Bambi (1942)

Director: James Algar, Sam Armstrong

The story of a young deer growing up in the forest.

As an adult, it’s probably unfair of me to review a children’s movie. Yup, ‘Bambi’ was made in a time (1942) when animated films were still strictly for kids. This is nothing more than an overlong kiddy cartoon. Nothing here was enjoyable for me. I love animated films, but this was a 69-minute cartoon.

It had the thinnest plot imaginable, no strong characters, annoying music, plain dialogue… Yes, obviously, because it is aimed at a (very) young demographic, I get it. But nothing happened. I mean, literally nothing – not until the final few minutes at least. What is Bambi’s claim to fame? There’s nothing special about him. He didn’t do anything! Half the film was about animals frolicking in the woods, leaves falling, rain, snow, etc, etc. The characters did NOTHING! Ok, rants over…next!

(Credit where credit is due: the animation is very good, considering this was done way before computers!).