The ‘Homeward Bound’ Movies

Hello everyone! 🙂

Welcome to ‘Bradley’s Basement’ blog and I’m Tim Bradley!

I’ve recently seen the two ‘Homeward Bound’ movies on Disney+. These are movies that I used to enjoy seeing as a kid. I recall the first film more than the second, but it’s been great to check out these movies with more clarity and it has been fun to see the adventures of two dogs and a cat getting home.

The first ‘Homeward Bound’ film is called ‘The Incredible Journey’, released in 1993. In fact, the film happens to be a remake of the 1963 film ‘The Incredible Journey’, based on the 1961 novel of the same name by Sheila Burnford. I can’t make a comparison between the two as the 1963 film isn’t on Disney+.

The film is about three pets – a wise old golden retriever named Shadow, a fun-loving bulldog pup named Chance and a hilarious Himalayan cat named Sassy. They embark on a long trek through the rugged wilderness of the Sierra Nevada mountains in a quest to reach home and their beloved owners.

It’s astounding how this film was put together with animals that were well-trained, as the dogs and cat playing Shadow, Chance and Sassy are good animal actors. You wouldn’t notice that, especially when they don’t talk with CGI mouths, which is a huge relief when seeing this film from beginning to end. 🙂

What’s amusing is Chance happens to be voiced by Michael J. Fox (well-known for playing Marty McFly in the ‘Back to the Future’ films) and Sassy is voiced by Sally Field (who I’ve seen in ‘Mrs. Doubtfire’ and is very well-known for playing Aunt May in ‘The Amazing Spider-Man’ movies with Andrew Garfield).

Shadow is voiced by the late Don Ameche. In fact, this was his final film released during his lifetime before he died in December 1993. And I just discovered that he played Charlie Dwyer in the 1938 film ‘Alexander’s Ragtime Band’. I wouldn’t have realised this fact when I checked out the movie on Disney+.

The second ‘Homeward Bound’ film is called ‘Lost in San Francisco’, which was released in 1996. In the film, the three pets – Shadow, Chance and Sassy – are accidentally separated from their owners when they go on vacation. They’re left to fend for themselves whilst on the mean streets of San Francisco. 🙂

It was fascinating to see this film, as whilst it’s enjoyable, it does tend to be a retread of what the first film was like. Then again, I suppose that is to be expected in much the same way that the ‘Home Alone’ films tend to be retreads of their first film. It was easy to make fun of the second film when I saw it. 😀

Michael J. Fox returns to voice Chance as well as Sally Field as Sassy. Shadow the Golden Retriever is voiced by Ralph Waite, replacing Don Ameche. Honestly, I wouldn’t have noticed the difference. There are also some new characters in this, including Riley. a Labrador Retriever-mix, who is voiced by Sinbad.

Sinbad was in the 1996 Christmas film ‘Jingle All The Way’ with Arnold Schwarzenegger. I didn’t realise he voiced a character in this film until after I saw it. 😀 There’s also Delilah, the Kuvasv, voiced by Carla Gugino (who I’ve seen in the ‘Spy Kids’ films) and she becomes a love interest for Chance in this movie.

In both films, we have the pets’ owners, including Robert Hays as Bob Seaver, the father; Kim Griest as Laura Seaver; the mother; Benj Thall as Peter Burnford who owns Shadow, Kevin Chevalia as Jamie Burnford who owns Chance, and Veronica Lauren as Hope Burnford, who owns Sassy. All are excellent!

The ‘Homeward Bound’ films are very pleasant and enjoyable to check out. I’m pleased I’ve seen them recently on Disney+ and I’m sure there’ll come a time when I’ll revisit them again soon. The voice talents of actors like Michael J. Fox, Sally Field, the late Don Ameche and Ralph Waite are great indeed.

Thanks for reading!

Bye for now!

Tim 🙂