Homeward Bound: The Incredible Journey (1993): Favourite Films Series

Homeward Bound: The Incredible Journey (1993): Favourite Films Series

 

There’s something special about the bond between a child and a childhood pet. I was born into a household that already had two cats, and those cats were a part of my life all through my childhood, right up until I was a teenager. If you can relate to those warm memories of being comforted by your cat or dog when you were young, then I don’t really see how Homeward Bound couldn’t touch your heart. I saw it when I was so young that I don’t remember exactly how old I was—probably four or five—and it was one of those movies I rented repeatedly from the video store throughout my childhood. To look back on it now over thirty years later, it’s amazing to see how well it holds up, and how effective it still is in so many ways.

It’s an oft-forgotten fact that Homeward Bound is, believe it or not, a Disney live-action remake, but this was from an era when Disney still had integrity and wasn’t the mega conglomerate super studio it now is. When you think of a Disney remake nowadays, you think of CGI-filled catastrophes bankrupt of creativity without any heart, and I realize now how lucky it was that Homeward Bound wasn’t made any later, because the filmmakers probably would have tried to use CGI and have the animals’ mouths move, but Homeward Bound is such a 90’s classic that it transcends being a remake, or even just another adaptation of Shiela Burnford’s slim novel. When I saw the 1963 film The Incredible Journey, some time after I had already seen Homeward Bound, I was incredibly disappointed and bored with it. None of the animals talked and it was slower paced. While I do respect the original when I look back on it now for how it told the same story in its own way, Homeward Bound captures more emotion and more entertainment value, for me.

One aspect of The Incredible Journey that I find tough to watch today is seeing the domestic animals in the same shots as wild animals like bears and big cats. In Homeward Bound, I totally bought that the trio were in peril or at the mercy of a mountain lion or bear, but in reality, director Duwayne Dunham (in his directorial debut) shot the animals in very specific ways to ensure their safety. The behind-the-scenes anecdotes of how even the dogs and cat were sometimes shot separately astounds me, and while there are times when it’s pretty obvious if you think about the shot composition, many of the editing and visual tricks are totally convincing and help immerse viewers in the story and the action to the point that you don’t even question the validity of what these animals went through.

In case you don’t know the story, Chance is a young bulldog recently adopted by a newly formed family. Ms. Burnford (her name being a reference to the original author) marries Mr. Seaver in the film’s opening, and she has three kids: Peter, who is Shadow’s owner (an older golden retriever), Hope, who is Sassy’s owner (a Himalayan cat), and Jamie, who is Chance’s de facto owner. Chance had a tough life before the family adopted him, so he’s not as attached, but when all three animals get left on a family friend’s ranch, Shadow leads them into the wilderness on a journey back home. The voice casting for Shadow, Chance, and Sassy is perfect. Michael J. Fox gives Chance that young pup energy, Don Ameche is the wise old voice of Shadow, and Sally Field makes Sassy live up to her name. Some of the lines are maybe a little corny or silly, but the number of hilarious quotes from Chance and Sassy are too numerous to recount. While it is a very funny and amusing film on the whole, it would not have remained in my memory and my heart solely off comedic bits alone.

The film balances scenes with the family against the main narrative of the animals on their journey, and while the family members aren’t in it that much, the child actors are decent enough to make the emotional core of the film work. We get a great setup for all three characters (I’m referring to the animals here), then the thrust of the story is wanting to see them reunited with their humans, but we get enough tidbits along the way of the family and their efforts to find their missing pets to keep the momentum of the story going. The sequences that I always find most thrilling are when Sassy is swept down a river and when Chance and Shadow outwit a mountain lion. In the case of the mountain lion, which Chance launches off a cliff, I love how the seed is planted in the first act when he launches Sassy off the teetertotter. As for Sassy in the rapids, it’s quite heart wrenching to watch, but I’m glad to know the animals were never in any real danger and none of them were hurt in the making of the movie. The scenes in the pound almost get a little too silly at times, but then, the climax really comes as a jump scare and makes you question whether it’s really going to be a happy ending or not.

I’m not some heart-of-stone, dead-inside movie-watcher, but I’m also very rarely moved to tears by a movie. Homeward Bound holds a special distinction for reliably making me tear up, especially at the end. To bring it back to where I started, after our two old cats passed away, I adopted a new cat of my own, but he sadly didn’t live past the age of six, so I really feel a surge of emotion when Shadow finally limps up over that rise and Peter embraces him. That moment has taken on a new significance for me as an adult. I love animals, and even though these ones talk, what they say so perfectly matches their actual expressions and movements that it makes you believe our pets really do know what’s going on and they truly feel that unfaltering love for us.

Homeward Bound is a special family film that feels of a different era, but there’s something utterly timeless about it that makes it one I find worth revisiting. It’s extremely well shot, well acted by human and animal actors alike, and just plain entertaining, for any and all ages.