Homeward Bound: The Incredible Journey

A family moving house leaves their three animals, a golden retriever called Shadow, a Himalayan cat called Sassy and an American bulldog called Chance, at a friend's ranch hundreds of miles away. After a few days the animals decide something has happened to their family and set off home. They have to cross the Sierra Nevada. Duwayne Dunham directed. The source is Sheila Burnford's novel, and the film is also a remake of The Incredible Journey from 1963. The basic difference between the two is the telling. In the 1963 version the animals did not speak and a narrator described them. The 1993 film gives them inner voices: Don Ameche as Shadow, Sally Field as Sassy and Michael J. Fox as Chance. The entire character load rests on those three voices. It opened on 3 February 1993 and took 41.8 million dollars in the United States and Canada. Who it is for: family viewing and anyone who likes animal journey films. Who it is not for: viewers avoiding emotional manipulation. The last twenty minutes plays deliberately for tears and puts all of it on a single scene.