Rating: Not Rated
Starring:
Roseanne as Maggie (voice)
Judi Dench as Mrs. Calloway (voice)
Jennifer Tilly as Grace (voice)
Cuba Gooding Jr. as Buck (voice)
Randy Quaid as Alameda Slim (voice)
Special Features:
11 songs including 3 from the film
Random and repeat playing options
Karoke
3 vocabulary activities
Other Info:
Dolby 5.1 Surround Sound
Running Time: 37 Minutes
Synopsis:
Maggie the cow from the upcoming film Home on the Range hosts a series of sing along songs featuring animation from various Disney films. Three songs from the upcoming film are also included. The songs featured are:
“Little Patch of Heaven” Home on the Range
“Yodel-Adle-Eedle-Idle-Oo” Home on the Range
“Pecos Bill” Melody Time
“A Cowboy Needs A Horse” A Cowboy Needs a Horse
“Stanley Rides Again” Stanley’s Dinosaur Round-Up
“Anytime You Need A Friend” Home on the Range
“She’ll Be Comin’ Round The Mountain”
“Old MacDonald Had a Farm”
“The Farmer in the Dell”
“Home on the Range”
“Oh, Susanna!”
As each song is played, the words to it appear at the bottom of the screen so everyone can sing along and drive each other crazy.
Sing Along Songs: Home on the Range Little Patch Of Heaven is not rated, but it’s safe to say the material is G rated.
The Movie:
This Sing Along Songs DVD is a good marketing strategy. By releasing it a week and a half before the film hits theaters, you get kids excited about seeing it early. They will probably be more interested in seeing it in advance than 6 months after its release. Plus this series of DVDs seem to be really popular with young children, so it’s good business all the way around.
This DVD also happens to be our first look at Disney’s latest (and last?) 2-D animated film “Home on the Range”. It’s a Western featuring three cows trying to save their ranch home, Little Patch of Heaven. While the concept seems like a good idea and some of the jokes appear funny, I wasn’t overly impressed with what I’ve seen so far. The animation is unremarkable, the songs mediocre, and the jokes only worth a little chuckle. This movie doesn’t appear to be a strong argument for Disney continuing 2-D animation upon first glance. Hopefully it will be better in theaters.
Three songs from the film appear on this DVD which is hosted by Roseanne as Maggie. The first is “Little Patch of Heaven” sung by k. d. lang. You’ve probably heard it in the trailers and it is the best of the songs. It’s a catchy little tune and probably the only one you’ll remember after viewing the film. The second one is “Yodel-Adle-Eedle-Idle-Oo” and it is sung by the main bad guy from the movie, Alameda Slim (voiced by Randy Quaid). He yodels to the cows and they hypnotically follow him like the Pied Piper. The song is also kind of like “Gaston” from Beauty and the Beast. It is easily the most psychedelic Disney musical number since “Pink Elephants On Parade” in Dumbo. “Anytime You Need a Friend” is the third song from the film. It is a pop song by one of Disney’s generic teeny bopper singing groups that I’ve never heard of. This song must play in the credits of the movie.
The rest of the songs on the DVD are your standard western or farm songs. As they play, scenes from various Disney movies and cartoons go by. They range everywhere from the TV show Stanley to Cinderella II to Pecos Bill. They’re nothing special but kids should enjoy them as something new.
At the end of the DVD, the three songs from “Home on the Range” are played again with dance along numbers. Overall, this is nothing special for adults except for a sneak peek at the new movie. For kids, it’s a fun sing along DVD that will keep them entertained for a half hour. For that, it’s worth the money.
The Extras:
There are a couple of bonus features included on the DVD:
Karaoke Kids can sing along with a few of the songs karaoke style when this feature is activated.
Games There are three games included on this DVD. The first is “Find It!”, a word recognition game. Kids must match words with objects on the screen. When they do it successfully, a short video plays. The second game is “Letter Puzzle”, a spelling activity. Kids must put together words from letters on the screen. The third game is “What’s This?” a reading game. Kids must match a word with an object on the screen. It progresses from three letter words up to five letter words. My young kids really enjoyed this game.
Also included on this DVD is the new trailer for the first Disney non-Pixar computer animated film, Chicken Little. Can Disney recapture the magic of Pixar? The trailer is amusing, but it’s too early to tell.
The Bottom Line:
This DVD will only be novel for adults until Home on the Range comes out. After that, there will be nothing of interest here for them. Kids, on the other hand, will get a big kick out of it. It’s well worth checking out for them.
