The Fox and the Hound -7.3/10
I don't really have a lot to say about this one. Yeah, I liked it as a
kid, but it was never one of my favorites or anything. There isn't
anything particularly great or particularly bad about it. One thing I do
kind of like is that there isn't really any clearly defined "villain".
Both sides can be considered the "good guys" from their own point of
view, and while the hunter definitely has some temper issues, he's not a
bad guy and has the kind of relationship with his dogs that the hero
characters usually have in similar films. One part that always felt
awkward to me was the sad goodbye number, which they chose to do mostly
in the spoken word. While I don't disagree with that choice in and of
itself, I don't think it was executed nearly as well as it could have
been.
Tod's first night in the forest reminded me a lot of Bongo from Fun and Fancy Free,
and it was a nice scene. His meeting with Vixie the vixen was fun, and
while in any other film I would have said their scenes together were too
few and brief, they aren't the focus here so I have no problem with it.
Vixie's character worked for what she needed to be.
The one scene that everyone of course remembers is the one at the end
right after the climax, and it was a good, powerful scene. Probably the
movie's strongest single moment. The side story with the two birds
trying to catch the caterpillar was pretty forgettable though, by which I
mean I quite literally forgot all about it until I saw it again just
now.
A pretty good flick, especially considering it came out during Disney's dark age. Not their best by any means, but enjoyable.
I, very deliberately, have not watched this film as an adult because the couple of viewings I gave this as a child were tear-filled experiences. There was something about the conflict in this particular movie that was really upsetting to me as a child and although I owned (and still have the VHS) it, I only watched it twice.
ReplyDeleteWhat I am discovering about myself as I respond to your posts is that Disney films fall into one of two categories for me, loved it awesome film or completely traumatizing...