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By
WAYNE KLEIN
Walt Disney opened the vein
of fear that drives children and adults alike with
his animated classic films. Disney understood,
like the Grimms before him, that the same fears
are at the heart of what scares children are also
there for adults. In the uncertain and haunted
world of the '40s, when war and loss hang like a
specter stalking every aspect of American life,
Disney mined that vein of fear and turned it on
its head recognizing that the optimism and can-do
attitude of the American dream could triumph while
not undoing the nightmares of the past. That's why
Walt's films continue to resonate today, even with
fancy computer animated effects and larger than
life villains. He knew that the worst monsters
could be our next-door neighbors. Disney adapted a
modern sensibility to the same fears that the
Grimm brothers paraded in their tales.
That's why "Bambi" despite its pacing from a
slower, less attention challenged era still has
power and poignancy. As a kid everything you need
to know about life can be learned from a Walt
Disney film. The loss of innocence, the cruelty of
others, the compassion of friends and the big "D"
all crop up in every Disney film. It's ironic
because Disney's films, unlike other animated
films of the time, weren't afraid to tackle the
very things that both scared and delighted kids.
The two big themes that figure in Disney films
rear their heads in "Bambi" when death and the
cruel world outside try to erase Bambi's innocence
from existence. We're immediately thrown into
Bambi's world and his life with his mom. When
Bambi's mom is killed he becomes an orphan adopted
by his newfound friends, Thumper and Flower. Kids
will love the interaction between these
characters. While the film's pacing may be a tad
slow for children below the age of six used to the
rapid fire editing of "Aladdin" and more recent
Disney classics, the colorful landscape and the
delightful characters will keep most children
entranced.
Featuring a terrific restoration, "Bambi" has
never looked better on DVD. Like many films of the
era "Bambi" was shot on nitrate stock, which
disintegrates fairly rapidly over time so the
miracle here is that it looks as good as it does
(due to careful care) and the magic of digital
technology. The images sparkle with a crystal
clear image that's almost too perfect. The rich
color, deep dark blacks and detail in the images
are truly astonishing. The remastered sound makes
fairly good use of the 5.1 Dolby Digital Surround
medium as well. Given that the original film's
soundtrack was mono, the surround speakers are
used surprisingly well. You'll have to reset your
expectations though as this 60 year old film
wasn't designed with any of our home theater
equipment in mind.
"Bambi" has a forest full of extras in this
two-disc set. The most important extras on the
first DVD is the comparison between the finished
film along side images from story meetings, script
notes, surviving production drawings and other
items that give you a sense of the preparation
that went into making this animated classic. We
get to see the amazing restoration process for the
film itself from the cleaning of the original
nitrate negative (stored at the Library of
Congress) to the expansion of the original
soundtrack for home theater equipment and movie
theater exhibition. There's also the classic award
winning animated short "The Old Mill." Again, many
of Disney's cartoons from the '30s and '40s don't
have the manic energy we've come to expect in our
post-Looney Tunes world, but the quieter, slower
qualities are actually appealing after one too
many frantic animated adventure. "Tricks of the
Trade" was originally shot for the Disney's TV
show in the '50s and takes us behind-the-scenes,
allowing us to see the difficult and
time-consuming process of making animated feature
films before the advent of computers. "The Art of
Bambi" allows us in the Disney archive to see the
surviving preproduction artwork, design elements
and storyboards. "Disney Time Capsule" provides
viewers with a glimpse into the world that
produced "Bambi."
"The Forest Adventure Game" will be entertaining
for most children over the age of six as it may
take a bit too much skill for anyone below that
age to master. There are also two surviving
deleted scenes (which is a surprise given the age
of the film, but Disney is nothing if not
methodical). We learn a bit about America during
World War II and the type of society that America
was creating for itself. "Bambi's Forest Friends"
focuses on how deer live in the wild. We also get
the original theatrical trailer (which provides an
interesting contrast to the restored film). Most
of these extras will be of interest more to the
adults that grew up watching "Bambi" in theaters,
on TV and early home video.
An engaging film from another era that still has
tremendous power and is entertaining, "Bambi" has
never looked this spry before. I imagine that this
DVD looks better than the original release did in
the 1940s as resolution and theater standards were
quite different then. |
