“Bambi” (1942) Film Review
Written by Jambareeqi
Posted on 6th June 2017
WARNING: THIS REVIEW CONTAINS SPOILERS
Disney’s “Bambi” follows the life of a deer called Bambi, and his adventures in the Forrest. Now, I’ve not watched this film in donkey’s years; the last time I saw it was on VHS. When revisiting Bambi, I went in with a sense of Nostalgic familiarity, but also a newfound awareness of it’s critical praise and common appearances in hall of fame countdown lists.
However, I do feel as if that this film has been overrated and it gets more praise than it rightfully deserves. Sure, it’s a technical marvel in terms of animation! The way that the animators capture the organic quirks of animals is astoundingly impressive, showcasing how talented Disney’s crew could be back then. You can tell that the animators truly studied the wildlife references, because you can see the authenticity in every frame.
You can also feel a potent atmosphere throughout the movie; no matter what the season changes to, the film is brilliant at illustrating the warmth or chill of the weather on screen. There’s something very tangible about every raindrop, snowflake, and shroud of fog that draws us into Bambi’s world.
The problem is that the film’s intentions seem to be centered more on experimental filmmaking, and less on remarkable storytelling. It’s one thing to have pretty visuals, but such beauty can lack impact if there isn’t much contextual substance. Bambi himself isn’t exactly an exceptional character, he’s just this average kind of guy; Yes, this normality can be relatable, but it does beg the question “What’s so special about Bambi and why does he deserve a film?”.
Most of the movie is also dominated with what can only be described as “Cutesy Scenes”, with Bambi and his friends doing an assortment of adorable things, and tension is kept to an extreme minimum. I love cute things and the film does have it’s charming moments; but I have a line, and this movie can get a bit too sickly sweet at times. Don’t get me wrong, slice of life is one of my favourite genres; but there’s only so many scenes of cute animals doing nothing I can take, before I start wondering what the point is.
The movie isn’t completely devoid of tension though, it’s just that any attempts at dramatic conflict didn’t tap into my emotions much. For example, the famous scene involving Bambi’s mother being shot by a hunter, left me feeling much emptier than when I saw it as a child. This time I felt no tears, no broken heart, and no disappointment.
You can call me heartless, but Bambi’s mother wasn’t very interesting to begin with, and the mother-son bond the two share isn’t anything special; simply because Bambi’s mother spends most of the movie watching Bambi being cute, and dishing exposition on the Forrest. Sure, she’s a decent mother and she teaches Bambi important things; but her relationship with Bambi wasn’t moving enough to make me upset over her death.
The fact that Bambi’s mother becomes completely irrelevant after her death, also adds to the lack of sentiment I feel regarding her demise. You’d think such a traumatic experience would shape Bambi as a character; but he moves on quite easily, and never brings her up in conversation as an adult. If the movie finds her passing worth brushing over, then why should I care about her being gone?.
After Bambi’s mum’s passing, the film does try to throw in a few conflicts for the deer, but these scenes fly by and feel very last minute. Bambi also develops a romance with his childhood sweetheart, but it’s nothing unique, and they bond a tad too fast for a pair of deers who haven’t seen eachother since fawns.
Maybe I’m missing something that other people are seeing, but I just didn’t feel like “Bambi” was that great. Like I said, it’s excellent as a demonstration for Disney’s artistic talent at the time, but it’s over-simplistic characters and understated story left me feeling a little hollow. Call me crazy, but I kind of enjoyed the straight to video sequel “Bambi II” a little more; Yes, it’s just as uneventful and over-cutesy, but at least the bond between Bambi and his dad is developed enough to be engaging.
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jambareeqi.com 
While I don’t seek to try to change other peoples’ opinions (and I won’t try to do that here), I must say this on the film’s behalf…
Bambi was the film that inspired me to pursue animation. I do have to say that it is a truly great film that holds up today. Sometimes simplicity is what sticks with you as a child, and underlying (sometimes bitter) truths and facets of life are what stand the test of time (read the original “The Little Prince” book if you want more thorough understanding.
I do understand the reasoning behind getting invested in the sequel more (and I was certainly glad of how faithful the makers were willing to make the sequel). There is a nice blend of modern day standards combined with what the original is well-recognized for.
But let me stress that Bambi’s simplicity and only-ground-breaking-years-ago-effects are nothing against its own merits. It’s bittesweet aspects and portrayal of life just being life, not some extraordinary coming-of-age-adventure, sticks with a lot of children into adulthood when they face the inevitable uncertainties of life. It also paved way for other recent, extraordinary animated animal films like ‘Lion King’, ‘Spirit: Stallion of the Cimarron’.
I want to stress that even three-quarters of a century later, Bambi is a movie that is looked up to and a cornerstone of inspiration because it IS a good movie.
Take that, Jambareeqi! Think before you treat Bambi (194 like some mediocre kiddie film which we are insane for praising so much!
Firstly, he didn’t change my mind at all, I still don’t think it’s that great, and I stand by what I said in my review. Secondly, I also never called it mediocre, that’s an exaggeration. Thirdly, I didn’t call people insane for liking it, I have no issue with people enjoying it, I just don’t get the appeal myself. If you like Bambi, then all power to you, but don’t assume that my review has any malicious intent. You keep putting words in my mouth, and exaggerating my opinions. It’s bad enough that you post creepy comments about female characters, anime girls, or celebrity woman.
I have to agree with Jambareeqi. I still like Bambi plenty (especially for its phenomenal animation and attention to detail) but I wouldn’t say it’s amazing since the story has aged due to the lack of weight behind emotional scenes and focuses a lot on cutesy scenes which feel like padding by today standards. Interestingly. Bambi received mixed reviews when it was first released so you could say mine and Jambareeqi’s opinion is much closer to people’s opinion in the 40s than of more recent years.
Wow, that was……interesting. Now, don’t get me wrong, I agree with you on a lot of points, it’s just that I’ve never seen someone call “Bambi” overrated and flawed considering how much praise it gets. Maybe what I said in your “Peter Pan” review was a little unfair, while “Fantasia” and “Pinocchio” are still my two favourite golden age Disney films, films like “101 Dalmatians”, “Cinderella”, “Sleeping beauty” and “The Sword in the Stone” I would consider superior to the likes of “Snow White”, “Dumbo” and “Bambi”. Trust me when I say my opinions can be inconsistent sometimes like saying “I hate Sonic 2” when in reality my mind says “It’s okay, but it’s my least favourite of the classic Sonic games”. I hope you can forgive my rushed mind when I wrote that comment in your “Peter Pan” review.
No matter what the SonElise shippers that treat Walt Disney Animation Studios like it shouldn’t have more praise than Illumination Entertainment say, the whole Sonic the Hedgehog trilogy of main games that is for the SEGA Mega Drive has always been timeless like Walt Disney Animation Studios (and I don’t mean all of them aged well since Peter Pan and Snow White and the Seven Dwarves to a lesser extent are exclusions to that category of very strongly made Walt Disney Animation Studios films).
Hey Jambers
Do you know Bambi was based on a book? The book is way darker than the movie, and much more accurate to a deer’s life. The mother still dies, but you kind of see it coming. There’s also behaviour that would be considered incestuous to humans (Bambi and Faline are cousins!) and grit, violence and cynicism all the way. Basically, it’s Watership Down before there was Watership Down!