#24 The Fox and the Hound

Title: The Fox and the Hound

Release Date: July 10th, 1981

Voice Cast: Mickey Rooney, Kurt Russell, Jack Albertson, Pat Buttram

Recap: Two neighbors, a sweet old lady and a grumpy old hunter, acquire two different animals on the very first day: an orphan fox and a hound poppy respectively. These two critters become friends instantly, though their owners do not like each other very much. That winter, the hound, Copper, goes on a trip with his master to learn how to become a hunting dog. The fox, Tod, is confused and saddened by this, as he is told that Copper will come back as his enemy. Sure enough, Copper returns as a masterful hunting dog, and when Tod accidentally leads another hunting dog to be injured, the old lady has no choice but to leave him out in the forest. Copper is angered by the incident and swears revenge, but the friendship leaves some lingering bonds.

Review: The Fox and the Hound is, quite blatantly, a simple concept stretched out over 83 minutes. It does indeed have a great moral encased for children, but that may or may not be overshadowed by something else these kids may realize (which I'll talk about soon enough). If you've been reading my blog at all, you know that whenever child actors are voicing animals, I fall in love. And that's no different here. Tod and Copper as little ones are downright adorable. The film's simpleness has every right to be treasured and appreciated.

Here's what scared me: there's quite a bit of macabre tone. What am I talking about? Consider this: the first thing you see in the movie is Tod's mother get shot. What's worse (though appropriate for that), there's no music in the opening. Remember all the other Disney movies that started out with a nice overture of theme music and credits? Not here. The film opens to practically nothing: a dreary, foggy day. Heck, at first, I even thought it was another bad copy: one with no sound. Hunting plays a critical role in the film, but I do think that some young children may be a little disturbed by this movie. I think I would have been.

I also have two more small complaints. They probably won't bother you, but I was a little pestered. First of all, there's a woodpecker in the film named Boomer who plays a relatively minor role. The voice behind the bird is Paul Winchell, the same man who provided the voice for Tigger in Winnie the Pooh. I have no problem with reusing voice actors, but that's not the issue. Boomer acts exactly like Tigger in every way. Boomer is Tigger in bird form. He even does Tigger's signature "Whoo hoo hoo hooo!" I thought it was a little shabby for Disney to recycle something as unique as that. Second of all, I'm turned off by the pop songs that appeared in this and The Rescuers. Sure, other films have soundtracks with famous artists and what not, but to me, the magic of Disney songs comes from characters themselves singing. Luckily there were only two incidents of this in the film.

In short, The Fox and the Hound is righteous and (mostly) warm, if not dull and utterly macabre in some parts. Oh! One more thing. The animation was superb here. I could easily mistake this film for a late 90s animated film. Incidently, Don Bluth, a key animator at Disney Studios, left during the production of this film to form his own company. Just some trivia: Mr. Bluth went on to make classics such as Anastasia and the first The Land Before Time movie.

Hakuna Matata (It Means 'No Worries!')

P.S. Sorry, but you won't be seeing a 2-a-day from me today. It was enough to get this good copy of The Fox and the Hound. I hope you aren't too disappointed. Things are getting rough. :P