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Disney’s early works
are known for
different things.
Snow
White
is known as the
feature that started
it all. It was a box
office smash and it
set up Disney for
big success down the
road.
Fantasia
is known as an
artistically
ambitious feature
that didn’t perform
well initially but
is perceived as
historically
significant by
Disney fans and film
fans.
Bambi
set the president
for preparation by
Disney’s animators,
it introduced
ground-breaking
animation styles for
Disney, and it
changed what the
company drew and
created and how they
did it over the next
seventy years. It’s
a crucial film in
the Disney
filmography and one
that’s been
reintroduced to a
new audience on a
Diamond Edition Blu-ray
this March.
Everybody knows the
tale of
Bambi.
He’s a young fawn
born in the forest
to a caring mother
and a distant father
that’s also the King
of the forest. The
story of the movie
follows Bambi
through his
childhood to his
growth into the
Prince King of the
Forest. The movie
starts out following
Bambi’s childhood.
It shows the young
fawn developing in
his early phases
learning to talk and
walk and making
friends with other
animals. Mainly
Thumper the rabbit
and Flower the
skunk. It follows
him through his
childhood to the
turning point in his
life, the death of
his mother. It then
shows Bambi through
adolescence and
finally to falling
love and becoming a
father himself. It’s
a love story, it’s a
story about growing
up, and it’s a story
about nature.
Bambi
is a great tale that
tells a story with
minimal dialogue and
fantastic animation.
Of
course
Bambi
is a extraordinary
movie. Released in
1942, the original
looked amazing and
even before a
fantastic Blu-ray
transfer you’d think
that this was
created in the 60’s
and not the 30’s and
40’s. The animators
took a great amount
of time researching
how to draw animals
and the production
budget of the film
escalated due to
this. The animation
is some of the best
work that Disney did
early on and with
the use of
multiplane ainmation,
it created a
fantastic piece of
cinema.
The
Blu-ray restoration
of this movie is
incredible. I dug
through my closet
and found a copy of
Bambi
on DVD and looked at
each. The color
change and upgrade
on the Blu-ray is
staggering. It looks
like the same movie,
but the Blu-ray
version of the film
looks significantly
better. They’ve been
known to make these
movies great with
restorations, this
is true. But this
might be the best
Disney restoration
to date. It looks
amazing. The audio
for this film is
almost as
impressive. The
score done by Frank
Churchill and Edward
Plumb sounds great.
The only downer is
that some more
sounds could have
been added in to
make the movie sound
better on today’s
high-quality audio
set-ups. The audio
is better than
average, don’t get
me wrong. But it
would have been
better if would have
been as great as the
video quality.
The
extras on these
Diamond Editions are
always fantastic.
This diamond release
is no exception. The
highlight of the
bonus features are
two very good
behind-the-scenes
looks at making the
film. There are a
lot of notes with
the production then
there’s also great
looks into the
actors/voice talent
and the animators
work on the film.
The best part of the
bonus features is
the second screen
app available on
iPads and notebooks
to watch alongside
of the film. Your
little ones can do
activities and play
games while being
immersed in the
world of
Bambi.
Alongside of this
there’s a deleted
song- that was
understandably
deleted, and a
couple of deleted
scenes, an animated
short, and a
theatrical trailer.
Really it’s just
chuck-full of
extras.
Bambi
is another
ground-breaking film
by Disney. Every
time an early Disney
feature gets
rereleased and
restored it’s still
hard to grasp that
it was created in
the 30’s and 40’s.
Bambi is no
exception. It was
released in 1942.
It’s pretty much
ridiculous that this
team was able to
create such a
wonderful film in
the 30’s. It’s a
testament to the
Disney magic. The
Diamond Edition of
Bambi
is a must pick up if
you’ve got kids
under 8. The family
will love the film
as well as the
second screen app.
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