A moment of movie magic

On one level, Bambi is just a little, animated film, just under 70 minutes, that tells the story of an orphaned deer growing up and trying to survive. Right? Yeah, and an acorn is just a nut.

Bambi was made in 1942, but is still impressive in its animation, even in comparison to the computer-generated graphics of today. The colors are so lush, that you want to freeze some of the frames and hang them up on your wall. The beauty of Nature is captured here as well as in any film, animated or not. In the special features for Bambi II, we learn that, for the original Bambi, the foreground shots were typically cartooning at its finest, with real people drawing on paper, and the background views were done by . . . you guessed it, real people, painting on canvas, usually with oil paints. Bambi was as much art as entertainment.

Story-wise, Bambi tells us the tale of one deer, but it is also a case study in the very basics of life: parental love, loss and grief, friendship, loyalty, balancing risk and need, growing toward independence, being at one and in harmony with Nature, and romantic love. It is a small film that covers more ground than many epic, megabuck productions. It is a microcosm of life for humans, which is why its appeal endures over the generations. As we watch Bambi survive tragedy, accompanied by his friends, Thumper and Flower, we are watching the story of overcoming tragedy, as most of us must do at one time or another in life.

Bambi did something else significant: for many, it altered people's view of deer and their relationship to Man. I recently read a study that looked at this issue, and one finding is that two things decreased markedly after the release of Bambi: involvement in deer-hunting, and the value people in general place on deer-hunting. Whatever you think of deer-hunting, it is impressive that a children's animated film could have that impact, and it is likely an impact that lingers on into today.

Sometimes, in simplicity, there is perfection. Bambi is an example of just that. It is simply movie magic.

At only 366 words, this is definitely a candidate for Lean-n-mean Five.