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Bambi Movie Review

Bambi is a 1942 animated film directed by David Hand. It is Disney’s fifth animated feature and one of their most mature offerings to this day.

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“We must go deep into the forest“

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The plot is quite simple. It follows the life of one deer in the forest – its childhood, adolescence and maturity. Bambi is at first like any child, uninformed and unaware of danger, but ends up finding the partner, fighting for her and ending with his own offspring.

That is the very best thing, the aspect I find most fascinating in this movie – the full circle of the plot. It starts off with Bambi’s mother giving birth to the protagonist and it ends up with Faline and Bambi’s birth of offspring. It is realistic and perfectly realized and accompanied by the lyrics of the song Love is a Song. Its plot may apply to any animal in the forest, it follows basically their whole life and that is astonishing and realistic.

The tone of the film is somewhat boring at times. It just feels sometimes as something only adults can watch and that is certainly not bad, but it is if you are a kid and a fan of Disney’s more childlike flicks such as I am. But then again, it follows the whole life of one deer so it is necessary and those first half scenes are very childlike. The entire approach here is very episodic and it almost seems like a series of vignettes or short animated films put together into a feature.

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His childhood years are lightweight and funny, while his adolescence and maturity featured in the second half of the film are quite dark and adult, especially his mother’s death, the fire and the fight for Faline. But that shift is not carried to the fullest extent thanks to the light scenes of Bambi and the others falling in love. So the tonal shift is necessary and interesting, but it should have been more deftly executed.

Let’s talk about the characters. Bambi is almost mute similar to Dopey or Dumbo. He talks, but quite rarely. His and other designs of the deer are phenomenal thanks to Walt’s bringing real-life deer in the studio, the same thing Disney animators will do again for ‘The Lion King’ many years later. He doesn’t know a thing about the forest when he is small, just like any cub, but thanks to Thumper and his mother, he starts to understand it all later.

Many people thought while watching the film in their childhood that Bambi is actually female. I cannot blame them because of the voice, which is definitely female. But, as it is, he is not the only character with questionable gender/sexuality in the film, but we’ll get to that a bit later.

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Thumper is the main sidekick in the film and he is too me somewhat dated and annoying, mostly thanks to his evidently 40s voice. Not to mention that he always laughs at Bambi for his failures. Thumper is definitely needed and at times funny and cute, but he is not my personal favorite.

Flower is another sidekick and Bambi’s companion. He talks in quite a few moments and his role is small compared to Flower. Flower has a questionable sexuality, as is witnessed by a couple of scenes in a not so subtle way. It is something that I wonder why the Disney staff brought, because it is definitely intentional. He is so lovable any way.

Bambi’s mother is, as any mother, caring and she is Bambi’s guide through the forest. There is, of course, the infamous scene where the mother is shot by a hunter. That scene definitely deserves its reputation as the most unforgettable scene in the film. It is thrilling and frightening, but also heartbreaking in the end. But I would say that the scene where a bird is shot is almost as powerful as it is perfectly executed, so menacing, sad and in the end very underrated.

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The Great Prince of the Forest is a small character who has a mystic aura around him and Faline is a typical girlfriend character with a big sexual innuendo. I found her quite annoying honestly. In the end, the characters of the film are not particularly memorable. They are solid, but because of the short runtime, they aren’t as superbly developed. ‘Dumbo’ is much better in that regard even if that flick is also very short.

The music in Bambi is solid. Love is a Song and Looking for Romance are romantic and Let’s Sing a Gay Little Spring and Little April Shower are the total opposite, they are the needed quicker and catchier melodies. The songs are quite solid, but they are not so memorable as compared to Disney’s previous features.

I Would say that the operatic quality of Love Is a Song makes that one the highlight for me, but the other love ballad is also solid and the two faster songs are pretty sweet. But still, they are not needed in this film all too much. They are Disney’s first background songs which are not sung by the characters themselves and although all four of them are pretty fine and far from bad, I find them forgettable in the end.

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The animation in this film is truly astounding. The forest, the creatures, the effects – everything is just so perfectly animated that it is certainly not surprising how many critics laud this as the film with the best animation period. It is painting-like, naturalistic and fluid and you can stop any time and just marvel at the frames. A terrific job from the animators, especially given the year they were making it, with WWII and all.

Tyrus Wong surely did an outstanding job as an animator and I particularly appreciate his choice at some backgrounds during action such as the deer fight which is striking in its silhouette animation and the fire scenes which are also very powerful in red/orange color. The characters are endearing and cartoony, but the backgrounds are impressively realistic making the film a work of art and in my opinion it’s one of the finest animated films of all time.

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Bambi supposedly inspired many people to become vegetarian and it was definitely controversial regarding the hunters who felt accused by the film. Certainly man, as Bambi’s mother calls him, is never shown in the film and his presence is only felt as danger. Humans are kind of like the villains in this film and it is nice to see that for a change. And it definitely speaks for the film itself when it received so much controversy and inspiration both at the same time. That is how powerful this film is to many people.

Bambi has very little dialogue but the lines that we get are short and effective. The humor is also pretty solid and some scenes are definitely immensely endearing. The sound effects are terrific as is the score and the imagery is impressive. The best scenes for me are the ending (reminiscent to the ending in ‘The Fox and the Hound’), the famous ice skating sequence and the two tragic death scenes.

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But we also get those somewhat annoying, sexualized “twitterpatted” scenes and tonal inconsistencies. I definitely like the film quite a bit, but I respect it more than I truly love it (very similar to my relationship with ‘Fantasia’). That’s why Bambi is not one of my favorite Disney films, but it is one of those which I admire the most artistically speaking.

The tonal shift is not handled all that well and the characters are mostly endearing but not too memorable in Bambi which is a powerful portrayal of life in the wilderness with some of the best, most artistic and realistic animation of all time, some truly heartbreaking/striking scenes and an impressively mature approach to telling its story. It is definitely one of Disney’s most respectable and darkest outings, but far from their most accomplished works.

My Rating – 4