A fan’s subjective perspective on the early stages and evolution of traditional animation. Mostly an extensive list of cartoons and films that stand out in my eyes, all in neat chronological/geographical order. You’re welcome. Today: a comparative post about Dumbo and Bambi, two precious films where animals are the stars.
Dumbo, 1941
Dumbo was a low-budget feature made to earn back the financial losses of Fantasia. It was deliberately kept simple and short, at 64 minutes. No more lavish animation and art, as in the previous Disney features. The animation is more cartoonish and the character designs simpler. The backgrounds were less detailed and watercolor paint was used to render them, like in Snow White. Also, Dumbo is mute, so there’s no star voice actor to pay. Nevertheless: it’s not like they didn’t put in any work. Elephants and other animals were brought into the studio to study their movement. Despite the World War going on, Dumbo was still financially successful. In my personal opinion, there are no moments where the art makes you gasp, but the animation never lets you down either. There’s plenty of high points and memorable moments. It’s effective at being the heart-warming cartoon that it tries to be.
Some clips, in somewhat questionable order:
From now on when someone mentions the circus, the first things you will think about are stormy weather and slavery.
Dumbo’s mom protecting her child
A scene where you really notice they didn’t bother trying to reach Pinocchio-level animation but manage to tell the story effectively nonetheless.
Honestly, they didn’t need to spend so much effort on animation. All this time, all Disney needed were cuddly animals!
One of several acrobatic scenes I suggest you not attempt at home.
Don’t.
Ending: Dumbo, the firefighting airplane in clown make up
Alright, if you’re gonna do something crazy, at least make sure you look your best when you die.
It seems like noone in the Disney staff knows exactly what alcohol does to a person. Because this is more like a Silly Symphony on LSD. Best part of the movie in terms of animation, by far.
Bambi, 1942
The movie responsible for turning millions of people vegetarian.
To have the animals in Bambi be more realistic and expressive, Disney set up a small zoo at the studio with rabbits, ducks, owls, skunks and a pair of fawns. An animal painter came to lecture on the structure and movement of animals. Marc Davis created Bambi’s final design, using realistic deer anatomy but an exaggerated baby-like face. Everything the animators picked up during the production for Bambi would help them alot in future projects. Tyrus Wong, a Chinese animator, was appointed art director after he showed Disney some impressionistic forest paintings. Wong’s backgrounds were apparently revolutionary for having more detail around the center and less around the edges, so the viewer’s eye is led to the characters.
As with Pinocchio and Fantasia, the European market was cut off due to World War II and Bambi fell just short of making it’s production costs back at first release. Critics gave mixed reviews to Bambi, and claimed it was too realistic and there was a lack of fantasy elements. Man and hunters being the bad guys also didn’t come across very well to, you know, hunters… man… Now, it is considered a classic, and hailed for its “eloquent message of nature conservation” by, I don’t know, a bunch of hippies and p*ssies, I guess.
Clips, with spoilerfree titles!
A bunny teaches a dear how to walk and speak human?
Immediately, here’s is my biggest problem with Bambi. There’s not much plot going on. This scene is just the characters playing around and being cute. A lot of scenes were planned but cut out because of this reason.
The Silly Symphony of the movie. Visually one of the nicest scenes. Sorry this was literally the best screen shot I could take. I’ll go shoot myself after this post.
Bambi’s mother gets… a surprise!
Frowny face ☹
Best scene for art and animation. Bambi and Faline try to escape an impressionistic fire, which burns just like regular fire!
Bambi’s older and less cute and you can eat him now with a clear conscience.
My useless opinion about a timeless classic: I agree with the critics when they say this degree of realism is not the way to go for animation. The wonderful work of the animators is lost to the audience because it’s simply too similar to what we would expect of animal movements. There’s that and the fact that there’s little plot, just Bambi growing up and being cute, going ice skating, smelling flowers, meeting a girl and losing his mother and then there’s a fire. That about wraps it up. Although it wouldn’t be the only time an ultracute but completely no plot animated film became a huge success…
On the positive side, I commend Disney for not sparing the audience and keeping the theme of loss and death in the movie, although tastefully off screen. I’m also happy he taught a century of children about nature conservation and opening them up to animal rights, although I’m not sure how much of this was actually intentional. The theme of nature against man was much used later by Studio Ghibli and Hayao Miyazaki in several of his films (I have no gripe with My Neighbor, Totoro, by the way, just saying… what’s the plot? Where’s the conflict?) The biggest selling point for me, focusing more on the animation rather than the story, is the impressionistic back ground art by Tyrus Wong. The art is what manages to set the film apart from its predecessors, because when it comes to heartwarming tales about animals, Dumbo is the winner.
Next post:
Disney Cartoons 1937-1949 – Golden Age of Animation
Previous posts:
Early stages of animation: 1920-1937 – The Rise of Cartoons
Disney’s Snow White and the Seven Dwarves – Golden Age of Animation
Disney’s Pinocchio -Golden Age of Animation
Disney’s Fantasia – Golden Age of Animation
