“Bambi II” was released by the Disney corporation sixty-four years after the original, and fills in the gap of time between his mother’s death and his return as an adult. Taken by his father (voiced by Patrick Stewart) to be raised as a prince, Bambi is given no time to mourn his mother’s passing, and his attempts to talk to his father about her are squelched by the maxim, “A prince looks to the future, not the past.”
As the Great Prince tries to carry out his business as usual, he finds that taking care of a young fawn cramps his style, so he asks Owl to find a suitable doe who could raise Bambi for him. The owl doesn’t approve of this plan, feeling that Bambi should be raised by his own father, but he does as the Prince asks and sets out on his search. Meanwhile, Bambi has spent time playing with Thumper and Flower, doing all the little scampering things that animals in the woods do.
Bambi has an idea – maybe if he can show his father how brave he is, his father will like him more. So he attacks a porcupine, just to show that he can, and gets himself involved in several other high-jinks all for the purpose of winning his father’s love. However, when the time comes for Bambi to go live with the doe, his father sends him, gladly, only changing his mind when Bambi nearly dies rescuing the doe from a hunter’s trap.
I’m really not sure why Disney made this film. It’s disconcerting to me that Bambi had to go to such extraordinary measures to prove to his father that he was worth having around. He’s just lost his mother and isn’t allowed to mourn her, and then to not be wanted by his father? It’s a depressing premise and one I had a hard time swallowing. There were a few moments of humor, but to me, they didn’t make up for the depressing story. There are a lot of good movies out there for you and your children; I say, watch them instead and don’t worry about this one.
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