BAMBI. Directed by David D. Hand; written by Larry Morey; Walt Disney Pictures, re-released by Buena Vista Pictures Distribution, Inc. Animated. Rated G.
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Bambi is just as beautiful as you probably remember it. Maybe even more so. After years of watching stiff, mass-produced, and visually uninteresting TV cartoon fare, it's easy to forget just how good animation can be.
Sure, Bambi' s characters are overly cute and too human-like for the environmentally-aware '80's. But they move naturally and their forest home is exquistely rendered. And, on the side of realism, Bambi's mother is killed, the deer do have to struggle for food in the winter, and the devastating effects of campfire carelessness are graphically depicted.
The Disney crew was aware that animals acting like people would interfere with the visual realism they were striving for. So they did their best to minimize this activity, while keeping enough anthropomorphism to amuse and entertain. The script, for example, contains very little diaglouge—only 900 words, according to information from the studio.
It's hard to believe, these days, the work that went into the making of Bambi. Artists and animators studied animal anatomy in detail; they kept a collection of live fawns, rabbits, birds and skunks for movement study and even dissected a dead deer to learn more about its musculature. Another artist spent 5 months tramping around the Maine wilderness, making sketches and pictures to guide the creators of the forest backgrounds.
Through frequent re-releases since its premiere in 1942, Bambi has become a permanent part of our cultural heritage. It's something each new generation should not be allowed to miss. Skip cartoons next Saturday and go see it. No one in the family will be disappointed.
August 10. 1988