Review of The Fox and the Hound (1981) by Charis L — 31 Jul 2011

5th of the "Do it like Walt" Era.

The animation is beautiful, though there's only one scene that truly shows how much the studio had progressed by this point. The scene with the bear, animated so well it feels more like something one would find in a more intense film, rather then one from a Disney film.

The music is forgettable, and unlike the studio's previous effort, the ones here just do not mesh well with the film at all. At times it just really feels tacked on.

The characters are entertaining, though they will not be all that memorable. For the most part the performances are done well but it just doesn't do much to stand out. Still it will be hard to not be left with a smile from some of the characters.

The story is well paced for the most part, though there are some major bumps that need to be addressed. Boomer and Dinky just slow the story down and add very little, amusing but incredibly pointless, it is more of a nuisance compared to say Scrat from the "Ice Age" films because they try so much to incorporate them into the story, when it's very obvious they have nothing to add. Also an obvious death in the film is sugarcoated by having the character later appear alive, it ruins the story to an extent because the death has a big impact in the scene, yet by having it be just an injury it nearly makes a lot in the later half pointless.

"The Fox and The Hound" is a film that has a good set of problems that hold it back, the biggest is sugarcoating a certain death. Still though it has enough to make it worth a watch, one of the best things is that while it's toned down from it's source material, it still manages to have an ending that while happy like a Disney film, still answers the question "can a Fox and a Hound be friends" truthfully and when one thinks about it still sums up to what the main characters feared.

Up next: Disney Does Edgy and Dark.