Bambi (1942)


Now that we've finished off the Package Era Films, let's get to our final Golden Age Film, Bambi.

The Movie:

 Bambi is the 5th movie in the Disney Animated Canon and the final film of Disney's Golden Age.  Due to WWII, it performed poorly at the box-office on its initial release, and it also received mixed reviews, with it being criticized for being less of a fantasy than previous Disney films.  It also received backlash from hunters.  Bambi did receive three Oscar nominations (sound, song, and score).  Today it is highly regarded, placing 3rd on AFI's list of all-time animated films in 2008, while Man placed number 20 on their list of movie villains.

Bambi is based on the book Bambi, a Life in the Woods by Felix Salten, and it is a coming-of-age story.  The title deer is the young prince of the forest being raised by his mother.  Along the way he meets Thumper the rabbit, Flower the skunk, and Faline the young female deer.  Bambi must also learn to beware the dangers of the world, including the hunter.

This is one of the Disney movies I really enjoyed as a child, and it is still one of my favorites today.  The animation is simply gorgeous and some of the best of classic Disney.  The characters are charming, and in the first part of the movie overwhelmingly adorable.  While Bambi is a fun character, some of the best scenes and lines go to Thumper.  And although I won't spoil it, almost everyone knows what happens in the middle - it's one of the saddest scenes in all of animation history.  I think that scenes gets at me more and more the older I get.

The music to this movie is epic.  Frank Churchill and Edward H. Plumb have given a score for the ages, sweeping and grand.  The three note motif for man's approach is chilling, and the music for the adult deer bouncing through meadow is appropriately regal.  Bambi may not have an extensive library of songs, but the Oscar nominated "Love Is a Song" and "Little April Showers," both by Churchill and Larry Morey, really stand out.

Presence in the Parks:

 Of all the classic Disney films, Bambi is among the least represented in the parks.  In recent years, Thumper and his girlfriend have popped up as meetable characters, most recently for the movie's 75th anniversary, in Animal Kingdom, and Bambi has been used in displays for festivals such as the Flower and Garden Festival at Epcot.  Clips of the movie are used in some of the various cross movie promotions and shows, such as World of Color in DCA and in Fantasmic! during the Bubble Sequence, accompanied by "Little April Showers."

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