Bambi (1942)

In 1942 Bambi was Walt Disney’s first full-length animated failure. The critic’s, who were previously ecstatic about the company’s shorts and feature length films, had changed their minds about the unapologetically popular cartoon studio and while not necessarily spurned by the general public they too ultimately failed to patronize the film in the wake of World War II. Indeed Bambi as cherished as it is today surprisingly lost the Disney studios a significant amount of money, initiating the darkest post-Mickey stretch of Walt Disney’s career (largely due to the loss of the foreign markets...which were being bombed by Hitler at the time).

Based on a popular novel of the same name by Austrian writer Felix Salten, Bambi episodically dramatizes the life-cycle of a deer living in the forest (any forest?) who, like the titles of the movie and book, bares the name...Bambi. We see Bambi the day he is born, how he survives the hardships of the wild as a youth, and finally watch him grow into adulthood where he, with the help of a doe, finally reproduces.

If this framework sounds mundane, in the high-school biology textbook sort of way, then that’s because it sort of is. As a compelling story Bambi never really flies and the characters, though beautifully rendered and probably the cutest things ever projected in a theatre, are underdeveloped. This cuts down on the impact of Bambi’s famous emotional intensity which includes the loss of a parent, an escape from a harrowing forest-fire and the thrill of young love.

The animation and soundtrack though are spectacular by any standard and for any time period. Just as good as Snow White or Pinocchio. Disney in the wake of Snow White’s explosive success (1937) had turned his cartoon-style animators into highly trained artists by encouraging them (forcing them) to take classes with traditional painters and make trips to the Zoo to study the anatomy and movement of real-life animals. Realism in animation was the goal and that goal was soundly achieved by what is probably one of if not the greatest team of animators ever assembled in history.

My favorite thing though is the music which is as sentimental and bombastic as anything...you know, perfect. Unfortunately the music from Bambi hasn’t seen nearly as much popular play as the other “classic” Disney movies (anything older than 1955) and maybe this has something to do with the melancholic tone of the whole movie. In fact, like most small children, my daughter hates this movie. It’s too drawn out, too instrumental, has limited humor or dialogue, major characters die, Bambi has to flee frightening things all of the time and even has to fight another deer for mating rights. It’s an intense and yet impersonal Disney movie. I think a good way to view it is as a lost, extended clip from Fantasia which depending on who you are might be a very good or very bad thing.
Often hauntingly beautiful and yet, somehow, at times profoundly boring.

Final verdict: 3.8/5 birrrrrds