Search Results for: blog bambi 1942

The Two Bambi’s

“Bambi, A Life in the Woods” was published by Austrian Felix Salten in 1923. It topped bestseller lists in Europe and received an English translation five years later. In 1933 MGM studios purchased the film rights to the book, hoping to make a live-action version. They decided that the logistics for such a production were insurmountable, however, so they sold the rights to Walt Disney in 1937. Disney loved the book. He was excited to make his first adaptation of a recent work, and had plans to turn the novel into his second feature length animated film. However, he realized … Continue reading →

Bambi II (2006)

“Bambi II” was released by the Disney corporation sixty-four years after the original, and fills in the gap of time between his mother’s death and his return as an adult. Taken by his father (voiced by Patrick Stewart) to be raised as a prince, Bambi is given no time to mourn his mother’s passing, and his attempts to talk to his father about her are squelched by the maxim, “A prince looks to the future, not the past.” As the Great Prince tries to carry out his business as usual, he finds that taking care of a young fawn cramps … Continue reading →

Bambi (1942)

I know I say this about nearly every Disney movie, but “Bambi” is one of Walt’s masterpieces. It’s easy to repeat myself so many times because Disney put out more masterpieces than any other animator we’ve had yet, and as near as I can tell, the company isn’t running out of steam. Bambi is a sweet little fawn, newly arrived in the world. All the forest animals are excited to greet him, and they gather in the thicket to welcome him. He’s shy at first, but the animals are friendly to him, and before long he’s made fast friends with … Continue reading →

Snow White’s Secret Green Streak

For my wrap-up to environmental week, I’m going to explore whether or not Walt Disney was, in part, responsible for the modern environmental movement. According to a book by a Cambridge University scholar, Disney films, particularly those produced between 1937 and 1967 and 1984 and 2005, are responsible for making viewers respond to and care more for the natural world. “The Idea of Nature in Disney Animation” by Dr. David Whitley, an English literature professor, argues that the eras of Walt Disney and Michael Eisner produced films which made young viewers in particular aware of nature and the issues surrounding … Continue reading →

How Old Are Your Favorite Disney Films?

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I have a special little cupboard where I keep all of our Walt Disney children’s classics. OK, it is a pretty big cupboard and it is loaded with both DVDs and VHS tapes. Truth be told, I started collecting Disney movies long before I ever had children. Heck, I was collecting them long before I ever met my husband! I love the Disney classics and even some of the more recent children’s movies made by Disney/Pixar and I love that my kids are enjoying them too. The funny thing about Disney movies is that I could probably tell you where … Continue reading →

Alice in Wonderland (1999)

This version of the Lewis Carroll children’s classic was filmed for television and includes the characters found in both “Alice in Wonderland” and “Through the Looking Glass,” the sequel. As a Carroll fan (I’ve even read “The Hunting of the Snark”) I was curiouser and curiouser to watch this film, but I’m sorry to say, I was disappointed. It all began with Tina Majorino, the young lady chosen to play Alice. While I generally consider her to be a great actress, I didn’t feel that she gave us the performance we needed. She was fourteen when she made this film … Continue reading →

Does Disney Hate Seniors?

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Once upon a time, I used to think Disney had some serious mommy issues, after all – most of the moms in the Disney movies were dead. On the other hand, most of the early big Disney Fairy Tale movies were also based on popular German and European fairy tales, so chances are it wasn’t just about Disney having mommy issues, but the idea of a character losing it’s mother gives that character immediate sympathetic quality – because moms represent home, safety and unqualified love. Many modern Disney films have plenty of Moms in evidence – including The Lion King … Continue reading →

The Fox and the Hound 2 (2006)

Disney has been acting very strangely lately. They’ve been going through their vaults, locating their most successful movies, and making sequels to them. Strangest of all – they’re finding movies that have a time lapse in them, and then making a movie to fill in that time lapse. Like how we see Bambi as a child and then an adult, so in Bambi II, we see what happened in that growing-up time. Well, Disney did it again with “The Fox and the Hound.” In “The Fox and the Hound 2,” we see a young Tod and Copper still hanging out … Continue reading →

The Fox and the Hound (1981)

Another installment in the Disney Masterpiece Collection, “The Fox and the Hound” is the story of Tod, a little orphaned fox kit who is discovered by Big Mama (voiced by Pearl Bailey), an oversized maternal owl. She helps Tod attract the attention of Widow Tweed,a kindly woman who takes an immediate shine to him and bottle feeds him to full health. Once he’s back on his feet, he begins to explore, to stumble upon Copper, the new hound dog pup brought home by Amos Slade, the grumpy and trigger-happy hunter next door. Tod and Copper form a fast friendship and … Continue reading →

Mulan (1998)

This thrilling Disney masterpiece is based on a legendary figure, Hua Mulan, whose escapades are depicted in a famous Chinese poem called “The Ballad of Mulan.” It’s unknown whether this ballad was a historical record or an allegorical piece of fiction, but either way, it makes one whale of a Disney film. Mulan is the only child of her parents, and her only hope to redeem the fact that she is a girl is to marry well. We begin the film with her preparations to meet with the matchmaker, a woman who holds a position of much importance in the … Continue reading →