Homeward Bound: The Incredible Journey

Homeward Bound: The Incredible Journey is a 1993 remake of the 1963 film The Incredible Journey, based on the best-selling novel of the same name by Shelia Burnford. The film was directed by Duwayne Dunham who has directed other films, such as and television shows, such as and . The film stars a Golden Retriever named Shadow (voiced by Don Ameche), a Himalayan cat named Sassy (voiced by Sally Field), and an American Bulldog named Chance (voiced by Michael J. Fox).
The film was released on February 3, 1993 and went on to gross over $40 million at the box office. The film was considered a success, and a sequel was produced and released in 1996 titled Homeward Bound II: Lost in San Francisco. The sequel featured the same animals and the same actors voicing the animals, except for Shadow, who was voiced by Ralph Waite in the sequel, because Don Ameche died shortly after playing his role in the first film.
The film was shot at various locations in Oregon. Four national forests were used in filming, these included Deschutes National Forest, Mount Hood National Forest, Wallowa-Whitman National Forest, and Willamette National Forest. Cities and towns in Oregon that were used for filming included Portland, Oregon, Bend, Oregon, Joseph, Oregon, and Wallowa Oregon. Two other areas used for filming were the Columbia River Gorge and Eagle Cap Wilderness Area. This film was rated G by the Motion Picture Association of America.
==Plot==
Chance, an American Bulldog and narrator of the film, opens the film by explaining that he is the pet of Jamie Burnford, but expresses no interest in his owner or having a "home" having lost faith in the concept after having been abandoned as a puppy. He shares his home with Shadow, an older Golden Retriever owned by Jamie's big brother Peter Burnford, and Sassy, a Himalayan cat owned by their sister Hope. Bob Seaver is marrying Laura Burnford, joining the family. Shortly after the wedding, the family goes on a trip to San Francisco, leaving the pets at a ranch belonging to Kate, a family friend. Kate later goes on a cattle drive, leaving the animals at the ranch to be looked after by one of her ranch hands.
However, by this time, the animals think they have been abandoned, and Shadow begins to worry about Peter, so he decides to head for home. Sassy and a reluctant Chance follow. They head into the rocky, mountainous wilderness, with Shadow leading by instinct. After a night spent in fear of the woodland noise, the group stops to catch breakfast at a river. Two black bears steal Chance's fish, and when Chance barks at them in protest, they suddenly leave the fish and climb a tree. Chance cockily assumes that he has scared them off, but then a huge brown bear appears, causing the group to quickly flee, also. At another river, Sassy refuses to swim across to follow the dogs, running along the river until she reaches a path of wood that seems to cross its breadth. Halfway across, it breaks apart and she falls in. Shadow jumps in to try to save her, but she goes over a waterfall. Shadow and Chance search for her along the bank, but as night falls, they mourn their loss and continue without her.
A half-drowned Sassy is rescued from the river by a man who lives in the woods, who nurses her back to health. Without Sassy, the dogs struggle to catch fish from the river. A mountain lion begins stalking them. Chance spots the mountain lion while he is fishing. He tells Shadow, but Shadow does not believe him until he sees it himself. The mountain lion follows them to the edge of a cliff. Chance, in a "just in case I don't make it, this is where my treasures are" statement, tells Shadow where he has buried everything at home. When Chance mentions that the remote control is buried under the seesaw, Shadow sees a balanced rock shaped like a seesaw, which gives him an idea. Shadow comes up with a plan to defeat the mountain lion. While Shadow acts as the bait, Chance waits until the mountain lion steps onto the end of the rock that's touching the ground, and jumps on the other end, sending the mountain lion flying over the cliff and into a river. The mountain lion retreats, filled with humiliation and irritation at its defeat. Sassy hears them barking in celebration and follows the sound to rejoin them.
The animals continue on their way, but Chance tries to befriend a porcupine, ending up with a load of quills from its tail in his muzzle when it grows irritated at him and swats him in retaliation. His friends are unable to pull them out, and as they journey on, they find a little girl named Molly, who is (for an unexplained reason) lost in the woods. Too loyal to ignore her, they stand guard over her during the night and keep her warm. In the morning, Shadow finds a rescue party, which includes Molly's parents, and leads them back to her. Molly's father thanks Shadow for saving his daughter's life.
The forest rangers with the party recognize the animals from a "missing pets" flyer they received and take them to the local animal shelter, which is dubbed by Chance as the "Pound". Because Chance has had previous experiences with being in a dog pound and a subject that Shadow never believed was an actual place, he panics and warns the others to run. Sassy gets away while he and Shadow are taken inside. As the medical staff remove the quills from Chance's muzzle, Sassy sneaks in and frees Shadow. Together they retrieve Chance, now quill-free, and escape the shelter, without realizing that their owners were on their way to get them and take them home.
Finally, after much traveling, the trio reaches the outskirts of their hometown. By this point Chance is actually looking forward to seeing Jamie again, having a change of heart. They cross through a train yard when Shadow falls through some old boards into a muddy pit, injuring his leg. With Sassy and Chance persuading him, he tries to climb out of the pit but is unable to do so. Lying down, he says he is too old and that they should go on without him. Chance jumps into the pit to try to get him going, but Shadow refuses to move. He almost dies, much to Chance's sadness. Near dusk, the family is out in the backyard playing basketball, when Jamie claims to hear Chance barking. The others think he is imagining things, but moments later Chance comes running over a hill, happily tackling "his boy". Sassy follows to be reunited with Hope, and Peter hopefully looks for Shadow, but when he doesn't show up, Peter says he was too old, and it was too far of a walk for him and turns to go back inside. As he does, Shadow, very much alive, is seen limping over the hill (how he able to get out of the muddy pit is unknown). Peter turns back around and shouts Shadow's name as the two run towards each other.
As everyone watches, Chance narrates how it was Shadow's belief that brought them home and how the years seemed to lift off of him, making him a puppy again after being reunited with his best friend. While everyone goes inside, Chance stays behind for a moment, ending his narration by saying he had a family and for the first time in his life, he was really home before happily running into the house.
==Cast==
*Don Ameche as the voice of Shadow
*Michael J. Fox as the voice of Chance
*Sally Field as the voice of Sassy
*Robert Hays as Bob Seaver
*Kim Greist as Laura Burnford-Seaver
*Benj Thall as Peter Burnford-Seaver
*Veronica Lauren as Hope Burnford-Seaver
*Kevin Chevalia as Jamie Burnford-Seaver
*William Edward Phipps as Quentin
*Gary Taylor as Frank
*Jean Smart as Kate
*David McDonough as Foote
*Mark L. Taylor as Kirkwood
*Frank Welker as Birdzilla and Mountain Lion
*Ed Bernard as Desk Sergeant
*Don Alder as Molly's Father
*Woody Eney as Forest Ranger 'Mark'
*Jane Jones as Molly's Mother
*Kit McDonough as Female Forest Ranger
*Nurmi Husa as The Caterer
*Mariah Milner as Molly
*Bart the Bear as Bear
*J.E. Penner as Bob's Mom
*Caroll Spinney as Dog
*Nicholas Mastandrea as Hal
==Reception==
The film holds an 87% approval rating at Rotten Tomatoes based on 30 reviews.
==Deleted Scenes==
A number of scenes cut from the movie were included in TV broadcasts:
*Peter wash Chance with a water hose after Chance eats the wedding cake.
*Kate takes the pets on a car ride.
*The children play Nintendo game was StarTropics.
*Bob being invited to a barbecue, only for the children to remind him that the barbecue falls on the day he had promised to take them to visit their pets.
*Kate finds the note she had written Frank that he had not seen and then call the pound to know if the pets are found before she realizes they're heading for home (revealed to be Fresno).
*Quentin was at the river bring that goat into the house while he leaves.
*Sassy observes Quentin was at the river play the saxophone at night.
*Before cross the tracks, the pets search for food in the dumpster but found nothing.
==Trivia==
*The climax and ending of the film were briefly referenced in the live-action remake for 101 Dalmatians.
*During Sassy's breaking into the pound to rescue the dogs, the theme song for Mission Impossible acts as the BGM.
==Sounds==
*Miracle, Leica, Spirit, Steggy, Adoration, Steeple, and Droopy screech for Sassy.
==Gallery==
Homeward Bound - The Incredible Journey textless poster.jpg|Textless poster
Homeward-bound-disneyscreencaps.com-716 (1).jpg|Peter lovingly hugging Shadow after playing basketball with him
Homeward-bound-disneyscreencaps.com-706.jpg|Peter lovingly hugging Shadow after playing basketball with him
Homeward-bound-disneyscreencaps.com-700.jpg|Peter lovingly hugging Shadow after playing basketball with him
Homeward-bound-disneyscreencaps.com-1398.jpg|Peter hugging Shadow goodbye
==External links==
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pt-br:A Incrível Jornada (filme de 1993)
Category:Disney films
Category:1993 films
Category:Live-action films
Category:Homeward Bound
Category:Films
Category:G-rated films
Category:Films about animals
Category:Remakes
Category:Films based on books