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Home on the Range is Walt Disney Feature Animation's 44th animated feature film, released on April 2, 2004. It will probably be the last Disney movie to use traditional animation; Disney animated films have used some computer-generated effects for many years, but Disney has announced plans to move entirely to computer animation after this one, and it has laid off most of its animation department.
The film began pre-production after the release of Pocahontas in 1995. In August 2000, the movie was first heard of as Sweating Bullets, and scheduled for a fall 2003 release. Then, there were no proposed pictures from the movie. In the summer of 2001, the movie got its first pictures, a logo (still having the original title) and a screen-shot. Within the next few months, the movie got more pictures. In April 2002, it was decided that the movie should change its title to Home on the Range. It got its new logo in the fall of 2002.
This film was orginally slated to have been released in November 2003, but story and production problems forced it to swap release dates with Brother Bear (originally slated for spring 2004) in December 2002.
The story is set in the Old West. Unusually for a Western movie (and a Disney film), the main characters are female: three dairy cows, Maggie, Mrs Calloway and Grace (voiced by Roseanne Barr, Judi Dench and Jennifer Tilly respectively), who must capture an infamous cattle rustler in order to save their idyllic farm from foreclosure. (As Grace puts it, "Who better to catch a cattle thief...than a cow?") Aiding them in their quest is Lucky Jack, a feisty, peg-legged rabbit, while an overeager stallion named Buck (Cuba Gooding Jr.) selfishly seeks the bounty – and the glory – for himself.
Female protagonists
This was arguably the first Disney animated film to feature three female main characters. However several of its predecessors included female heroes and villains. Notable among them:
- Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (released December 21, 1937). Featuring Snow White along with her stepmother and main antagonist, the Witch Queen.
- Cinderella (released February 15, 1950). Featuring Cinderella and her stepmother and main antagonist, Lady Tremaine.
- Alice in Wonderland (released July 26, 1951). Featuring Alice and The Queen of Hearts.
- Lady and the Tramp (released June 16, 1955. Featuring Lady, a female Cocker Spaniel.
- Sleeping Beauty (released January 29, 1959). Featuring Princess Aurora the Sleeping Beauty and the witch Maleficent.
- One Hundred and One Dalmatians (released January 25, 1961). Featuring Perdita, a female Dalmatian and the villain Cruella De Vil.
- The Aristocats (released December 11, 1970). Featuring the female aristocratic cats Duchess and Marie.
- The Rescuers (released June 22, 1977). Featuring Bianca, a Hungarian mouse and Penny, a victim of kidnapping.
- The Black Cauldron (released July 24, 1985). Featuring Princess Eilonwy, daughter of Angharad and granddaughter of Regat.
- The Little Mermaid (released November 15, 1989). Featuring Ariel the Little Mermaid and her treacherous ally Ursula, the Sea Witch.
- The Rescuers Down Under (released November 16, 1990). Sequel to the Rescuers, again featuring Bianca.
- Beauty and the Beast (released November 22, 1991). Featuring Belle ("the Beauty") and servant Mrs. Potts.
- Pocahontas (released June 15, 1995). Featuring Pocahontas.
- Mulan (released June 5, 1998). Featuring Hua Mulan.
- Atlantis: The Lost Empire (released June 3, 2001). Featuring Princess Kidagakash "Kida" Nedakh of Atlantis along with adventurers Helga Katrina Sinclair, Audrey Rocio Ramirez Wilhelmina Bertha Packard.
- Lilo & Stitch (released June 16, 2002). Featuring Lilo and her sister Nani.
- Treasure Planet (released November 27, 2002). Featuring Sarah Hawkins and Captain Amelia.
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