Bambi

I was staying over at the home of my three-year old niece; after everyone had gone to bed, I found and popped this title in the VCR. I had only a rough familiarity with the plot (like everyone, I knew Bambi's mother gets killed) and was also aware that "Bambism" has been used as describing a overly sentimental love of wildlife.

Oh wow. I found that while this movie certainly has a heart for its characters, it is not at all sugarcoated about the realities of animal life. Consider the following points it makes:

1) Animals do not live in nuclear families. Bambi lives with his mother only, his presumptive father is off in the background.

2). Animals often go hungry in the winter.

3). Male animals must be prepared to fight rivals as a prelude to mating.

4). Man (here assisted by canine lackeys) is easily the most dangerous threat creatures face.

Rather than putting a Hollywood gloss on animal life, "Bambi" if anything is better than what would be made today. Remember that the same studio recently put Hercules into a doting nuclear family, the actual circumstances of the hero's birth apparently thought too scandalous for contemporary children to be exposed to (though one presumes ancient Greek children handled them well enough).

Plus when you consider that a large sector of the populace takes a "humanity couldn't possibly be at fault" attitude toward the decimation of animal populations, you know that Point 4). above would today be softpedaled if not entirely neutralized by the addition of sympathetic human characters. Look what happened with the otherwise excellent TBS production of "Animal Farm."

And the animation!! The gorgeous, pencil-drawn Impressionistic renditions of the rhythms of the woodlands makes you wonder if modern animators haven't been spoiled by computer graphics. I'm only sorry I probably won't ever see this film in a theatre, as it was meant to be seen.

As cliche as it may sound, this is a timeless film for all ages. I cannot praise it highly enough.

Walt Disney didn't make another full-length animated film until 1950, by which time his golden age had well and truly passed. Was `Bambi' a quiet, gentle farewell, then? If you haven't seen it you could be forgiven for thinking so; and the slightly over-sugared opening scenes might confirm this view. But prepare to be jolted out of your seat. The forest contains darkness as well as light. The gunshots that ring out across the silences are truly alarming (and there are many ways Disney and Hand make them more alarming: consider the scene where a flock of birds are cowering in the grass, until one decides to fly into the air and risk death rather than put up with the suspense). Also worth noting about `Bambi' is its use of psychological colour. In at least three key scenes, the colour scheme shifts wildly, not because the sun has set or anything of that kind, but in order to illustrate Bambi's psychological state. Particularly fine is the scene where he is running away from the clearing in fear and the world turns into just a few pale and dirty shades of yellow.

The greatest thing is the way Disney manages to convince us that there is nothing else in the world, outside the forest. Not once do we see a horizon. Nor do we sense one. By some standards not much happens in the forest - a few deaths, a few births, what else is new? But when the forest is the whole world they matter a good deal.

From the opening scene where the multiplane camera glides through a quiet forest until the stirring forest fire climax, a viewer has to be aware he is watching one of the all-time great films. So much of the cycle of life is covered that it's hard to realize the film is a mere 69 minutes. In a book called 'The Making of Bambi', Ollie Johnston reveals that originally there was much more footage that Disney eventually trimmed, cutting out whole sequences before the film previewed. Obviously, he made a wide decision.

There is no extraneous scene here, it moves seamlessly through its cycle of life story with the charming animal creatures carrying the story to its logical conclusion. The background music complements all of the drama and comedy. The storm sequence is the most beautiful blend of music and drawings ever achieved by the Disney artists. The naturally drawn deer are the result of months of careful preparation and study, giving the entire film the feel of a nature study as well as giving the audience great entertainment.

The choral work is extremely effective, particularly on songs like 'Love Is A Song' (Oscar nominated), 'I Bring You A Song' and 'Little April Shower'. The impressionistic forest glows with a life of its own and is the real star of the film, thanks to the influence of Japanese artist Tyrus Wong. No wonder this was Disney's favorite film. It will stay fresh and young forever. An awesome achievement!

In conclusion, having done some choral work myself as a glee club singer, I especially appreciated the great contribution made by the mixed chorus (male/female) that does such a wonderful job on all of the choruses that blend so seamlessly with the rich background score. Truly exceptional choral vocals conducted by Charles Henderson.

This film is receiving a lot of bad reviews on this website. WHY? "The cover will gather dust" indeed! Not while I'm around!

Anyway, this famous and popular film is about a little fawn/calf (young red deer are called calves and he might be a red deer) called Bambi, who is learning to live in the forest with his mother and two main friends to play with, Thumper and Flower. Also, Bambi is not just any fawn/calf. He's the young prince! Will he manage to take his rightful place as great prince of the forest?

I love and have loved this film for about 90% of my life. It is a beautiful classic, has stunning animation, a good story and I love all of the characters, except for the baddie dogs at the end. They are the only baddies you see on screen - and I like that.

So if you haven't watched this classic, WHAT HAVE YOU BEEN WATCHING THEN? Watch it, you're guaranteed to love it! :) ;) :()

Bambi (1942) is often sneered at by contemporary film goers my age. In their minds, outside of the death of Bambi's mother, the film is a cutesy little joy ride about a happy little deer and his happy little forest friends frolicking about grassy meadows. They also find it much too slow and lacking in plot for their interests, instead switching on the film's spiritual successor The Lion King (1994), which most of my generation holds up as the greatest animated film of all time.

No offense to The Lion King, but it doesn't even come close to touching the greatness of Bambi. Outside of a few whimsical moments, this is a dark film about the cycle of death and life. It's more of a meditative piece than a traditional narrative, which will not appeal to those who absolutely require a detailed plot. The animation and backgrounds are breathtaking. Like the other early Disney features, there's strong traces of German expressionism in there (ex. the fight between Bambi and a rival deer is mostly shown in silhouette and violent colors, Bambi and Faline's dreamlike run through the meadow, etc.).

The atmosphere is not as cutesy as people recall. There is an undercurrent of dread to the whole thing, a sense of danger. As beautiful and enchanting as the forest can be, it is also dangerous. The way man is handled in the film is surprisingly mature: instead of putting the main characters against a laughable caricature, mankind's presence is unseen and feels more like a natural disaster than a living entity. In fact, Bambi might be one of the most adult films in the Disney animated canon. Ignore its saccharine reputation and give it another look.