Amazon.com Essentials:
It always comes up when people are comparing their most traumatic movie
experiences: "the death of Bambi's mother," a recollection that can bring
a shudder to even the most jaded filmgoer. That primal separation (which is
no less stunning for happening off-screen) is the centerpiece of
Bambi, Walt Disney's 1942 animated classic, but it is by no means
the only bold stroke in the film. In its swift but somehow leisurely 69
minutes, Bambi covers a year in the life of a young deer. But in a
bigger way, it measures the life cycle itself, from birth to adulthood,
from childhood's freedom to grown-up responsibility. All of this is
rendered in cheeky, fleet-footed style--the movie doesn't lecture, or make
you feel you're being fed something that's good for you. The animation is
miraculous, a lush forest in which nature is a constantly unfolding miracle
(even in a spectacular fire, or those dark moments when "man was in the
forest"). There are probably easier animals to draw than a young deer, and
the Disney animators set themselves a challenge with Bambi's wobbly glide
across an ice-covered lake, his spindly legs akimbo; but the sequence is
effortless and charming. If Bambi himself is just a bit dull--such is the
fate of an Everydeer--his rabbit sidekick Thumper and a skunk named Flower
more than make up for it. Many of the early Disney features have their
share of lyrical moments and universal truths, but Bambi is so
simple, so pure, it's almost transparent. You might borrow a phrase from
Thumper and say it's downright twitterpated. --Robert Horton
