MOVIE REVIEW Breezy pace, excellent vocal cast give a lift to 'Home on the Range'

Adults won't be bored by this children's cartoon.
By MILAN PAURICH
VINDICATOR CORRESPONDENT
There aren't any deer or antelope in Disney's "Home on the Range," but there sure are plenty of moo-cows. And pigs, chickens, horses and even a menacing, thuglike buffalo named Junior. It's those cows that steal the show, though.
The principal bovines are voiced by Roseanne, Judi Dench and Jennifer Tilly, and these are some of the most attitude-heavy dames to grace a Mouse House 'toon ever. Without them, this high-cost ($100-million), low-ambition kidflick might otherwise be fatally lacking in true spark.
Cornier than any episode of "Hee Haw" ("Wake up and smell the alfalfa" is a typical witticism), "Range" is really just an old-fashioned "save the farm" western at heart. The only difference is that the lead characters are all barnyard animals.
The story
Former domestic goddess Roseanne is Maggie, a bossy show cow who lost her home to the notorious cattle rustler, Alameda Slim (Randy Quaid). Sold to the grandmotherly owner of a dairy farm cutesily named Patch of Heaven, the diva-like Maggie initially has a hard time fitting in. Uppity Mrs. Calloway (Dench) and New Age-y flake Grace (Tilly) are Heaven's reigning livestock until Maggie shows up, and neither grande dame likes being upstaged.
When the sheriff announces that Heaven will be auctioned off to the highest bidder if $750 in back taxes aren't paid off, these temperamental lady cows are forced to band together. With the aid of the sheriff's preening nag, Buck (Cuba Gooding Jr.), they decide to hit the road and capture varmint Slim themselves. ("It takes a cow to catch a cattle thief," or something like that.)
As luck would have it, there's even a convenient $750 bounty on this ornery hombre's head. (Quaid's Alameda Slim is probably the most amusing character. His resemblance to another yodeling cowboy -- Slim Whitman to be precise -- is the film's best joke.)
Good fun
Although this isn't as visually dazzling as "Brother Bear" or as consistently witty and laugh-out-loud funny as "Teacher's Pet" (two other recent Disney animated features), it's still a good deal of fun. The small fry will love it, and grown-ups aren't likely to be bored either.
The vocal casting is spot-on, including SCTV veteran Joe Flaherty as cantankerous old billy goat, Jeb; Steve Buscemi as Slim's slimeball partner-in-crime; and Estelle Harris -- best known as George's mother on "Seinfeld" -- as clucky old hen, Audrey.
The soundtrack's original country tunes, written and performed by k.d. lang, are good enough to merit serious Oscar consideration next February, and the whole thing wraps up at a fairly breezy 76 minutes.
Not that anyone will ever confuse "Home on the Range" with a bona fide Disney classic. Truth be told, the studio's last truly great in-house 'toon was "Aladdin," which was 12 long years ago. Next to competing kid "entertainment" such as "Scooby-Doo 2" or "Agent Cody Banks: Destination London," it looked pretty darn good to me.
XWrite Milan Paurich at milanpaurich@aol.com.