For many of us, the single most painful tragedy we experienced before the age of ten was the death of Bambi’s mom.
We might have lost a few goldfish and maybe even a cat, but Bambi lost his mommy! A whole generation of vegetarians was born out of Disney’s semi-innocent effort at anthropomorphizing a fawn. We were all affected by Bambi, and many of us went years before we watched it again.
Bambi is trippy. Remember that lovey-dovey sequence, where Bambi prances through a fantasy world of pink clouds and has a bizarre, horrific fight with another male deer over mating rights? Just plain odd.
Bambi is one of those Disney classics that makes a lot more sense when you’re a kid. It has a wonderfully surreal quality, especially when the King of the Forest shows up – and then they had to go ruin that mystique with Bambi 2. Try to forget the latter-day direct-to-video re-imagining of Bambi and just enjoy the bizarre qualities of the original; the birds singing in full choral style in the opening is the best part.
And when you’re done, if your brain is still completely intact, play some Bambi trivia on Kwanzoo.
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Yes. Yes it was. It was crap in that special way that only Disney can be, and especially OLD Disney. You know, back when no one really expected cohesive narratives because they were all still amazed by being about to see people move on the screen? In color? This is how Shirley Temple had a career, you know.
At least Shirley Temple grew up, realized she was crap at acting, and became an ambassador.
Hollywood could a use good dose of that kind of self-realization.