You know, when I talk about a well loved movie with a differing tone, I usually try to be a bit lenient because, I know that these movies do strike a chord with people and not just will strike a chord. I know that movies like this, Coraline and Charlotte's Web are beloved for good reason and me being the contrarian won't change anything. The thing is, on some level I understand why a movie like Coraline is loved by so many people, even if I personally don't like it, I get the appeal. A film like Coraline is a high quality movie with a few personal gripes that I can't get passed. A film like Bambi is a film where I don't really understand the appeal.
Since it is Spring by the time of this reviews posting, I decided to take a look at another Disney movie, as Spring usually makes me think of Disney movies, and let's just say that, I had a feeling that Bambi would make for an interesting review.
Bambi is, at it's core, a slice of life film. We follow Bambi from childhood to adulthood and see as he tries out new experiences and how he deals with common dangers. Unlike a movie like Spirit: Stallion of the Cimarron, we aren't looking at one major part of the life of our lead, rather a couple major moments, with smaller moments mixed in. Things like Bambi meeting a new Doe, meeting new friends, his first experience with hunters, the loss of his mother, fighting for dominance you get the idea. Now, by this point a slice of life story is nothing new, we've seen this genre tackled in TV shows like Hey, Arnold! in movies like Clerks and in comics like Erma or Calvin and Hobbes, while yes these did focus on larger plots, at their cores, they, and Bambi, are all basically dealing with major events in these characters lives, well, except for Calvin and Hobbes which is more a look at childhood as a whole.
Now, I have no problems with Slice of Life as a genre, and I will say that as slice of life movies go I do think Bambi's plot is pretty solid, for the most part. I can't be too hard on the time skip because, well, there is only so much life you can show in just over an hour, but there is one pretty notorious bit of time skip. If you are familiar with the movie, you know the scene I'm talking about, and I don't really want to spoil it for anyone who doesn't know the movie, but for those of you who don't know, there is a very emotional scene that takes place in the winter, and when it fades to spring it's all bright colours and cheerful singing. The tonal whiplash is so insane that it legitimately ruins what could have been an amazing scene.
Speaking of which, I think it's time to rip the bandage off, I think this movie is boring. Unlike FernGully, and another movie with a review coming up *Cough revealed on my Twitter Cough*, this isn't a movie that is full of filler. Contrary, I think making a movie like this a slice of life is a perfect way to excuse scenes that go nowhere, as... well technically that is life, it does have its moments that don't seem to leave an impression, or even go anywhere. The problem is that we still have to identify with the character in this movie in some way, and, honestly there are many other child characters that are more interesting and relatable than Bambi is. Take for example, one of my favourite child characters, Calvin. Like I said before, Calvin and Hobbes is mostly about exploring childhood, and I'm fairly certain you also had a few experiences in life similar to Calvin did, heck I personally remember having a dream similar to Calvin where I thought I was getting up and doing my daily routine, only to find that I was still in bed.
Of course, it is worth remembering that Calvin does have an actual character and Bambi doesn't really. The main trapping of the slice of life genre is that the leads are usually blank slates for us to project our feelings and experiences on. On paper this is a really good idea, it means that everyone's experience watching the movie will be different, some children will remember what it was like to slip and fall on ice while skating, and some kids will not. The problem is that some kids will not, and I think that is where the idea falls in execution. Sure, some kids, maybe a lot of kids, will remember slipping and sliding on the ice, but what about the kids that never went skating? What about the kids that hated skating because they kept slipping and falling on the ice? What about the kids that hurt themselves slipping and falling on this ice? Yes, I realize this movie was made in the 1940s when that stuff was not really a concern. I dunno, maybe I'm just looking to deep into that, and I do get that I did use a bit of a cherry picked example but, it does kind of show you why blank slate slice of life characters don't work. This is why many people would prefer to watch something like As Told By Ginger instead of watching Doug.
I will say though that there are points when the plot gets good, and that is when the stakes are raised. I really do love how they handled the hunters in this movie. You never see them, but the tension does escalate each time they appear. The first time, we don't see anything, we hear a gunshot, but see no evidence that they shot anything. The second time, we don't see it happening, but we hear that one character did get shot, and an important character too. In the final time, we actually see a dead body, and see gun shots just barely miss hitting someone. These moments work because, well first off, we all know the feeling of being afraid, especially of something that is out of our control. These scenes also work because we know the stakes, we know a character that is important can leave at any point, and when we see that bird fall out of the sky, we are aware of just how high the stakes are, not to mention the whole forest fire does get pretty tense as well.
While I'm being complimentary, I really do like the art style here. While Disney didn't invent the Multi-plane camera, they certainly knew how to utilize it, and Bambi is one of the best in that regard. On top of that the forest is just a nice place to look at, and the colour palette is a varied one too with blues and whites in the winter to match the cold and unforgiving season and a lot of warm colours in autumn. While I don't think Bambi is one of the best looking Disney films, I still think it looks incredible. Of course the animation itself is classic Disney theatrical animation so it is high quality with little to no errors.
If I had to sum up Bambi in one word it would be "Watchable", and that really is because it didn't leave much of an impact on me. That being said, it does have it's good moments, and unlike other movies I reviewed that I didn't like, there is something I can admire here. That being said, there are better Slice of Life stories out there. Should I look at this from the time it was made? No, I think that is an argument that should only be used for stuff that was influential at one point, and I can't really see Bambi as being hugely influential to the medium. Maybe it inspired some animators, but it isn't the same as pioneering an entirely different animation style. Maybe I'm missing something in my history, so feel free to let me know how influential Bambi actually was.
That being said, it's a movie that lost my interest more frequently than it gained it, so I can't really recommend it personally. If you're a big Disney fan and want to say you've seen them all, or you genuinely think it's a good movie, there are genuinely worse things out there, and it isn't like this movie is terrible, it's just not very interesting to me. So, I can safely say that I do slightly recommend it, only slightly.
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