This is the sequel to the 1993 family adventure film, "Homeward Bound: The Incredible Journey". In my review of that film, I talked about my experience seeing most of it probably not long after its video release in 1993. "Homeward Bound II: Lost in San Francisco" must have been new (or fairly new) to the VHS format when I saw it for the first time in 1996. I was around ten years old when that happened, and can't remember much from my first viewing, but I do remember liking the film. After finally watching its predecessor from start to finish earlier this week, leaving me with mixed feelings, I watched this 1996 sequel for the first time in nearly fourteen years, and this time, I basically thought it was average.
Chance, Shadow, and Sassy are still living with the same family, but the troublemaking Chance isn't sure if his young owner, Jamie Seaver, wants him around anymore. The family decides to go on a trip to Canada and take the pets with them. However, at the airport in San Francisco, when the three animals are in carriers about to be put in the cargo hold of the plane, Chance panics and the three of them escape! The plane takes of with the humans on board, who don't know that they are leaving their pets behind. The naïve young Bulldog, wise old Golden Retriever, and arrogant Himalayan cat find themselves lost again, this time not in the wilderness, but on the streets of San Francisco! While walking through the city, they meet many stray dogs, some good and some bad, and Chance even falls in love with one of the good ones, a Kuvasz named Delilah. The animals have to try and stay away from two cruel dogcatchers who drive around in search of dogs to capture and take to a laboratory!
One thing that is meant for laughs in the first "Homeward Bound" film is the rivalry between Chance and Sassy, which continues here, and unfortunately, it's not that funny in either film. I once again didn't usually find either of these two characters funny, and was once again not that impressed with the voice-overs provided by Michael J. Fox and Sally Field. Just like in the first film, the humour in this sequel rarely works. There were times when I smiled, and I couldn't help but laugh a little when Chance runs off with a baseball player's catcher's mitt near the beginning, but this was not enough, and most of the dogs introduced in this sequel don't tend to help much. When I recently watched "Homeward Bound: The Incredible Journey", I found that it was dull for a while but then improved when the big adventure began. However, while watching this sequel, I found that it basically continued to be dull when the adventure began, and stayed this way for most of the film. The adventure of the three pets here takes place in a very different setting, and we don't get the nice scenery. There is SOME suspense here, especially towards the end, but definitely less than there is in the 1993 release. I almost forgot to mention that the dog romance here also wasn't done do well, and it's something the original "Homeward Bound" doesn't have.
Since I only found "Homeward Bound: The Incredible Journey" to be barely above average when I saw it this month, I may not have ended up watching this unsurprisingly inferior sequel if I had never seen it before, but since I had previously seen "Homeward Bound II: Lost in San Francisco" and remembered thinking it was good (better than the original at the time), I intended to watch it again and review it. Well, some movies one enjoys in their childhood can still be entertaining in adulthood, and some of them can't, and for me, this is one of the latter. I first watched it around the same time I first watched "Jumanji", and I've seen that film again twice in the past few years and it hasn't disappointed me, but that didn't turn out to be the case with this "Homeward Bound" sequel. It seems to be considerably less popular than its predecessor, as sequels often are, and even though I'm certainly not as big a fan of the 1993 film as many clearly are, I think I can understand why, at least somewhat. If they were to make another "Homeward Bound" movie, I highly doubt I would bother watching it.
Chance, Shadow, and Sassy are still living with the same family, but the troublemaking Chance isn't sure if his young owner, Jamie Seaver, wants him around anymore. The family decides to go on a trip to Canada and take the pets with them. However, at the airport in San Francisco, when the three animals are in carriers about to be put in the cargo hold of the plane, Chance panics and the three of them escape! The plane takes of with the humans on board, who don't know that they are leaving their pets behind. The naïve young Bulldog, wise old Golden Retriever, and arrogant Himalayan cat find themselves lost again, this time not in the wilderness, but on the streets of San Francisco! While walking through the city, they meet many stray dogs, some good and some bad, and Chance even falls in love with one of the good ones, a Kuvasz named Delilah. The animals have to try and stay away from two cruel dogcatchers who drive around in search of dogs to capture and take to a laboratory!
One thing that is meant for laughs in the first "Homeward Bound" film is the rivalry between Chance and Sassy, which continues here, and unfortunately, it's not that funny in either film. I once again didn't usually find either of these two characters funny, and was once again not that impressed with the voice-overs provided by Michael J. Fox and Sally Field. Just like in the first film, the humour in this sequel rarely works. There were times when I smiled, and I couldn't help but laugh a little when Chance runs off with a baseball player's catcher's mitt near the beginning, but this was not enough, and most of the dogs introduced in this sequel don't tend to help much. When I recently watched "Homeward Bound: The Incredible Journey", I found that it was dull for a while but then improved when the big adventure began. However, while watching this sequel, I found that it basically continued to be dull when the adventure began, and stayed this way for most of the film. The adventure of the three pets here takes place in a very different setting, and we don't get the nice scenery. There is SOME suspense here, especially towards the end, but definitely less than there is in the 1993 release. I almost forgot to mention that the dog romance here also wasn't done do well, and it's something the original "Homeward Bound" doesn't have.
Since I only found "Homeward Bound: The Incredible Journey" to be barely above average when I saw it this month, I may not have ended up watching this unsurprisingly inferior sequel if I had never seen it before, but since I had previously seen "Homeward Bound II: Lost in San Francisco" and remembered thinking it was good (better than the original at the time), I intended to watch it again and review it. Well, some movies one enjoys in their childhood can still be entertaining in adulthood, and some of them can't, and for me, this is one of the latter. I first watched it around the same time I first watched "Jumanji", and I've seen that film again twice in the past few years and it hasn't disappointed me, but that didn't turn out to be the case with this "Homeward Bound" sequel. It seems to be considerably less popular than its predecessor, as sequels often are, and even though I'm certainly not as big a fan of the 1993 film as many clearly are, I think I can understand why, at least somewhat. If they were to make another "Homeward Bound" movie, I highly doubt I would bother watching it.