Bambi Diamond Edition Releases from Disney Vault on Blu-Ray/DVD March 1, 2011

The Walt Disney Classic about a young deer's coming of age, "Bambi," will release on DVD and in Blu-ray high-definition on March 1. The Disney vault has been opening up recently to release quite a few classics in their new Diamond Collection line-up of Disney's greatest animated-classics, including "Alice in Wonderland," "Fantasia,""Snow White" and now, "Bambi."

Bambi, A Life in the Woods

Bambi was produced in 1942 by Walt Disney and was the fifth full-length animated film in the Walt Disney Animated Classics series. Based on the 1933 adult novel "Bambi, A Life in the Woods" by Austrian author Felix Salten, the movie was released by RKO Radio Pictures on August 13, 1942. According to Wikipedia, Bambi was re-released to theatres in 1947, 1957, 1966, 1975, 1982, and 1988 before being released on home video in 1989. Since then it has been released twice on VHS as well as a digitally-remastered and restored Platinum Edition DVD in 2005. There is an excellent look at the remastering of Bambi at "How They Restored Bambi."

Bambi Still Visually Appealing

Disney's realistic depiction of animals redefined for "Bambi" and set the standard for cartoon animal animation and still carry enough realism to appeal to a sophisticated 21st Century audience. The impressionistic art of Chinese immigrant Tyrus Wong is as powerful and evocative today. Remastered, the colors and art of "Bambi" are both vibrant and subtle and pleasing to the eye. However, it is the touching and frequently amusing story of the fragile and clumsy wide-eyed young fawn who grows up in the forest with his friends, his beloved mother and his father, the Great Prince of the Forest, that still moves hearts today.

Bambi Still Relevant

I frequently ponder whether or not today's children will find older movies tedious due to outdated and often lengthy musical number, but "Bambi" remains ageless. The only briefly dated musical scene scene involves a femme fatale lady rabbit batting her eyes at poor Thumper while she sings an annoying, and blessedly brief, "La La" song.

Bambi's Who's Who of Actors

The Who's Who of actors who supplied voices for Bambi include: Sterling Holloway (Winnie-the-Pooh, The Cheshire Cat in "Alice in Wonderland" and Bert Miller on one episode of "The Andy Griffith Show") as Adult Flower and Sam Edwards (the banker on Little House on the Prairie and Sam Muggins, Lester Scobie on "The Andy Griffith Show") as Adult Thumper, Will Wright (Ben Weaver on "The Andy Griffith Show") as Friend Owl, Mary Lansing (Martha Clark and others on "The Andy Griffith Show") and Cammie King ("Bonnie Blue Butler" in "Gone with the Wind") as Young Faline

The DVD/Blu-Ray runs 70 minutes. The Diamond Edition Blu-Ray/DVD Combo Pack of "Bambi" releases on March 1, 2011. Disney Movie Rewards is currently offering a $10 off coupon for the Bambi Diamond Edition Combo Pack.

Related:

Disney's 60th Anniversary Special Edition Alice in Wonderland Coming February 1, 2011
Walt Disney's 'Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs' now on Blu-Ray, coming to DVD on November 24
Disney Fantasia & Fantasia 2000 - released for the 2010 Christmas holidays
Disney Unveils Blu-ray & DVD Combo Packs
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