Review of The Fox and the Hound (1981) by Matthew F — 14 Dec 2012

I have really mixed feelings about this movie. I went in expecting an underrated Disney gem. Well, there are some things that this movie did extremely well and other things that it did really poorly. First the good things.

This movie has fantastic moods. I found myself crying at several scenes. It also a good plot about betrayal, the value of keeping some of your childhood intact, and friends. It had a great climax. I hear mixed thoughts about the ending, but I thought it was great.

Let me explain it this way: Sometimes the most powerful moments can come without word, sometimes the simplest signs cause the biggest impacts. It was also very cute. Sadly that is all that is really good about this film.

It had extremely simplistic writing, too many gag-nabits, shucks, and other words writers use to replace swearing. Maybe they use those words more in the south (of the USA), I don't know. I know Disney is supposed to write in a style that kids will get but don't leave out adults.

Also the voice acting was either too good or too bad. Too good in the sense that it felt too polished to sound real (young Tod) and too bad that it felt that not enough emotion got through (old Copper, wait, that was Kurt Russell, not one of his better roles).

Also a major problem was that the pacing was way too quick at one key moment that ruined the what could have been the best part of the film. Well, to wrap this up, I think it was the Nostalgia Chick who said entertainment is the one thing in life parents don't care if their kids get the best of.

This doesn't fit in that category because I feel that it is great for kids, like some movies that could cause kids to grow up with poor taste (Cough-Disney Sequels- Cough.) It has plenty of thing that will teach them about the finer things in life.

I just wouldn't recommend it too adults as much as other Disney films.