Bambi (1942 film)

Bambi is a 1942 animated film, and the fifth movie in the Walt Disney Animated Classics canon. The film was based on the book Bambi, A Life in the Woods by Austrian author Felix Salten. Bambi was produced by Walt Disney, and was directed by David Hand. The plot focuses on a young white-tailed deer named Bambi and his adventures with his friends Thumper (a pink-nosed rabbit) and Flower (a skunk) during their life journey in the woods. The film was released by RKO Radio Pictures on August 13, 1942

Like Disney's four previous animated features, Bambi is widely considered one of the greatest animated movies ever made, and the American Film Institute placed the film at #3 in the "Animation" category of their "10 Top 10" in 2008. The film was nominated for three Academy Awards, including Best Sound (Sam Slyfield), Best Song (for "Love is a Song" sung by Donald Novis during the opening credits), and Original Music Score. Former Beatle Paul McCartney claimed that the scene in which Bambi's mother is shot (off-screen) by a hunter was the reason why he became interested in animal rights (aka "The Bambi Effect"). Currently, the film holds a 91% certified "Fresh" rating on Rotten Tomatoes.

AFI recognition: "AFI's 100 Years...100 Movies" (nominated); "AFI's 100 Years...100 Heroes and Villains" (Man - #20 Villain); "AFI's 100 Years of Film Scores" (nominated); "AFI's 100 Years...100 Movies (10th Anniversary Edition)" (nominated); and "AFI's 10 Top 10" (#3 Animated film).

On February 7, 2006, a direct-to-video midquel titled Bambi II was released in the United States and some other countries, and was released theatrically in Australia, Austria (the country that the author, Felix Salten, was from), Brazil, Dominican Republic, France, Mexico, the United Kingdom, and some other European countries.