‘BAMBI 2’

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Return to the Forest with Bambi and his Friends

This 2006 sequel to the 1942 ‘Bambi’ film turned out to be better than I expected. 🙂

‘Bambi 2’ (or ‘Bambi and the Great Prince of the Forest’) was released on DVD in the UK and the USA in February 2006. I was expecting this film to be released at cinemas, like with ‘Return to Never Land’. I had that impression when I saw the preview for it on the ‘Bambi’ 2-disc Special Edition DVD.

Sadly, that didn’t happen, which is a shame (though it was released at cinemas in Argentina). Usually, I don’t go looking for sequels to Disney film classics. I’ve had my fair share of them, including ‘The Return of Jafar’, ‘The Lion King II: Simba’s Pride’ and ‘Pocahontas II: Journey to a New World’. Some Disney sequels have been underwhelming.

But with ‘Bambi 2’, I found this a worthwhile sequel to a Disney classic. It’s taken me sixteen years to watch ‘Bambi 2’ on Disney+, but I greatly enjoyed it. My parents and I watched ‘Bambi’ and ‘Bambi 2’ on Disney+ to commemorate my sister Bethan. She sadly passed away when she was six in 1993. 😦

I’m sure my sister Bethan would love to watch ‘Bambi 2’, as it feels like a faithful follow-up to the 1942 film. The animation style may be a little different and the choice of songs featured in the sequel might be jarring when comparing them to the songs in the 1942 film, but I believe this is a worthy sequel indeed. 🙂

I like how this film tries to make the effort to echo the original 1942 film in terms of its artistic and visual imagery. It’s also emphasised in the depiction of the characters like Bambi, Thumper, Flower and the Great Prince, since the 2006 sequel matches well to how the characters are in the 1942 film.

What’s interesting about ‘Bambi 2’ is that it doesn’t take place after the events of the first film. Instead, it takes place during the first film, between when Bambi’s mother got killed and when Bambi is a young adult deer in later life. You can almost call it a sidestep tale of the first ‘Bambi’ film.

A semi-prequel/sequel perhaps. The film itself focuses on the relationship between Bambi and his father, the Great Prince of the Forest. It was interesting to see how Bambi interacted with his father as a young deer fawn and how he tried to earn his father’s love, since his mother’s not around for him.

The film literally starts with a recreation of the scene where Bambi meets up with his father after he searched for his mother who had been killed by ‘man’. The Great Prince takes him to his den. Whilst Bambi is asleep, the Great Prince asks Friend Owl to find a doe who can raise Bambi instead of him. 😐

I’m not sure why this film is called ‘Bambi 2’, since ‘Bambi and the Great Prince of the Forest’ is a better film title. Yes, I know that this is the second ‘Bambi’ film made by Disney, but usually when I think of a sequel film like ‘Bambi 2’, I would expect it to follow on from the end of the first ‘Bambi’ film.

Then again, there is a ‘Tarzan 2’, which takes place during the events of the first ‘Tarzan’ movie, so what do I know? It’s nice that Bambi gets to reunite with his friends from the first film in this sequel. There’s of course Thumper the rabbit and Flower the skunk, who are great to watch throughout this film.

There’s Faline, Bambi’s childhood sweetheart. I like how the blossoming romance between Bambi and Faline is presented, especially since they end up together as adults in later life. This is also emphasised when Ronno is introduced. Remember Ronno? He was in the first ‘Bambi’ film as well. 🙂

Ronno is the deer that Bambi would fight as an adult in the original film to protect Feline. Unlike the original ‘Bambi’ film where Ronno was silent, in ‘Bambi 2’, Ronno has dialogue. It was surreal to hear Ronno speaking and trying to act like he was brave whereas in actual fact, he’s a bully and a coward.

I enjoyed how Bambi tried to be brave like his father, compared to when he was simply innocent and learning new things about the world in the original film. It’s a nice progression of Bambi’s character, especially when we see him starting to earn his antlers after fighting off some pretty ferocious dogs.

In terms of the voice cast in this film, Bambi is voiced by Alexander Gould. In the Disney/Pixar world, Alexander Gould voiced Nemo in the 2003 film ‘Finding Nemo’. I liked that Alexander Gould voiced Bambi in this 2006 sequel, as his voice matches to how Bambi sounded as a fawn in the original film.

The highlight voice actor for me in this film is Patrick Stewart, as he voices the Great Prince of the Forest. Patrick Stewart is well-known for playing Jean-Luc Picard in the ‘Star Trek’ universe, including ‘The Next Generation’ and his own series ‘Picard’. He’s really good in voicing the Great Prince in this.

In the original film, the Great Prince didn’t say much and when he did, it was deep and with great authority. Patrick Stewart matches his voice to how the Great Prince sounded in the original film well in the 2006 sequel, especially when he’s interacting with Bambi and when they bond with each other.

It’s interesting how the Great Prince softens towards Bambi and becomes more father-like as the film goes on. I did wonder whether Bambi was terrified of his father in the original film before I came across the 2006 sequel. I’m glad the 2006 sequel follows through with that father-son relationship. 🙂

Thumper is voiced by Brendon Baerg, who I found very good and matched well to how the little rabbit sounded in the original film. Thumper helps Bambi to try and be brave in order to impress his father. It was funny when Thumper was chased around by his sisters, and he had to look after them.

Flower is voiced by Nicky Jones. Like Thumper, Flower helps Bambi to be brave in order to impress his father. It was funny when Flower did what skunks do with letting off their odours by putting on a ‘brave face’. It was also funny when Flower revealed that turtles can be scary and he was indeed right.

Faline is voiced by Andrea Bowen. I like how Bambi and Faline reunite with each other during the winter period, and this is shortly after Bambi’s mother got killed. Faline clearly prefers being in Bambi’s company and doesn’t like Ronno’s show-off manner, especially when he’s being a big bully.

Speaking of which, Ronno is voiced by Anthony Ghannam. Sometimes, Ronno can be an annoying jerk and sometimes, he can be funny when his mother calls out to him to come home. It put me in mind of a scene from a ‘Jungle Cubs’ episode where Shere Khan was called home by his own mother.

In the film, Bambi meets Mena (voiced by Cree Summer), a doe that Friend Owl finds. She becomes Bambi’s adoptive mother for a bit. She’s also a childhood friend of Bambi’s mother. I think Mena was nice enough to be Bambi’s adoptive mother, even when he and his father were starting to get along fine.

Friend Owl is voiced by Keith Ferguson, who’s sent by the Great Prince to find a new mother for Bambi. Friend Owl is the one who encourages the Great Prince to be Bambi’s father until winter is over. I found it funny when Friend Owl remarked Bambi and Faline were ‘twitterpated’ by the film’s end. 🙂

Thumper’s sisters are voiced by Makenna Cowgill, Emma Rose Lima and Ariel Winter, who I found funny to watch in this film. The film’s director Brian Pimental provides voices for the Groundhog (his scene put me in mind of the 1993 film called ‘Groundhog Day’ with Bill Murray) and the Porcupine. 🙂

The Groundhog is timid when coming out of his hole to determine if winter will end, whilst the Porcupine is grumpy and overprotective of his log. The Porcupine put me in mind of the grumpy badger Mr. Digger from the 1981 film ‘The Fox and the Hound’. Did anyone else think that as well? 🙂

And there’s Bambi’s mother, voiced by Carolyn Hennesy, who appears in a dream scene that Bambi has in the film. I really like the dream scene where Bambi reunites with his mother, as he clearly misses her and she encourages him to keep going, despite her being not around to take care of him.

In terms of the film’s music, I could hear echoes of the incidental music and instrumentals of the songs from the original 1942 film in the 2006 sequel. I wish the brand-new songs like ‘There is Life’, ‘First Sign of Spring’, ‘Through Your Eyes’ and ‘The Healing of a Heart’ weren’t so modern-sounding.

Incidentally, I was surprised by the length of time ‘Bambi 2’ had as a film. The first ‘Bambi’ film is about 70 minutes. ‘Bambi 2’ is about 72 minutes. I know ‘Bambi 2’ is two minutes longer than the first ‘Bambi’ film, but I feel that there was more covered in the first film compared to the second film.

This might be to do with the fact that ‘Bambi 2’ is more a side-step story with being set during the events of the first ‘Bambi’ movie. I’m not sure to be honest with you, but when I rewatched ‘Bambi 2’ on Disney+ via my android tablet, I found how quick the film was and I didn’t stop it to have a break.

Over the years, ‘Bambi 2’ has had a number of DVD and Blu-ray releases. There have been special features like ‘Bambi’s Trivia Tracks’, ‘The Legacy Continues’, ‘Thumper’s Hurry Scurry’ game, ‘Disney Sketch Pad: How to Draw Thumper’, a deleted song called ‘Sing the Day’ and ‘Friend Owl’s Forest Fun’ game.

I’m pleased that I’ve seen ‘Bambi 2’ at last on Disney+. I would consider this to be a worthy sequel to the original 1942 film, even though it’s actually a side-step story set during the events of the original film. I would have liked to have seen what happened to Bambi in his adult life after the original film.

Still, it was nice to see Bambi depicted as a young fawn, trying to win the favour of his father and earning it as the film progressed. The highlight voice actors of Alexander Gould as Bambi and Patrick Stewart as the Great Prince make this Disney sequel worthwhile. I’m glad this is a good ‘Bambi’ film.

‘Bambi 2’ rating – 8/10

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