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Homeward
Bound: The Incredible Journey (1993)
 
Director:
Duwayne Dunham |
COUNTRY
USA |
GENRE
Family/Adventure/
Comedy/Drama |
NORWEGIAN
TITLE
Den utrolige
reisen |
RUNNING
TIME
84
minutes |
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Producer:
Sean Furst
Michael Pierce
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Screenwriter
(based on the novel by Shelia Burnford):
Linda
Woolverton
Caroline Thompson |
Review
An
Americanized, carefully
encoded and highly sentimental version of British writer Shelia
Burnford's novel about the headstrong trio of two dogs and a cat that
are determined to find their way back to their home and owners after
being placed on vacation at a desolate farm. If you read my three
initial arguments as negative criticism, I would counter that even
though these are issues that are normally (at least in newer times)
associated with failures, it doesn't necessarily mean these cannot
constitute valuable aspects in filmmaking. Most of all, even though
this is a film soaked in sentimentality, it is an irresistible kind of
sentimentality - aimed at children (and people who used to be children), but
delivering all the good stuff with inspiration and dignity. The
technical aspect - concerning how the filmmakers make these animals come
alive, how they have tailed them, studied them and captured them on film
- is a remarkable and completely astounding achievement. Director Dunham
never (except for a scene which owes a bit too much to the John
Hughes/Chris Colombus team) makes his animal action seem scripted, and
he narrates wonderfully with his camera - something that will be more
apparent to viewers who have tried watching the film with the sound off.
The
added human dialogue by the trio Fox, Field and Ameche gives the film an
everyday (if somewhat trivial) charm that makes it easy for children to
relate to these animals as ambiguous beings: they are given spirited
human personalities while retaining their animal manners. Sure, their
characters are simple, but The Incredible Journey remains a
mesmerizing experience from start to finish - an American film in all
its heart and soul, rooted in the essence of The Wizard of Oz and
delivering fun from start to finish for young and old.
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