Review of The Fox and the Hound (1981) by Stephen B — 01 Jul 2011

Featuring lovable characters, brilliant animation (for 1981) and heart-warming messages about love and friendship, I just watched Disney's classic tale about an unlikely friendship for the first time in some five or six years!

When a feisty little fox named Tod is adopted into a farm family, he quickly becomes friends with a fun and adorable hound puppy named Copper. Life is full of hilarious adventures until Copper is expected to take on his role as a hunting dog - and the object of his search is to kill his best friend!

What we can always say about a Disney classic animation is that it will be full of love and/or friendship snuggled up with morals about life, conflict or something of a similar nature. The story in The Fox and the Hound is no different to any of them. The unlikely friendship is between a fox and a hound as the label on the box says, but there is more to it such as the conflict of the fox being a wild animal and the hound being a domestic pet that hunts wild animals. This story is an obvious one for a studio such as Disney to do but as with most, this film can be enjoyed by children and the adults who may or may not be accompanying them.

The characters are indeed very lovable, ranging from the fox and the hound being adorable pups to the wily antics of the woodpecker and the sparrow. But they are all overall easy to watch and some are very capable of bringing laughs for the entire family. Some voices are recognisable to anybody. Mickey Rooney and Kurt Russell lend their voices to the key characters whilst you will recognise the voice of Tigger in the Woodpecker and the voice of Piglet in the Porcupine in the latter parts of the film.

Very underrated Disney classic which should be shown to kids as much as Snow White, Aladdin and the Lion King!