MovieChat Forums > Homeward Bound: The Incredible Journey (1993) Discussion > Bizarre Thing About the Trailer For This...

Bizarre Thing About the Trailer For This Film

posted 12 years ago by johandav
8 replies | jump to latest

I just rewatched the film with my kids (we hadn't seen it for years) and afterwards I watched the trailer. Totally bizarre thing - the trailer gave you NO IDEA AT ALL that the animals would be speaking throughout the movie. And that, of course, is what the entire film is about. It's almost like they were trying to give the impression that the film was very different from what it really was - like it was an old fashioned Disney film following the adventures of these animals, with narration but no talking animals. (It even said something about "In the tradition of Disney film ...")

I thought it was like seeing a trailer for Oklahoma or My Fair Lady that gave no indication that the films were musicals.

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[–] serene85 11 years ago

Well it is a remake and in the original version the animals didn't talk.

[–] johandav 11 years ago

"Well it is a remake and in the original version the animals didn't talk."

I'm not sure of what you're saying here. This version does have the animals talking, and I'm referencing the trailer for this version. Still think it's mighty odd - and misleading - that the trailer doesn't give a hint as to what the film is like. (And I love the film.)

"What's a bell-bell, Belle?"
(exasperated) "Only in America!"

[–] blipsycat 11 years ago

I'd love to see that trailer, but the only one I can find online is a VHS trailer that does show the animals talking. I assume the one you saw was on the DVD?

Anyway, that is interesting. It wouldn't be the only time a studio did something like that, though it's usually the other way around. I remember Disney promoted the movie "Snow Dogs" (a movie where the animals only talk in a short dream sequence) to make it look like the dogs talked throughout the entire movie.

I can't think of many live-action talking animals movies that came out shortly before this one. Maybe Disney worried that having the animals talk would turn people off, so they tried to hide it?

[–] GypsyNomad 10 years ago

Hey OP!
I was just reading some reviews for the original 1963 version and a granny said that when they started their version of THAT movie the preview was for THIS movie which had the animals talking. I was just thinking MAYBE because I haven't seen either previews but perhaps they mixed them up on the different copies? I know its unlikely but it was just an odd coincidence to me. Were the animals really odd looking (I saw the pics for the other movie and they just looked weird) or were they the animals in the film?

"I totally saw his wolf junk"

[–] thereseuphemiaabernathy 10 years ago

What do you mean by "weird"? o.O The animals in The Incredible Journey are a yellow Lab, a Bull Terrier, and a Siamese cat. I don't see how they're weird-looking. Anyway, I don't know that I ever saw a trailer for Homeward Bound which DIDN'T reveal that the animals had voice actors. There must have been one, because clearly some people saw it. I guess they wanted to keep that a secret and let the audience be surprised, or for whatever reason make it seem that it was going to be more similar to The Incredible Journey--where there's a narrator and the animals don't speak.

[–] 10 years ago

[deleted]

[–] GypsyNomad 8 years ago

Weird: I forget, it's been forever since I wrote the post BUT they were definitely not the lab, bull terrier or siamese cat. They were different animals in the trailer that the rest of us were talking about.

"I totally saw his wolf junk"

[–] thereseuphemiaabernathy 8 years ago

Oh...well, that is weird. Now I don't even know whether we'd been talking about this movie or The Incredible Journey. o_o And I've still never seen this trailer.