Oh, come on, admit it ... in those dark sleepless hours of the night you've always wondered "gee, I bet Jean-Luc Picard would be the ideal father for Bambi!" ... No? Uh, well ... that's certainly an uncomfortable revelation then, isn't it?Yes, I got to see Bambi 2 in a special "sneak peek" (free!) showing this evening. Somebody who works with the theater has a kid in Daughter #2's school, and sometimes free passes show up there ... we ended up with 2 passes good for 2 each, and The Wife decided to skip it, so it was me, Daughters #1 and #2, and #1's best friend. And I volunteered for this. Stop me before I break into a chorus of "Little Girls" from Annie.
As to the movie ... it was VERY VERY GOOD ... it keep a very even keel, nothing "embarassing", but a lot of humor, just enough conflict, and the necessary "scary" scene to provide a climax.
Still, Patrick Stewart as "The Great Prince" (no, there wasn't even a hint of "Maybe I'm just too demanding / Maybe I'm just like my father, too bold", but that would have been sweet!) was a bit of a shocker (especially given the rest of the credited voices being "generic" kids), and the nature of the role demanded a demeanor which was not unlike the Captain of the Enterprise, enough that they might have even been able to get away with slipping in a "Bambi, make it so!" in there!
The story picks up where the original (as I recall) left off ... Bambi has lost his mom, and encounters the lead buck, who is his father (and you thought it was Lord Vader!). Winter is setting in, and the Prince wants to foist Bambi off on some random doe (since the Prince, obviously, has More Important Things To Do like "protect the herd" than to raise a fawn). However, food is scarce, and no suitable does are available, so the Prince keeps Bambi "just until Spring". Of course, the kid proves to be something of a chip off the old block, and things start to get complicated. Thumper and Flower (and various other woodland critters, none credited yet on IMDB) lend comic relief
All in all, it's a very sweet movie, that does not get tiresome or embarassing. It has a lot of fun stuff, lasts just over an hour, and has that mind-fuck thing with that Picard/Xavier voice to look forward to for those who prefer their Disney animation in the presence of mind-altering substances.
