Your thoughts on.... Bambi: Platinum Edition

[Flower's Friend]

wow..i should get around to watching both the DVD and VHS this weekend. hopefully.

Yes RJKS23 you really should. Hey is the Vhs tape the new one or one of the older ones you allready had ? I should myself watch one of the older Vhs tapes and then right before or after watch the brand new Dvd to compare them, that will be fun

O and yes welcome Coop52

[maxeythecat]

Just got finished looking at the "extras" disk and all I can say about it is "I WANT MORE!!" I want to see more original artwork, I want to see some of the actual animation cels they still have in their archive...in short, MORE! Aw, that's just me being greedy....nice job on the "making of" sequence, and what I dearly hope is that the guys working on the sequel will take some lessons from it......that goes ESPECIALLY for the music! DON'T turn it into a musical-just-because-we-can with the characters jumping round like a bunch of eejits singing some insipidly written pop song that'll be gone over again by Brittney Spears or some other poptart horror on the end credits. The music is supposed to work WITH the story, not just slapped in because you need another tune for Disney Radio!! Try to at least give us the illusion that you're doing justice to the original...DON'T overdo the dialogue, DON'T turn it into nothing more than a cheezy cartoonyfest just for the Barney Brigade age bracket...in short, practice what you're preaching during all those nice interviews you did for the "Bambi PE" extras!!

Okay....now to get back to the set...I'm gonna watch the film and get back to y'all later.

[Flower's Friend]

Thanks Maxey Cat for sharing. I was going to get around to watching Inside Walt's Story meeting, but I am working on cleaning my Flower shirt as well as putting up my Bambi Poster. Its the poster from 1942 when the movie came out. I got it free along with a free film frame of Bambi and Thumper since I pre-order my Dvd at Suncoast

I should be back later myself Take care And I agree it was good but I want more Well in time there will be another Bambi Dvd coming out

[maxeythecat]

I'm watching the "Inside Story" segment and so far, that's my favourite part...excellent!

Actually I've just switched over to the actual film and I tell ya, I'm really REALLY impressed with just how beautiful it looks. The richness of the colors, the sharpness of the images that despite how clean they look still retain the charming graininess of the original film. This is the third edition of "Bambi" I' ve owned, having bought both VHS releases when they came out and now of course this one, and this is by far the best looking restoration that I've ever seen. I'm watching it on my computer right now, as the player on my Mac gives me a btter picture than the player on my TV...besides that, it gives me the chance to really get a good clear look at every frame at my leasure. I tell ya, what I'm seeing is so heartbreakingly gorgeous that I got tears in my eyes.... it just absolutely amazes me to think that humans can be capable of creating something this exquisite and wondrous with just their bare hands and their imagination. I'm seeing so many more details that I' ve never seen before...like f'rinstance, Bambi's nose actually has nostrils! You've never really been able to see it before, but with such a clear image you can just make out the little curl just beneath the shine on either side of his muzzle...also you can sometimes see the shadow of the cel image against the painted backround, giving the character even more of a slight 3 dimensional depth than previously seen. You can even make out the brush strokes on the backrounds...how cool is THAT??? Also the screen ratio is beyond terrific, even better than the last VHS issue or even the laserdisc. In all, I'm absolutely over the top delighted with what I've seen so far...I'll probably give it at least two watchthru's before the night is out. Only that could top this for me would be to have a couple of "Bambi" productions cels hanging on my wall.......sighhhhh. Oh well, I guess I'll content myself with the DVD, and my signed edition of "Bambi-Story and Film" (oops, mentioned that one already), and my first American edition of the Salten book and the sequel...sometimes it really pays to work for a used book store, heheheheee!

[Flower's Friend]

I am glad you enjoy it Maxey the Cat. Did you buy the new Vhs that just came out with the Dvd ? The only thing I have not looked at, at all is inside Walt's Story meeting. The forest adventure game I kinda start but did not play any games or go all the way through. But everything else I pretty much have seen. I guess its kinda cool saving the Inside Walt's Story meeting till last. I heard its a cool feature

[Flower's Friend]

O by the way I have Velcro on my Dvd that I got from Disney Direct as I said. The one from Suncoast I looked at it and its the glue. But I am kinda happy to have both. I good way to tell the difference between the 2 I am going to sign Flower's Friend on the Dvd I got from Disney Direct so I can tell the cases apart. For the slipcase it's really easy just keep the Dvd's in there proper slipcase, but all the same by having one with glue and one with velcro a good way to tell them apart. I must be the only one here to be happy I got one Bambi Dvd Edition with Glue

[stlewis75]

I think that the film itself looks beautiful - a huge improvement from any other copy I've owned. I really enjoyed it as I watched it last night, and I must say I was sad to see it end. It's too bad it's only 70 minutes long, but anything more would have clearly messed up the flow of the story. I suppose I'll just have to watch it on repeat so I don't know when it ends. That should fool me.

The extras are nice, but as has been said, I would have gladly accepted MORE. I love what they're doing to preserve their classics. The Bambi DVD is great! I love it...

[Roklie]

I think that the film itself looks beautiful - a huge improvement from any other copy I've owned. I really enjoyed it as I watched it last night, and I must say I was sad to see it end. It's too bad it's only 70 minutes long, but anything more would have clearly messed up the flow of the story. I suppose I'll just have to watch it on repeat so I don't know when it ends. That should fool me.

The extras are nice, but as has been said, I would have gladly accepted MORE. I love what they're doing to preserve their classics. The Bambi DVD is great! I love it...

I watched it an half hour ago and I have to say that that's sure a beautiful movie. I cried a little too much, but what can I do about it when I saw it last time when I was about 6-years old. I love it sooooo much.

Now I'm really looking forward to the sequel (it isn't a sequel, or is it?)

[Flower's Friend]

Now I'm really looking forward to the sequel (it isn't a sequel, or is it?)


Well actually Bambi 2 takes place in Bambi 1. After Bambi's mother dies the Father takes over. In Bambi 1 that last you saw of Bambi as a child was when he went off following his father, and then he is an adult. Bambi 2 tells a little bit of what happend between that time. How the father raised him and stuff. It will be great to see I think. I always like in Bambi one how at first the mother had the bigger role around Bambi and the Father you just hardly saw at first. Then when Bambi's mother dies the Father takes over the big role so to speak.

We did not see much of Bambi with his Father as a child though, so this should be cool. I am curious how Flower is going to sound ? Also will they have make a Bambi 3 and give Bambi the Skunk a big role *** Come along Bambi. Okay Papa I am coming ***

[Roklie]

Well actually Bambi 2 takes place in Bambi 1. After Bambi's mother dies the Father takes over. In Bambi 1 that last you saw of Bambi as a child was when he went off following his father, and then he is an adult. Bambi 2 tells a little bit of what happend between that time. How the father raised him and stuff. It will be great to see I think. I always like in Bambi one how at first the mother had the bigger role around Bambi and the Father you just hardly saw at first. Then when Bambi's mother dies the Father takes over the big role so to speak.

We did not see much of Bambi with his Father as a child though, so this should be cool.

This is probably the second clever sequel I've heard about now, and I think this sounds very good. There's just one thing that I noticed in Bambi and it was the thing when Thumper and Flower first shows up as adults with Bambi and when they say "do you remember me?", where was Bambi during the time they grew up?

[maxeythecat]

See, that's already a real problem with the upcoming sequel. If you noticed, the snippets on the " Bambi ll" preview clearly shows Bambi interacting with not only Thumper but also Flower, Friend Owl AND Faline...now if these cinematic geniuses are as "attentive to detail" as we heard them profess so wholeheartedly in the interviews, then they'd better clear up this glaringly obvious problem with the story's continuity. In the original film, we obviously know that more than one season has passed since Bambi's mother had died...even in the realm of animation it would really REALLY be pushing it if they expect the audience to believe that Bambi was still a baby at the tail end of winter only to reappear as a full grown buck with the antlers of an adult just a few months later.....sorry, big fella, even a five year old child ain't gonna buy that one. In the book, Bambi is taken care of by Faline's mother Aunt Ena and spends the rest of his childhood in their company....it was only after the coming of puberty and his first antler that he disappeared from sight and only returned after he'd become an adult..I think that maybe Walt might have thought of this by the comment Friend Owl makes in the scene that he and the grown up Bambi have together but was forced to trim it for time's sake. Whatever, I suppose, right? We shall see just how professional these boys from OZ really are by the final results.C'mon, guys...don't screw this up!!!

[Roklie]

Oh god.. I'm seriously shocked if they don't have a solution to this.

I mean, are they changing the original story (I'm talking about Disney's version) just because children would enjoy watching it with all these rabbits and other animals? It's not like this would be the first time they do something more to a classic, but this is something quite noticeable which makes the whole thing ridicilous.

[ichabod]

We shall see just how professional these boys from OZ really are by the final results.C'mon, guys...don't screw this up!!!

Just something I feel I should point out. The guys in Australia rarely do anything more than animate the film. The story is in the whole written by a team of writers Disney hires out in the US and from there it is sent to Australia to be animated.

[maxeythecat]

Well, whomever it may be, I just hope they follow up on their "dedication to the quality of the original" at least by ironing out this rather HUGE plot discrepancy, cos if they don't, that's gonna submarine the entire project no matter HOW good the animation looks. And, I might add, even after seeing the trailer and the other wee snippets on "Bambi PE," my initial opinion regarding the animation still stands....waaaay too cartoony in character design and style, giving it a "cheap, haphazardly thrown together-cos-five-year-olds-reeeeaaally-won't-notice-the-difference" sort of feel that I find disheartening. There's absolutely no reason for them to tinker with the characters' design WHATSOEVER, no matter what the HECK ( no swearword here, though in my opinion this potential disaster of a movie deserves one) Dejas and whomever have to say about "modernizing" their look for "this generation"...whatcha gonna do next? Repaint the Mona Lisa's smile because you'd think that she'd look better with a mouthful of porceline veneers to "modernise" her look???EEEEEKKK!

I've heard dumbbunny statements before, but that reaaally takes it, brother!

[Roklie]

Well I didn't think it looked cheap, I actually think it looked quite good to be a midquel compared to other ones. The only thing that worries me now is the plot change and the "feeling" in the movie, will it be a nature film as the first one or will it be more like a comedy. Hope it won't, but who know's when it's a... Sequel.

[my chicken is infected]

Beautiful picture. Not a single speck of grain, which is how these films used to look when originally released. Nice bonus features too.

[Paka]

Well, I went through a good chunk of the extras et al yesterday - and I must say I'm impressed. Sure, the set's not as complete as it could be - the deleted scenes were especially disappointing - but overall it was a pretty decent job. It may just be my monitor, but at some points I thought the restoration looked a bit wonky - like the whites and lights were too bright, or even that the colors looked too "clean". O_o Overall, though, I liked the look - and the restored missing/misplaced frames of the raccoon kit and Bambi's mom were appreciated - those are "touch-ups" I can deal with.

Some of the games were unintentionally amusing to me. Hehe... the season personality profile game reminded me of that 80s fad book Color Me Beautiful - where a woman finds her true "color season", etc. Hehe... and I guessed that I was an autumn person WAY before I even started the quiz. The virtual forest screensaver thingy was oddly entertaining, too - but maybe that's because I'm easily amused by superfluous things.

[toonstuff]

The Restoration
I was blown away at the crispness and fullness of the color of the film. From the first moments, I could already see a marked improvement from the previous VHS releases. I am impressed with how dazzling the color is. My hat is off to Disney's restoration team. They've done some wonderful work here. I would even rate it above the top notch job they did on Snow White. The movie sounded wonderful as well. I didnt' hear all the pops and crackles that used to be in the film. It sounded like a full, rich recording.

The Film
What a treat! I haven't watched Bambi in ages, and I had forgotten how much I truly love this film. I have a soft spot in my heart for the gentle momentum of the story, and the priceless performances of the children that voiced Bambi, Thumper, and Flower.

The music is so beautiful, and it matches the film perfectly. The score is wonderful as well. If the thought of man being in the forest didn't make my hair stand on end, the accompanying music sure did. It has a majesty to it that has rarely been equalled.

My favorite moment in the film is Bambi and Thumper ice skating, and I swear it gets better the older I get!


The Extras
Wonderful job on the extras, though I will agree with everyone else that you can never have too many extras! My favorite extra is the Story Meeting excerpts with Walt Disney. The actor did a good job of sounding like Disney without sounding like a mimic. Well done, team!

I wasn't that thrilled with the 1942 featurette, but it is always interesting to put a film into historical context, though I think Bambi seems a lot newer than it is. It's a timeless film.

My least favorite feature was the preview for Bambi 2. I'm not sure what else to say about that except I don't understand the timeline of events if it's a midquel. How many years did we skip in the film? Half the trailer seems to take place in the springtime!

Overall
Bambi gets a big A+ from me! A masterpiece being treated like a masterpiece!

My only nagging gripe is that I wish Disney would continue their rebate program for previous owners of the video.

[Sailor Eric]

I'm really anxious to see this!!!! I've never seen it before. Well, perhaps once o twice when I was a kid, but I don't remember much and I never came to like it (I didn't hate it either). I'm really curious about how its going to be.

[Owlzindabarn]

I finally got this dvd yesterday and I'm damn glad, because I'm sick and tired of all the european fans bragging away about how they got theirs a week or two ago. So ptttt! I got mine now, too so shaddup!

About the dvd: um, the sound really, really bites. It sounds like the music's coming through a tunnel. Period. They should have not fooled with it. It's distracting.

As for Bambi 2, well why all the complaints. Relax, for heaven's sake. The animation looks wonderful.

Look, all of you cell-animation fans are probably out of luck as far as future theatrical films are concerned. The only cell animation you're going to get is from made-for dvd films like Bambi 2. And from what I saw in the trailer, the animation in that movie is at least as good as Disney's 90s output, Pocahontas, Hunchback, etc. Not bad for a flick that's going straight to video. I think cell-animation fans should embrace the new medium and not worry about it.