Bambi on DVD, when? (1 Viewer)

[Ron-P]

Anyone have any info on when this might get released on DVD?


Peace Out~

 

[Joshua Lane]

Last I heard, Bambi: Platinum Edition was due in 2005.

 

[GlennH]

Check out this page at UltimateDisney.com, under the heading "Platinum Editions" for the latest release schedule/speculation -- looks like maybe Bambi will be pushed to 2006?

 

[Craig Beam]

God, they're killin' me. This is my most-wanted Disney title....

 

[Ron-P]

You and me both Craig.

Peace Out~

 

[Malcolm R]

Wasn't this one of the "Limited Issue" discs that came out in 1999? If so, I think I have it at home.

Hmmmm. Perhaps 2004 is the time to Ebay it.

 

[James_S]

Also looking foward to Bambi, my 55th Limited Issue VHS tape is getting warn out by my 4 year old.




Nope! AFAIK the Limited Isuue's that were released were: 101 Dalmatians, The Little Mermaid, The Jungle Book, Hercules, Mulan, Lady and the Tramp, Peter Pan, Pinocchio, and The Lion King II: Simba's Pride.

 

[Malcolm R]

Perhaps I'm thinking of the Laserdisc. I know I have that, and I believe it's still shrinkwrapped.

 

[Josh Simpson]

Put me down as someone eagerly awaiting this one. I could skip pretty much all the other Platinums, though I must admit. They have been great. Sleeping Beauty wasn't even Platinum and was great. Give me Bambi and Cinderella.

 

[Ron-P]

Nice, very nice. Any update on when we can expect Bambi?

 

[Doug Miller]

Ron --

There's something that just kills me about your post. Here's a guy in his picture with a mustache, ball cap, and tipping a beer... asking about Bambi. Ha-Ha-Ha-Ha! The picture just doesn't match the post, even though the "address" does.

That said, I like Bambi too. I'm really looking forward to the re-release of Aladdin. I never got around to buying a copy of Beauty/Beast, and can't wait until the time they release a Platinum of the Little Mermaid.

I haven't been too hot on the Platinum covers. They don't look enough like the movies' animation. The Widescreen video tape cover for Sleeping Beauty kills royal butt over the DVD cover.

Doug

 

[Brandon Conway]

Bambi arrives in March '05.

 

[Ernest Rister]

"Ron --

There's something that just kills me about your post. Here's a guy in his picture with a mustache, ball cap, and tipping a beer... asking about Bambi. Ha-Ha-Ha-Ha! The picture just doesn't match the post, even though the "address" does."

Bambi is a tough movie. I think Disney has even acted irresponsibly by advertising it for so many years as a "kiddie" film -- not because it has an abundance of sex, but because it has a great deal of implied violence, creating palpable, psychological terror. In the film, we "hear" the approach of Man before the characters do -- Ed Plumb repeats a low bass three-note theme, and the louder, faster, and more urgent it becomes, the closer Man is to making a kill. This is straight out of Jaws, folks (or actually, the use of music in Jaws is straight out of Bambi).

Roger Ebert questions if it is appropriate to show Bambi to young children. I think age 7 and up is where I'd start, but even then, you'd need to make sure a parent or guardian was around to talk about the issues in the film. It is not the romps with bunnies and butterflies the ads and posters make parents believe. A bored attorney with nothing better to do could almost make a case for false advertising.

Bambi is no "Dora", no "Barney", no "Thomas the Magic Choo Choo", no "Sesame Street". It's actually a very powerful statement on the impact of man upon nature, and you can feel Walt pushing the boundaries of animated drama. I don't just think it is one of the greatest animated films of all time, I think it is one of the greatest American films of all time.

Cinderella has some hard edges, too - it also has moments of real pain and strong drama. Much more so than the cover art would lead you to believe. There is also a strong hint of Hitchcock in the film, an unlikely source of inspiration for a Disney film, but I can't watch it without thinking of Rebecca, Notorious, and The 39 Steps.

 

[Doug Miller]

Ernest --

I like Bambi too, and agree with your sentiments. What I said was just in regards to the public perception of Bambi, and Ron's picture in relation to it.

Doug

 

[Ernest Rister]

I agree -- it is slightly incongruous and even socially unsafe for a modern man to walk around a bar saying, "Bambi rules!" In fact, even though the name "Bambi" refers to a male character, it has since become a female name.

But anyway, I blame Disney marketing for pitching Bambi towards toddlers. I do not have high hopes for the marketing campaign for the DVD.

 

[Mark_TS]

excellent insights on BAMBI, Ernest
I also love the Primordal Forest feeling of the film-
BAMBI is Disney at his darkest, and his best
I still remember as a child, being thrilled by the storm sequence.
The dark sillohuettes of the Pine treetops against the troubled sky left a profound impression on me.

 

[Ernest Rister]

I think Bambi left a big impression on Steven Spielberg as well. Aside from Jaws borrowing Ed Plumb's musical device of the unseen, offscreen antagonist approaching, expressed through a low repeated bass theme (Jaws used two notes, Bambi used three notes), those pine treetops are right at home in E.T.. In fact, I'm willing to lay down money the shot of a rabbit in those opening moments of E.T. is a direct homage to Bambi. Everyone is getting along great, aliens and nature, a bunny rabbit even watches the proceedings, E.T. goes off to explore the world, and then *boom*!

Man is in the forest.

I'm currently writing a book called "The Genre of Disney", and one of my sections deals with the influence of Disney's work on other filmmakers -- no other filmmaker has taken as many moments to pay homage to Disney other than Spielberg. Then again, no other filmmaker has taken the time to borrow Disney's *dramatic* devices other than Spielberg. If you want to understand Steven Spielberg, all you need to know is that he is the child of three masters -- Hitchcock, Capra, and Disney. His films orbit those three central planets in his universe (though they also sometimes orbit Planet Lean, Planet Kubrick, and - in the case of Schindler's List - Planet Welles and Planet DeSica). Spielberg has referenced Disney so many times now in his work, I'm actually surprised no one has ever noticed how Jaws and Bambi are musically connected. It's there. Spielberg borrowed a Disney device. Spielberg said the first word that popped in his mind when reading the script for Jaws was "Disney", and Spielberg brought the man who designed the squid for 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea out of retirement to design the shark.

Jaws, 1941, Close Encounters, E.T., Hook, Jurassic Park, A.I. -- they all sport references to Disney. Even Saving Private Ryan and The Terminal have nods to Mickey Mouse.

 

[Brandon Conway]

Another thing about Bambi -

Bambi's father has got to be one of THE worst examples of responsible fatherhood in a "family" film. Think about it from an ideological perspective: he's out prancing around through the forest leaving the mother to do all the work, and he almost never sees his kids, accept from a distance. (Perhaps there's a restraining order? :p) ).

Just some fat to chew on.

 

[Ernest Rister]

Ebert said it was a parable of absentee parenting.

However, I have a family of does and fawns who come up to the back porch of my lake house every night to eat the fallen bird seed from my bird feeders and also the corn I leave out for them. Whenever the buck shows up, the does run him off. Why do they do this? Nature, I guess. Once a buck has sired, the does instinctually keep him away from the young to prevent inbreeding. Deer are not a "two-parent" family. In that respect, Bambi is accurate (though it is doubtful a buck would come and shelter an orphaned fawn, as seen in the film).

 

[Brandon Conway]

I think Ebert is correct (as well as you being correct about the film being depicting nature). It's just that this is another reason that the way Disney markets the film is so off-base with the film itself.