Homeward Bound: The Incredible Journey (1993)

Homeward Bound: The Incredible Journey (1993)

7/10

Starring the voices of

Michael J. Fox

Don Ameche

Sally Fields

Directed by Duwayne Dunham

My childhood had a series of movies that were staple meals for every month and Homeward Bound was one of them. The story of a trio deciding to embark on a long journey home by themselves against all odds and being led only by their own senses. These trio were two dogs and a cat, the fun in the movie is their amazing journey which was filled with numerous adventures, wonderful discoveries and maturity.

The movie was the directorial debut of one-time movie editor Duwayne Dunham and credit goes to how he was able to whip this story around these animals, with less human presence. The movie had two stories running, one of a family trying to bond together and the other is of these animals trying to get back to their owners.

The director did a magnificent job of merging the two while the main focus is on the animals and not come out short in the part of connection between the movie and the viewer.

The movie plot is about the determination of a Golden Retriever named Shadow. This dog lives in a home with his owner Peter. He shares that home with a cat named Sassy whose owner is Peter’s junior sister Hope. Then the last born of the family Jamie owned the American Bulldog, Chance.

The family were going on a vacation and dropped the animals in a farm. Shadow not understanding why his owner was sad and leaving him felt he needed to find him after waiting for days for Peter’s return.

He runs away from the farm accompanied by Sassy and Chance, and they begin their journey home.

The movie is very much made for children, but an adult of any age can watch and still love this movie or even appreciate it more than a child.

The movie plot is based on a book titled The Incredible Journey (1961), by Scottish author Sheila Burnford. Which was then loosely adapted by Walt Disney into a movie in 1963 titled The Incredible Journey. Before this adaptation of the movie.

I have not seen the 1953 version so I will not be commenting on the differences between the movie. But judging by the critic and audience rating for both on Rotten Tomatoes, I can see that both were well received with a similar score.

Whether the movie was a financial success for Disney I do not know, but what I do know is that Disney tried to milk this movie by making a second part. They went ahead and hired the same cast, but this journey was from San Francisco and the adventure was more and dangerous. Which is odd compared to that which they faced here. The second part did not have the same connection to the audience like this one did. It was dull and very much unfulfilling, will not be watching that movie again.

Go see this movie again, you will be glad you did.