I Watch Every Disney Movie In Order So You Don’t Have To: Bambi
The sixth Disney movie I am exposing myself to this week is Bambi. Bambi came out in 1942 and is about a deer named, well, Bambi, whatever that means, growing up in the forest. They call him “the little prince” with no explanation on why he is a prince, but I guess us kids are supposed to figure this out on our own.
The movie begins with Bambi being born, he’s a cute little animated deer and he makes friends with everyone’s favorite rabbit, Thumper and the Skunk, Flower. His name is Flower because Bambi didn’t know he was a skunk and that kind of concerns me because I don’t think they ever told him he was a skunk. Also, did anyone else think Flower was a girl until they all grew up and he comes out with a DEEP VOICE. I have never been more confused in my life, but hey, Flower is a boy, good for him.
So, Bambi is learning the ropes of being a deer, he has to learn how to walk, get food, talk? and basically just survive. He goes through every season and we find out he hates winter the most, my kinda guy and then he is finally old enough to go into the meadow with his mom. Now, because they are deer, Bambi’s mom has to check the perimeter, make sure Man isn’t around. The Disney Animators did a fantastic job of capturing how a deer moves. The head gestures, the way they walk, it was perfect. For someone who lives in New Jersey where deer are all over the place, it was greatly appreciated that they did their research.
When the coast is clear, Bambi and his mom are free to frolic and do whatever it is deer do for fun. Bambi meets a girl name Faline and they play for a while, all the teenager deer come and are fighting each other to get the girl and THEN HE comes. The Great Prince of the Forest a.k.a. we think Bambi’s dad. We never truly know if this is his dad we’re going to assume he is because when Bambi was born the Great Prince was standing on a rock watching over, plus there’s a Bambi II which is basically about what happens when the Great Prince takes him in, more on that later. Bambi doesn’t know this is his dad though, he just makes eye contact with him and is like “yo mom he just looked at me.”
The reason he is the Great Prince of the Forest is literally only because he survived for a long amount of time. Oh and because he’s wise and whatnot. Anyway, Bambi and his mom go back into the meadow to eat after a long winter. And yep, this is it. The moment you all didn’t want me to get to. Man shows up and is ready to kill. Bambi and his mom run. And I mean RUN. Bambi gets back home safely he’s all cute and saying stuff like “mom we made it! We made it!” I’m over here crying because I know she didn’t make it and then we have Bambi crying and its a whole mess. Then out of NOWHERE dad shows up and is all like Mufasa-style “I will take you in.”
So now, Bambi is older and somewhat wiser along with Thumper and Flower. It’s also mating season for the boys, so you would think they would be excited but they are more like “ew thats gross”. You know, cooties. Then not even ten seconds after vowing to never fall in love, one by one they find a girl that grabs their attention. Bambi meets up with Faline again and is with her now. Man is back and worse than before. Man sends dogs this time and Bambi dominates these dogs. In real life, this wouldn’t happen at all, because no offense, but actually deer are like sub-par in intelligence. Like, I think they know what they are doing I just think they also don’t at the same time if that makes sense. Like they 100% are not winning in a dog fight when it’s one to like five.
After killing all of the dogs, you know as deer do, a wildfire breaks out and dad comes to the rescue to get them all out. This is probably the most intense scene from the movie. Every animal is getting killed left and right. One bird was freaking out and we literally watched it fall to it’s death after being shot. After the wildfire, the forest managed to just get back to normal? I don’t know, but they were back to living in the forest and Faline had two fawns. The scene then pans out to Bambi and his dad looking over from a rock, Bambi’s dad leaves referencing that Bambi is now the Great Prince of the Forest. Happily Ever After.
Bambi was a rollercoaster of a movie. It actually felt really long and I’m going to be honest, I didn’t really understand the point of the movie. It was cute, but sad and it was sort of like an animated documentary film on deer. Don’t get me wrong, I love the movie, but as an older, “wiser” person, I realize that there doesn’t seem to really be a plot. I still think everyone should watch this movie though. If you don’t you’ll probably be Disney shamed for it. The lesson I got from this movie: deer are stronger than dogs.
