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Bambi is a 1942 animated feature produced by Walt Disney and originally released to theatres by RKO Radio Pictures on August 13 1942. The fifth animated feature in the Disney animated features canon, the film is based on the 1923 book Bambi, A Life in the Woods by Austrian author Felix Salten.

The main characters are Bambi, a white-tailed deer, his parents (the Great Prince of the forest and his unnamed mother), and his friends Thumper (a pink-nosed rabbit), Flower (a skunk), and his childhood friend and future mate, Faline. For the movie, Disney took the liberty of changing Bambi's species into a white-tailed deer from his original species of roe deer, since roe deer don't inhabit the United States, and the white-tailed deer is more familiar to Americans. This film received 3 Academy Award nominations for Best Sound, Best Song for "Love is a song" and Original Music Score.

In June 2008, the American Film Institute revealed its "Ten top Ten"—the best ten films in ten "classic" American film genres—after polling over 1,500 people from the creative community. Bambi was acknowledged as the third best film in the animation genre.

Plot

A doe gives birth to a fawn in the thicket whom she names Bambi. After he learns to walk, Bambi befriends Thumper, a young rabbit, and while learning to talk he meets Flower, a young skunk. One day his mother takes him to the meadow, a place that is both wonderful and frightening. There he meets Faline, a doe-fawn, and his father, the Great Prince of the Forest. It is also during this visit that Bambi has his first encounter with man, who causes all the animals to flee the meadow. During a harsh winter, Bambi and his mother go to the meadow and discover a patch of new grass, hearalding the arrival of spring. As they eat, his mother senses a hunter and orders Bambi to flee. As they run, gun shots ring out. When Bambi arrives at their thicket, he discovers his mother is no longer with him. He wanders the forest calling for her, but she doesn't answer. His father appears in front of him and tells Bambi that his mother "can't be with him anymore" then leads him away.

In the spring, an adult Bambi is reunited with Thumper and Flower as the animals around them begin pairing up with mates. Though they resolve not to be "twitterpated" like the other animals in love, Thumper and Flower each leave with newly found mates. Bambi is disgusted, until he runs into Faline and become a couple. As they happily dance and flirt through the woods, another buck appears who tries to force Faline to go with him. Though he initially struggles, Bambi's rage gives him the strength to defeat the older buck and push him off a cliff and into a river below.

That night, Bambi is awoken by the smell of smoke. His Father explains that Man is in the forest and they must flee. Bambi goes back to search for Faline, but she is being chased by hunting dogs. Bambi finds her in time and fights off the dogs, allowing Faline to escape. With Faline safe, Bambi runs but is shot as he leaps over a ravine. The Great Prince finds him there and urges him back to his feet. Together, they escape the forest fire and go to a small island in the lake where the other animals, including Faline, have taken refuge.

At the end of the film, Faline gives birth to twin fawns. As Bambi stands watch on the large hill, the Great Prince silently turns and walks away.

Production

Walt Disney attempted to achieve realistic detail in this animated film. The artists heard lectures from animal experts, and visited the Los Angeles Zoo. A pair of fawns (named Bambi and Faline) were shipped from the area of present day Baxter State Park in Maine to the studio so that the artists could see first-hand the movement of these animals. The source of these fawns, from the Eastern United States, was the impetus for the transformation of Felix Salten's roe deer to white-tailed deer. The background of the film was also the Eastern woodlands — one of the earliest and best known artists for the Disney studio, Maurice "Jake" Day spent several weeks in the Vermont and Maine forests, sketching and photographing deer, fawns, and the surrounding wilderness areas.

Voice cast

• Bobby Stewart as Baby Bambi
• Donnie Dunagan as Young Bambi
• Hardie Albright as Adolescent Bambi
• John Sutherland as Adult Bambi
• Paula Winslowe as Bambi's Mother and the Pheasant
• Peter Behn as Young Thumper
• Tim Davis as Adolescent Thumper and Adolescent Flower
• Sam Edwards as Adult Thumper
• Stan Alexander as Young Flower
• Sterling Holloway as Adult Flower
• Will Wright as Friend Owl
• Cammie King as Young Faline
• Ann Gillis as Adult Faline
• Fred Shields as Great Prince of the Forest
• Margaret Lee as Mrs. Rabbit

Release

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• August 13 1942 (New York City, New York release)
• August 21 1942 (USA release)
• December 25 1947
• July 3 1957(features the Buena Vista logo and plays in a widescreen format by Cinemascope 55)
• March 25 1966
• June 20 1975
• June 4 1982
• July 15 1988

Bambi was released in theaters in 1942, during World War II and was Disney's 5th full length animated film. The famous art direction of Bambi was due to the influence of Tyrus Wong, a former painter who provided eastern and painterly influence to the backgrounds. Bambi was re-released to theaters in 1947, 1957, 1966, 1975, 1982, and 1988. It was released on VHS in 1989 (Classics Version), 1997 (Masterpiece Collection Version), and digitally remastered and restored for the March 1, 2005 Platinum Edition DVD. The Platinum Edition DVD went on moratorium on January 31 2007. The Masterpiece Version was the first Disney Video to be THX certified.

Reception

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Although the film received good reviews, it was criticized for being inappropriate for children because of the death of Bambi's mother as well as the scary violence of the hunting scenes, dog attacks, and the forest fire climax. During it's original release, it did poorly at the box office. In 2006, a straight-to-VHS/DVD midqual by the name of Bambi II, which follows the death of Bambi's mother and fills the gap that was made when Bambi follows his father into the thicket.

The death of Bambi's mother is one of the best-known moments in American film history, a moment so upsetting to certain children that they had to be carried sobbing out of the theater during numerous theatrical presentations. For this reason, and because of the horror and violence of the climactic hunting/forest fire sequence, many critics question the suitability of Bambi for very young audiences. When Bambi was shown during the Christmas period in December 2006 on UK channel ITV 2, the scene of the death of Bambi's Mother and the Prince telling Bambi of her death was edited out. It wasn't until nearly 40 years later that The Disney Company featured the death of a parent in one of their movies (Tod's mother in The Fox and the Hound). The off-screen villain "man" has been placed #20 on AFI's List of Heroes and Villians.

The U.S. Secretary of the Interior has criticized the movie Bambi for propagating the idea that the best way to manage the forest resources within the U.S. was to fight forest fires. The Secretary of the Interior points out that controlled burning is now recognized as more beneficial, and that forest animals, such as Bambi, simply move out of the way of forest fires and, in general, are not killed by them.

In 1942 the animated feature film Bambi was released. Soon after, Walt Disney allowed his characters to appear in fire prevention public service campaigns. However, Bambi was only loaned to the government for a year, so a new symbol was needed, leading to the creation of Smokey Bear.

In 2006,the Ad Council, in partnership with the United States Forest Service, started a series of Public Service Announcement ads that feature footage from Bambi and Bambi II for wildfire prevention. During the ads, as the Bambi footage is shown, the screen will momentarily fade into black with the text "Don't let our forests...become once upon a time", and usually (but not always) ending the ads with Bambi's line "Mother, what we gonna do today?" followed by Smokey Bear saying "Only you can prevent wildfires" as the Smokey logo is shown on the screen.

The ads air on various television networks, and the Ad Council has also put them on Youtube.

In June 2008, the American Film Institute revealed its "Ten top Ten"—the best ten films in ten "classic" American film genres—after polling over 1,500 people from the creative community. Bambi was acknowledged as the third best film in the animation genre.

Sequel

Bambi II was released as a midquel sequel to Bambi. Set in middle of Bambi, it shows the Great Prince of the Forest struggling to raise the motherless Bambi, and Bambi's doubts about his father's love. The film was released direct-to-video on February 7, 2006.

References

1. Walt Disney Collection: Walt's Masterworks — Bambi.
2. The Trouble with Bambi: Walt Disney's Bambi and the American Vision of Nature by Ralph H. Lutts: From 'Forest and Conservation History' 36 (October 1992)
3. Maurice E. Day, Animator, 90; Drew Deer for Movie 'Bambi': Obituary in the New York Times, published May 19, 1983)
4. How They Restored Bambi, Monsters and Critics.
5. IGN.
6. Kevin Jackson 'Tears of a fawn', The Independent, Feb. 6, 2005.
7. "AFI's 10 Top 10". American Film Institute. 2008-06-17. Retrieved 2008-06-18. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)

External links

• Official Disney Bambi DVD website
• Bambi at IMDb

Template:Link FA

• Articles needing cleanup from July 2008
• Articles with sections that need to be turned into prose from July 2008
• 1942 films
• Coming-of-age films
• American films
• Children's fantasy films
• Disney animated features canon
• Films about animals
• Films based on children's books
• Films featuring anthropomorphic characters
• Films shot in Technicolor