Review of Bambi (2013) by Jamie T — 31 May 2010

ME: "Is the Great Prince of the Forest Bambi's father?".

MY FATHER: "Yes, and the father of a great many other fawns.".

ME: "But...is he also Faline's father?".

MY FATHER: "That is a question not to be asked.".

This may be my most quixotic review yet, as BAMBI's classic status is engrained in American culture, and it is beloved into the bargain. But I will try to criticize it fairly, helped by the fact that my latest viewing is only the second I can actually recall. As far as narrative is concerned, BAMBI is minimalistic, presenting a series of sequences in Bambi's development: his birth, his learning how to walk, his first frolic in the meadow, the death of his mother, etc. The slightness of the plot and the breezy pace of the film make the 69 minutes feel like 30--and therein lies part of the problem. BAMBI feels, to a large degree, like a much-extended Silly Symphony, and that feeling is exacerbated by the film's weakest link: the characters. Bambi himself is little more than an adorable cipher who grows into a stately cipher. He, like many of the characters, has just enough dialogue to make one wish there was either more of it, or none at all. His mother, one of the few well-rounded characters, has the majority of the dialogue, and had the film's speech been limited to her, it would have been better, for she acts as Bambi's guide to the world he has just entered. Her death, easily the film's most famous scene, is moving, but blunted A: by Bambi's lack of depth and B: by the fact that within a minute of screen-time, Bambi has matured and spring has come again--and his mother is never mentioned again. Thumper acts as the film's main comic sidekick, but he too lacks much real depth, and his mumbled little-boy dialogue feels like something out of the Little Rascals; it's rather distracting. Flower, the skunk, is on screen maybe 3 times, two of those times for less than a couple of minutes; again, he's adorable, but fairly anonymous. Faline does provide a little cheerful spark, both as a fawn and as a grown doe. Friend Owl is cantakerously amusing (he really does feel like a Silly Symphony character), and the Great Prince of the Forest a majestic presence: the scene were he tells Bambi "Your mother can't be with you anymore" is one of the most quietly beautiful in all of Disney's films. And that is BAMBI's greatest strength: its glorious animation. The forest is rendered painstakingly, with just the right amount of Disney stylization, and the climactic forest fire, painted directly onto the film rather than carefully traced, has a fearsome beauty. The character animation is generally delightful, and, like the rest of the film, fluidly realistic, but with a touch of Disney's style.