Bambi II – Special Edition (Disney Blu-ray + DVD)

 

Picture: A-/B-     Sound: A-/B-     Extras: C     Film: C

 

 

Disney has continued to produce direct to home video sequels with no regrets.  It is more than apparent that these films are not meant to be masterpieces, but rather give fans another chance to revisit old friends and a new generation a look into the past.  With that said, old fans will mostly role their eyes at these sequels, but I think toddlers around will watch these films over and over again.

 

The story is essentially Bambi for the ADD generation.  Bambi II takes place between Bambi’s mother’s death and him being all grown; right smack dab in the middle of the first film.  Consider this “Bambi the lost tails” (get it…tails?!  Oh nevermind).  It is a mindless film that adds nothing to the previous storyline, but just gives audiences another glimpse into the world of Bambi and his friends.  This film was made almost 65 years after the original and for that reason the creators ‘updated’ the characters to better relate to today’s children; adding a dash of spunk and some humor that is more relevant.

 

Like the first film this is a coming of age tale as Bambi learns to become the ‘Great Prince’ he was meant to be.  Whereas as Bambi wishes to play with his friends, his father has bigger plans for him as he teaches him the princely way and the dangers of man.  Man plays a pivotal role in the film as their hunting dogs, guns and traps are a constant worry for the forest animals.  As previously mentioned the film does little to expand on the classic tale and instead rests on the greatness that has already been established.

 

It is by no means an awful film, but it is far from great.  It will continue to cater to younger audiences as the animation is bright and fun, but fans of the original find little joy in this new installment.

 

The film has already been released on DVD and now Disney delivers this 2006 film here on Blu-ray.  The film looks stunningly good in this new release; as should be expected from a relatively new film on Blu0ray.  Once again Disney does it all right in the areas of picture and sound; though extras are lacking.  The picture is presented in a 1.78 X 1 1080p High Definition that pops from beginning to end with bright reds, blues, greens as well as great black levels and an overall crisp image.  What holds this film up from being a perfect score is the lack of depth, the detail is good but does not demonstrate the level of artistry of the original and often time feels overly clean, stripped of intensity.  The sound is a 5.1 DTS-HD Master Audio that is well rounded and uses the full speaker range, there is little to no distortion, great directionality, and is quite boisterous; well done.

 

The DVD is a downgrade from the Blu-ray and hard to stomach after seeing the Blu-ray.  Its picture lacks the life of the Blu-ray as colors are muted and the sound does not utilize the full speaker range.

 

The extras are mostly ported over from the original release and are in standard definition.  There are a few HD extras, but pretty worthless. Extras include the following:

 

Friend Owl’s Fun Forest Games: 3 Interactive Learning Games (HD)

Deleted Song: “Sing the Day” (HD)

Thumper Hurry and Scurry Game

Disney’s Sketch Pad: Learn How to Draw Thumper

The Legacy Continues: A Making of Featurette

Bambi’s Trivia Tracks

 

 

The film will certainly entertain the youngsters, but older audiences may go running for the hills.

 

 

-   Michael P. Dougherty II