--- title: "Bambi" year: 1942 kind: "film" canonical: "https://film.one/film/bambi" fi1m_score: 86 critics_score: 82 critics_reviews: 15 published: "2026-09-17T05:58:05.840524+00:00" updated: "2026-09-18T08:38:01.259267+00:00" region: "US" licence: "© Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL." --- # Bambi (1942) Directed by David Hand · 1h 10m · MPA G · Animation, Drama, Family **Fi1m score: 86** · Critics 82 from 15 reviews *In a sentence:* Disney paints a forest out of mist and then puts a gun in it; children have not forgiven him since 1942 > Disney’s forest film has the softest backgrounds and the sharpest shock in the studio’s history, and seventy minutes is exactly long enough. The adult voices in the second half let it down after the children’s, but we would send almost anyone to it. ## Synopsis Spring, in a forest without a name. A fawn is born in a thicket and the animals crowd in to see the young prince. Bambi (Donnie Dunagan) learns to stand, then to walk, then to talk, coached by a rabbit called Thumper (Peter Behn) who cannot stop talking himself, and by a shy skunk he names Flower (Stan Alexander). Friend Owl (Will Wright) grumbles from his tree. His mother takes him to the meadow, where he meets a doe called Faline (Cammie King) and, from a distance, the Great Prince of the Forest, and where a gunshot sends every deer running for the trees. Autumn comes, then the first snow, and Bambi tries walking on ice. ## Review Walt Disney had already produced features about a princess, a puppet and an elephant when he made *Bambi*, which has almost no plot, no human face and, for long stretches, no dialogue. David Hand directs from Felix Salten’s novel, with a story credited to six writers, and the shape is a year and a bit in the life of a deer. He is born, learns to walk, sees rain, sees snow, grows antlers. It is the nearest thing to a nature film the studio ever made, and one of the two or three best things it has produced. We would send almost anyone to it. The backgrounds are the reason it has lasted. Earlier Disney features filled every corner of the frame with bark and leaf; here the painters put detail only where the eye is going and let the rest fall into wash. A trunk, a patch of moss, a spray of branches, and behind them green mist. The animals, drawn more like animals than anything the studio had tried before, move in front of these paintings. Watch the first rain: single drops on leaves, a frog, a quail hunching over her chicks, the storm arriving and passing, all timed to the music of Frank Churchill, Edward H. Plumb and Leigh Harline so exactly that we forgot it was drawn. We did not look away once. The children are the second great asset. The young roles are voiced by actual children, and it shows. Donnie Dunagan’s Bambi says “bird” as though the word were an object he has just picked up. Peter Behn’s Thumper has been told to be quiet and cannot manage it for more than a sentence, and he gets the laughs the film needs before it can afford its silences. Stan Alexander’s Flower blushes on cue. Will Wright’s Friend Owl is the one adult voice in the first half worth the name. Bambi trying to stand on a frozen pond, legs going four ways at once, made us laugh out loud, and we are not easily made to. Then there is the other thing. The first trip to the meadow ends with a shot fired offscreen and a line about Man being in the forest, and from then on the film has a gun in it that we never see. The most famous scene arrives in the winter meadow, and we will not describe it. What we can say is how it is done: Thomas Scott cuts to almost nothing, one instruction, a run, a sound, snow falling on an empty frame. We knew what was coming. We have known since we were six. It still tightened our chest, because Hand shows us nothing and trusts the silence. The caveats are in the second half. Adolescence brings adult voices: Hardie Albright’s older Bambi and Ann Gillis’s Faline sound like a radio serial, and Sam Edwards and Sterling Holloway, taking over Thumper and Flower, cannot match the children before them. Friend Owl’s lecture on spring fever is the one stretch where the film turns into the sort of cartoon it has spent an hour rising above. And the story hurries. Courtship, a rival stag and a set piece that turns the palette orange get the time the first act gave to one rain shower. At seventy minutes nothing drags, but the last twenty feel like the summary of a longer film. When it opened, several reviewers thought it too real to be a cartoon and not real enough to be anything else. That is what we like most about it. Set against the studio’s run of that period, it lacks the invention of [*Pinocchio*](https://film.one/film/pinocchio) and the tightness of [*Dumbo*](https://film.one/film/dumbo), and has something neither has: a forest that looks as if it would carry on whether or not we were watching. It reached British cinemas in 1943 and has been frightening children here ever since. The U certificate covers the language and not much else. Take a child of five if you are ready for the conversation on the way home, and go yourself regardless. Seventy minutes, no people on screen, and a forest unlike any painted since. *Fi1m score 86, published 17 September 2026.* ## What the critics say The reviews are almost uniformly warm, with fourteen of fifteen positive and none negative. The praise clusters on the animation: the watercolour and impressionistic backgrounds, the seasonal and storm sequences, and the way the film shifts from comedy to dread without losing its footing. Thumper is named again and again as the character who carries the lighter passages. Most critics also single out the death of Bambi’s mother, admiring its restraint and how much it does offscreen, and several read the film as a quiet study of nature’s cycles and innocence lost. The spread is narrow, and the dissent is mostly old. The New Yorker, writing in 1942, finds the characterisation and comedy short of Disney’s earlier features and the animals too talkative. The New York Times, the same year, feels it drifts too far into realistic naturalism when it should be cartoon fantasy. Among later critics, only Slant Magazine finds the themes thin beside other Disney films of the period. ### Reviews we read (15) - **Radio Times**, Andrew Collins (5/5): Praises its classic status, ecological message, and balance of naturalism and cartoonery, noting the memorable mother’s death scene. [Read](https://www.radiotimes.com/movie-guide/b-leyt73/bambi/) - **The AV Club**, Scott Tobias (A): The critic calls it a beautiful, timeless film about innocence lost and knowledge gained, highlighting its quiet, subtle illustration of life's cycles including death, with gorgeous watercolor backdrops and universal themes. He notes the shocking offscreen death of Bambi's mother but finds the overall tone reassuring and transcendent. [Read](https://www.avclub.com/bambi-1798167974) - **Empire**, Andrew Osmond (90/100, inferred): The critic calls Bambi an ambitious natural-world opus that uses cute moments to ground stunning impressionistic backgrounds and expressionistic colour bursts, singling out the emotional power and restraint of the mother's death scene alongside the film's mastery of shifting tones. [Read](https://www.empireonline.com/movies/reviews/bambi-review/) - **Los Angeles Times**, Charles Solomon (90/100, inferred): The 1942 film stands out for communicating through visual imagery rather than dialogue in a story of a young deer coming of age. It ranks as the most atmospheric Disney feature thanks to its impressionistic backgrounds and endearing characters like Thumper. [Read](https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1988-07-15-ca-6964-story.html) - **Sight and Sound** (90/100, inferred): The critic finds the film enchanting and praises Disney's animation of the forest and animals, particularly Thumper, while noting some frightening scenes and the absence of humans as a strength. [Read](http://old.bfi.org.uk/features/ultimatefilm/chart/details.php?ranking=72) - **The Guardian**, Philip French (90/100, inferred): The critic identifies Bambi as the subtlest and most affecting of Walt Disney's early hand-drawn features from 1937-42. It is described as an enduring masterpiece that is witty and moving, capturing the fears and hopes of second world war audiences while celebrating the cycle of nature. [Read](https://www.theguardian.com/film/2011/mar/06/philip-french-classic-dvd-bambi) - **Variety** (90/100, inferred): The story is full of tenderness with characters that tickle the heart; Thumper steals the picture. The interplay of color and movement shines especially in the seasonal sequences, reaching new heights in storm depictions. [Read](https://variety.com/1941/film/reviews/bambi-1200413909/) - **Slant Magazine**, Glenn Heath Jr. (80/100, inferred): The critic views the film as a timeless visual feast of innocence gained and lost, praising its majestic imagery and lyrical treatment of generational evolution and natural life cycles. He notes a thin thematic focus compared to other Disney classics but finds its restrained, poetic approach to life's rhythms admirable and relevant. [Read](https://www.slantmagazine.com/dvd/bambi-1951/) - **The Independent** (70/100, inferred): The writer reflects on watching the re-released film with family members across two viewings, praising its handling of themes including co-operation, love, loss and man as destroyer, as well as its disciplined treatment of the mother's death. [Read](https://www.independent.co.uk/voices/animated-by-a-return-to-the-enchanted-forest-1487646.html) - **The New York Times**, Bosley Crowther (70/100, inferred): The film captures much of the fantasy and visual beauty of the source story but disappoints by straying into overly realistic naturalism instead of pure cartoon fantasy. The critic singles out the startling beauty and inventive humor for praise while noting excessive charm and violence in the narrative. [Read](https://www.nytimes.com/1942/08/14/archives/bambi-a-musical-cartoon-in-technicolor-produced-by-walt-disney-from.html) - **Time Out**, AN (70/100, inferred): The review highlights the splendid animation from Disney's rich period, blending impressionistic forest scenes with anthropomorphic animal characters reminiscent of Fantasia. [Read](https://www.timeout.com/movies/bambi-1) - **The New Yorker** (50/100, inferred): Walt Disney's adaptation has much of the appeal of his prior features but the characterizations and comedy fall slightly short, with too much conversation. The color and scenery are up to standard, and it is positioned more strictly as a children's picture. [Read](https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/1942/08/15/1942-08-15-053-tny-cards-000011113) - **Collider**, Andre Dellamorte (90/100, inferred): The critic calls Bambi a timeless masterpiece whose universal appeal and empathetic portrayal of nature have allowed it to endure. The animation, particularly the watercolor backgrounds, is singled out as the finest achievement in cinema animation. [Read](https://collider.com/bambi-blu-ray-review/) - **Eye for Film**, Max Blinkhorn (80/100, inferred): The critic calls it a wonderful story that brings a tiny tear to the eye even of a cynic. They single out its staggering step forward in animation with no peer at the time, along with its defined cartoon cuteness and pathos. [Read](https://www.eyeforfilm.co.uk/review/bambi-film-review-by-max-blinkhorn) - **The Playlist**, Oliver Lyttelton (75/100, inferred): The piece positions Bambi as a quiet, beautiful, and pastoral coming-of-age story that is close to Disney as arthouse while still appealing to children. It singles out the kid-traumatizing death of Bambi’s mom as its biggest talking point but notes the film’s merits go far beyond that, with an experimentally episodic narrative and greater sense of humanity. [Read](https://theplaylist.net/the-20-best-disney-animated-features-20160412/4/) ## Details - **Director:** David Hand - **Director:** David Hand - **Story:** Perce Pearce, Chuck Couch, Vernon Stallings, Mel Shaw, Ralph Wright, Carl Fallberg - **Novel:** Felix Salten - **Editor:** Thomas Scott - **Music:** Frank Churchill, Edward H. Plumb, Leigh Harline - **Producer:** Walt Disney - **Cast:** Donnie Dunagan as Young Bambi (voice) (uncredited); Peter Behn as Young Thumper (voice) (uncredited); Stan Alexander as Young Flower (voice) (uncredited); Cammie King as Young Faline (voice) (uncredited); Will Wright as Friend Owl (voice) (uncredited); Hardie Albright as Adolescent Bambi (voice) (uncredited); Ann Gillis as Adolescent Faline (voice) (uncredited); Tim Davis as Adolescent Thumper / Adolescent Flower (voice) (uncredited) - **Runtime:** 1h 10m - **Certificate (MPA):** G - **Release (the US):** 21 August 1942 - **Genres:** Animation, Drama, Family - **Budget:** $858,000 - **Box office:** $267 million ## Where to watch in the US - Disney+: streaming, hd - Amazon Prime Video: rent $3.99, hd - Amazon Prime Video: buy $19.99, hd *Checked 2026-09-17.* Also available in: AR, AT, AU, BE, BG, BR, CA, CH, CL, CO, CZ, DE, DK, EC, EE, ES, FI, FR, GB, GR, HK, HR, HU, IE, IS, IT, JP, KR, LT, MX, NL, NO, NZ, PA, PE, PL, PT, RO, RS, SE, SG, SI, TR, US. Add `?region=XX` to this URL for another country. ## Awards - Academy Awards 1943: Best Original Dramatic or Comedy Score (nominated); Best Sound (nominated) ## If you liked this - *Watership Down* (1978), Fi1m 81: Rabbits, an English field, and death drawn without flinching; the film Thumper grew up into — [Fi1m page](https://film.one/film/watership-down.md) - *The Bear* (1988): An orphaned cub, live action, almost no dialogue, and the same refusal to soften anything - *My Neighbour Totoro* (1988), Fi1m 89: Two sisters, a Japanese countryside in the same soft greens, and no villain at all — [Fi1m page](https://film.one/film/my-neighbor-totoro.md) - *Wolfwalkers* (2020): An Irish hand-drawn forest, hunters at the edge of it, and paint that moves like weather - *Dumbo* (1941), Fi1m 87: Disney’s film from the year before: shorter, sillier, and with a mother parted from her child too — [Fi1m page](https://film.one/film/dumbo.md) --- © Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL. Canonical: https://film.one/film/bambi