ameche, great! Blend and direct all this together and you have a nice recipe for a very engaging family film that will at worst dazzle the eyes like a nature documentary.
So the other big planning and prep is the story, which the writers have not only a book to go to, but an old Disney version of this same story. Disney brought in some big hitters to write this story for no particular reason: Caroline Thompson (The Secret Garden, Edward Scissorhands) and Linda Woolverton (The Lion King, Beauty and the Beast). It appears the two took 2 great underlying motives to their story: this is for kids, and no one is a bad person, nature is a good enough enemy. This approach does wonders for all the humans the animals meet, and they meet many. All these people are trying to do the right thing; Kate has a job and just lost track of the animals but tells the family right away, the cops actually help the poor kid looking for his pet, the lonely woodsman who takes in a helpless thing, the animal shelter workers who are actually doing the pets a favor even though they don’t see it that way, and the new dad feels awful to hurt his new kids and quietly seeks tons of help to find the rest of the family. The stories aren’t deep, but they provide enough context that you really feel for not only the animals but the people, and really want them to reunite and become a true family for the first time. So now that we love the kids, we have to love the animals, the last task. For this, the actors make the job 50% easier, so the awesome female writers make the pets’ heroism as epic as their surroundings. Thankfully, the first half of the action is quite believable, with some scary encounters with predators and a rather terrifying and exciting river chase sequence that is pretty expertly staged. Then the manipulation gets hysterical but SUPER fun for kids, making the story almost legendary if it weren’t so impossible like how the dogs evade a cougar or rescue a lost girl (the perfect way to create sympathy). But by this point, the movie has you so invested in the adventure you just go along with it, so when things turn emotional before the inevitable end, you see the waterworks coming, but dang it if you don’t get a tear or two at the final 20 minutes of the film. Homeward Bound deserves credit for doing right by a kids movie: taking it seriously, and investing in the work before executing it to make something that even the most cynical person might melt a little watching.
Even if you’re not a pet person, Homeward Bound will win you over with its joy and love of animals. How do I know this? I personally have less than a 0% desire to own an animal. But watching this easy, mercifully swift 80 minute family gem, even I looked up prices for a golden retriever (if you’re curious $500 to $3000), imagining I could one day share a bond like the one Peter and Shadow have in Homeward Bound. Now all I need to do is move to the Pacific Northwest…