So I'm not going to lie.
The idea of there being a Bambi 2
I surprisingly found... interesting
The reason?
I really liked the first one.
I think it's a unique, important, even groundbreaking film.
It's a movie that lets the art tell a lot of the story.
It doesn't have to over explain. It doesn't have to create a bad guy. It's just a little slice of life.
The sequel had an interesting premise,
at least from my point of view.
It takes place literally after Bambi loses his mother.
Yeah, spoiler alert.
I think most of you know that, though.
Bambi's father requests that somebody else looks after him
because he's gonna be too busy,
but the owl suggests that maybe he should raise him.
Thus, the rest of the film is just watching Bambi grow up
with his father, who has never been a parent before.
Again, no complicated stories,
no bad guys, just a little chunk of this one life.
In some respects, it's exactly what I was looking for.
It's kinda what I thought I would get,
kinda what I was expecting, and it's well done.
On the other hand, though, it IS a sequel being made years later
to something that was REALLY unique
and always just kinda did its own thing.
So, the idea of trying to recreate it years later
DOES feel a little...
off.
It's not something you can necessarily blame the film for;
it's just kind of what's inevitably gonna happen.
The artistry is REALLY good.
This movie does everything in its power to
recreate the the look of the original "Bambi",
and the feel,
and the pacing.
And, for the most part, it does a really good job.
When it has to look like calming winter, it looks like calming winter.
When those extreme colors have to come in
with the heavy shadows that are somehow red and blue and so forth,
they bring that back too, and it's really effective.
The backgrounds are never too crisp, either.
They're just a little blurred,
again, just like the original film,
but, seeing how they're using artists and technology YEARS later,
you can tell it doesn't quite feel...
I don't wanna say "authentic", but
a continuation, necessarily.
You're always aware they're trying to capture
the magic and the originality of the first one,
and that never, ever leaves.
It's kinda like the sequel to "2001".
It's not a terrible movie, but the first one
was just so incredible and just so amazing
that you kinda know you're never gonna recapture it.
And that lingers over the entirety of the film.
But, on top of that, there are some other problems, too.
One is: there are songs of the time period thrown in,
and they are kind of distracting, which,
again, not to act like all the songs in the original "Bambi" were timeless, but
these really do kinda take you out of the environment.
Not "Tarzan" bad, or "Return to Neverland" bad,
but still noticeable.
The biggest problem, or maybe I should say "pet peeve",
is the father himself, played by Patrick Stewart.
Now Patrick Stewart is a perfect choice.
He sounds just like the original actor,
he seems strong and firm, and,
yeah, this is a really good actor.
But I guess the way I always imagined the father
was stern, and strict, and didn't really laugh that much,
and didn't really show much vulnerability.
He was the leader of the forest.
He couldn't show weakness.
He had to be tough all the time.
So, I figured that would translate over into him being a parent.
And, while that's what they're clearly trying to do,
he does show a little too much vulnerability.
He plays it more like the confused parent,
the fish out of water,
not "yuck-yuck" or anything like that, but,
clearly, he doesn't know what he's doing,
and, of course, eventually,
he lets his guard down,
and he goes play with Bambi, and has fun,
and then he realizes, "Oh, he was supposed to be stern and strict,"
and, yeah, it's just kinds that thing.
It's not awful; it's just not how I imagined that character.
There was so much more mystery and strength to him
when he only said one or two things.
When he first sees Bambi in the first one,
he just stares down at him and doesn't say a thing.
That is so intimidating!
I thought that was the father I was going to get.
But, instead, we get lines like,
"A prince doesn't 'woo hoo'."
- {Woo hoo!} - {Bambi!}
{A prince does not... "woo hoo".}
"A prince walks tall! A prince doesn't show weakness!"
It's stuff you imagine the mother from "Brave" saying.
In my opinion, it would have worked a lot better
if they show Bambi as a child with his father,
and the father is strict, and stern,
and doesn't show much humanity,
and then you cut to years later when he's older,
THEN he confronts the father about why
he was so stern and strict, and the effect it had on him.
That seems like a time when Bambi would talk about it,
but, when he cracks at his father because he thinks
he's being too mean, and he's trying so hard
to be everything he wants,
it just kinda feels formulaic.
And, of course, the father feels hurt
but can't show the emotion,
but the he has to see something that Bambi
does that proves his worth, and -- you know it.
But, again, it's not done... bad.
It is still just sort of watching Bambi's life,
and it's done very similar to how the first film is.
A lot of playful moments, a lot of nice artistry,
a lot of dark moments, but a lot of nice stuff, too.
Any problems I have are kinda nitpick-y.
For, example there's this one deer that's
kind of a bully, but he's not the villain or anything,
he's just kind of a jerky, fragile kid,
and I think they're building up that this is the bully
that then confronts him years in the future.
He even says at the end, "One day, we'll meet up again,"
and I'm thinking, "You didn't need to make
that connection." I like that this was just a jerky deer.
It's the forest, it's nature, predators. You just kinda get it.
There's also a particularly messed up scene where
one of the hunters in the distance uses a deer call,
and it sounds like his mother,
{Mother?}
(ghostly voice) {Hellooo... Hellooo...}
{I'm heeere...}
I didn't know whether I really liked this
or found it really silly, but it is kinda disturbing
and uncomfortable, but in a good way.
So, overall, it is good.
It just can't be the first one like I feel it's trying to be.
But I really give credit to the directors, and artists,
and writer for trying to be the first one.
They didn't have to. They could have just
thrown some direct-to-DVD light animation,
"Oh, Bambi and Thumper get in trouble,"
and all sorts of bull crap like that, but...
they do put in the good pacing,
they do put in the character, they do put in the artistry,
they do put in the suspenseful moments.
In some respects, I didn't want to know
what happened to Bambi in between those years.
It's kinda like finding out what happened to Batman
after his parents died. You kinda like it being a mystery.
But we got "Batman Begins" that showed
everything that happened, and, if it's done well,
it's done well.
This is kinda the same thing.
If they are gonna show what happens,
this is not a bad version of it.
I say, if you like the first film and are a little curious
to see if this is a good follow-up,
you'll get an actually okay flick.
You can tell a LOT of effort went into
trying to capture the voice of the first one,
and it doesn't go unappreciated.
If you like the first movie and are even the
littlest bit curious about how this one is,
I think you might actually like it okay.
Step out into the meadow and take a look.