I want to review Bambi II, really I do but it’s beyond reproach as Patrick Stewart is it and anything with Patrick Stewart is clearly awesome.
Alright, I’ll try and review it!
Bambi II is a midquel. It takes place during the time after Bambi’s mother dies and he is being raised by his dad, the Great Prince of the Forest. Basically the movie is about the Great Prince coming to terms with raising Bambi and Bambi trying to win his dad’s respect.
This story actually works and is pretty ok. It suffers from the typical issues of little drama when death or near-death is used. Though at one point a doe is trouble and that could have had some drama but they diffused the tension in favor of Bambi being chased by hounds and you know he going to be fine. Otherwise it not that bad but there are some issues.
First off this movie takes some influence from The Land Before Time, which is weird. Ronno’s story scaring a man is pretty damn similar to Cera’s story about finding the T-rex. Even Ronno’s tone is the same. There is also a very similar shot of the Great Prince fighting hounds in a shadow against a rock while Bambi watches. This shot is very much identical to Littlefoot watching as his mother fights the T-rex. It may seem weird but both movie feature a young animal losing it’s mother as a core motif.
Speaking of Ronno, what an annoying character. Ronno is a bully who is momma-boy. It seems like he is the rival stag in the original because of his motions towards Faline but not sure. I guess he is an antagonist and a foil to Bambi but he is annoying.
Bambi himself has little personality but he didn’t really in the first so whatever.
Bambi II does a fair job at keeping the atmosphere of the original. The original had these moments of dramatic and almost abstract lighting. Like the hounds in the grass is a pretty cool shot.
Bambi II is ok it didn’t annoy as much as thought it would. Was it a story that needed to be told? No. Is this movie made better by Patrick Stewart? Yes. And not to throw in another Game of Thrones reference but the Great Prince totally got me when he said “Winter is coming….. to an end.”
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