Homeward Bound: The Incredible Journey (1993)

Three pets escape from a California ranch to find their owners in San Francisco.

Director:

Duwayne Dunham

Writers:

Sheila Burnford (novel), Caroline Thompson (screenplay)

Stars:

Michael J. Fox, Sally Field, Don Alder

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Don Alder	...	Molly's Father
Ed Bernard	...	Desk Sergeant
Kevin Chevalia	...	Jamie Seaver
Anne Christianson	...	Research Assistant
Ted D'Arms	...	Vet
Woody Eney	...	Forest Ranger 'Mark'
Kim Greist	...	Laura Burnford-Seaver
Rich Hawkins	...	Forest Ranger
Robert Hays	...	Bob Seaver
Nurmi Husa	...	The Caterer
Jane Jones	...	Molly's Mother
Veronica Lauren	...	Hope Burnford
David MacIntyre	...	Foote
Kit McDonough	...	Female Forest Ranger
Mary Marsh	...	Laura's Mom

Storyline

Three pets (Chance, a young dog unfamiliar with the world; Shadow, an aging, wise dog; and Sassy, a snobby cat) are left behind when their family goes on vacation. Unsure of what happened, the animals set out on a quest to find their family. This journey across America is very dangerous and the animals risk never seeing their masters again. The group of pets travel across forested mountains and areas of wide-open countryside, while their family searches for them in the same areas.

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Plot Keywords:

river | animal in cast credits | digging under a fence | wedding | young girl | 

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Taglines:

In the classic tradition of Walt Disney Pictures comes a story about courage, adventure and friendship.

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Genres:

Adventure | Comedy | Drama | Family

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Certificate:

G

Details

Official Sites:

Official site

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

12 February 1993 (USA)

Also Known As:

Homeward Bound: The Incredible Journey

Filming Locations:

San Francisco, California, USA

Box Office

Opening Weekend USA:

$60,672, 7 February 1993

Gross USA:

$41,833,324

Cumulative Worldwide Gross:

$41,833,324

Company Credits

Production Co:

Touchwood Pacific Partners 1, Walt Disney Pictures

Technical Specs

Runtime:

84 min

Sound Mix:

Dolby Stereo

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

When two dogs swim across a river, Sassy doesn't want to swim so she finds another way of crossing by way of rocks and a log in the stream. The cat had been trained on her compound to jump from one rock to another in a stream. She also became accustomed to the water and could swim quite well. In the film the rocks and log had been strategically placed so the cat could jump from one to the other. When Sassy goes into the river, she was put in shallow water with a harness on her. She was then released by one trainer and swam to a second trainer who had a teacher attached to her harness. There were also four people under water to monitor her safety. Several cats had been trained for this scene. Each was only in the water eight seconds. There are many shots of the cat being swept up by the fast-moving river as she heads for a very high waterfall. This was filmed using a fake cat. There are close-up shots of a frightened cat and then a shot of Sassy going over the waterfall. This scene was shot in many cuts. Fake cats, a mechanical cat, and a real cat were used. When the real cat was used, she was not in a river, but a heated pool. When Shadow attempts to rescue Sassy, and goes into the water, he is basically going from point A to point B in the water. Sassy is eventually rescued by an old woodsman who finds a lump of matted fur at the water's edge. He picks it up, hears a meow, and it turns out to be Sassy. The lump of matted fur which he first finds is the fake cat. When he picks it up the real cat was used. The cat was prepared for this scene by being sprayed down with warm water. The scene was accomplished in two takes.

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Goofs

As the Mountain Lion is sneaking up on Shadow and Chance it is purring. Since Mountain Lions rely almost entirely on ambushing they do not purposefully make noise as this would alert the prey to its presence.

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Quotes

[first lines]
Chance: My name is Chance. I know, it sounds odd, but most names do if you think about it long enough... maybe even yours. I was abandoned when I was very young. I lived on the streets scrounging for food sleeping wherever I could; that seemed like fun at first, but pretty soon, it landed me behind bars. But I don't like to talk about that; let's talk about after that... when I got my second chance... and my name. You see, this family came along, and I guess you can say they rescued me, ...

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Alternate Versions

There is a scene in the TV version of Peter washing off Chance after he eats the cake and before he vomits.

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Connections

Referenced in Mystery Science Theater 3000: The Return: The Beast of Hollow Mountain (2017)

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Soundtracks

WITCH DOCTOR
Written by Ross Bagdasarian

User Reviews

Wonderful

I watch this movie all the time. I've watched it with family ages 3 to 87, and everyone in between; They all loved it. It really shows the true scenes a dog has, and the love and loyalty you get from a pet. Just beautiful.

It's great for thoes who love comedy movies, the tear-jerker movies, or even just pets.

The music is wonderful, the animals spectacular, the scenes truly thought out, and the characters perfect. What I liked about the characters is the true and nicely mixed personalities: Shadow (The oldest, a Golden Retriever) He's the wise one, filled with the wisdom and mindset of any dog, Chance (the American Bulldog puppy) is basically a puppy with a witty side, the comical character; And Sassy (The Hymilayan cat) She's the real cat who shows what a real cat will do for their owner, the real girly one.