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How a story of friendship was also the moment when the old masters at Disney had to pass the baton onto the new generation of the studio’s next legendary animators

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The Beginning of the Disney Renaissance Animators | The Fox and the Hound Review

How a story of friendship was also the moment when the old masters at Disney had to pass the baton onto the new generation of the studio's next legendary animators

Comments

Strider_Blaze

Oh boy. This film is definitely something. My younger sister actually loves this movie. Edit: And looks like Cars is next. I think the first one. Would have guessed Cars on the Road, but that’s more of a small series.

Hunter O'Laughlin

Yeah, it would’ve been stronger if Chief died instead of surviving with a broken leg as it would’ve strengthened Copper’s motivation to turn against Todd. And to think one of the executives changed it because “no character has died in the history of Disney animation”. They clearly didn’t watch Disney’s older films like Snow White, Bambi, Cinderella and Sleeping Beauty where a few significant characters died. “BullROAR!” - Sergeant Calhoun (Wreck-It Ralph)

Justin Monti

I really enjoy this movie, personally I wouldn’t go as far and say this is one of Disney’s best animated films, but I honestly do think it is still a pretty good movie as is and in my opinion, one of Disney’s most touching animated films, while I do think the story is a little bit slow at some parts, I really do like seeing how the relationship between Tod and Copper develops throughout the movie where they start out as friends when they were kids, but when they grow up they eventually become enemies, I also think the animation is well done, and a great transition from the 9 Old Men to the next generation of Disney animators, and the characters are also pretty good, nothing great but they do well on their own. Overall while The Fox and the Hound isn’t my favorite Disney animated film, it is still pretty good on its own. So the next classic review is going to be Cars, personally not one of my favorite Pixar films, but I do have a soft spot for it as a childhood favorite movie of mine, so it'll be interesting to see how it stands on its own.

Kenneth Stoddard

To be honest, it been years since I seen The Fox and the Hound back as a kid and I haven’t watch it since. I seen it few a times but it been a long time since I seen it. Personally, I do think it a good film but I heard what the criticism is until now and I do get it. The pacing is slow, some characters were not memorable, some unnecessary filler, and probably studio interference by Disney as they’re the ones try to make it more kid friendly or a “family picture”, to younger viewers as this is supposed to dark drama movie as opposed to whimsical nature type movie like not killing off Chief for example. But I’m pretty sure this won’t be the last time that Disney has done some interference as they do it again years later particularly with sci fi movies. I still enjoy it though with it heart, animation, voice acting, some good characters, and dark moments as well so yeah, not the best but it a good film overall. Also, I have no idea there some Don Bluth animation in there until now when I watch this review so it could it remain intact of the final product. And also, you watch the Blu-ray version of it and now noticing with it blurring issues? Ooh, that rough and considering that Disney doesn’t care much about physical home media now in days according to physical home media fans including the Films At Home channel, who is an expert by the way that I highly recommend subscribing if you’re a physical home media fan, then yeah I’m not sure it would be a good idea to upgrade it as I still have the Disney gold collection dvd in my house. Good review though and curious to how the review of Cars goes out. Also also, upon looking up the cast, sure I knew Mickey Rooney and Kurt Russell is in there but I didn’t know a few actors like Paul Windchill who voice Tigger in the original Winnie the Pooh movie or even Jack Albertson who played Grandpa Joe in the Willy Wonka movie voiced Amos Slade were in this movie. I didn’t know just now so that caught me off by surprise.

Kim Lechman

Yeah, I personally have a huge soft spot for this movie. While I agree it’s definitely not one of Disney’s best animated movies, but i loved watching it as a kid, and had they had gone the more darker path with it like most of the animators wanted it to go, it would’ve been much better, but at the very least, it does get it’s message across well, and I know that it definitely touched a lot of people’s hearts. Oh Boy, Cars is next. I will say it’s not a bad movie by any means, but it’s not one of Pixar’s best movies either.

Joshua Copelan

I have seen this movie once like over a year ago and I enjoyed it. Although in the comments regarding the story I would agree that it was meant to be one of Disney's darker films and that they had to lighten up some of it's tones like not killing chief and the beginning of the first act to get more of the lighthearted moments with Tod and Copper along with Dinky and Boomer going after Squeeks the Caterpillar I'm just glad they didn't add that song "Scooby Dooby Dooby Do, Let Your Body Turn To Goo." (which I learned from both you Mat in your ALB and from another Disney YouTuber by the name of Modern Mouse who I would also recommend.) When I heard about that song because of that title I cringed because it would not only serve no purpose, but no one would want to want to sing with a title like that. As for the animation I will agree with you on all of your praise because it is agreeable that when old Disney would get in hand drawn animation they are top notch with the character animation with it's fluidity. As for the criticism's you have there are a couple I believe you mentioned and I would also like to add to the movie that I would criticize. The first is how some shots are blurry, I do think a part could be the updates from Disney but from what I read from "a article" (and no not from something from Cartoon Brew it was from a legit news article but I can't remember the article's name so if anyone can find it I would like to be corrected if I am wrong, and no it wasn't from an article from Animation World Network, I thought it was but it wasn't but it still did show alot of troubles "The Fox and The Hound's" production was) that a certain well known animator did call out how there would be cases that some of the camera shots were out of focus when this movie was in production (and who this well know animator is, lets just say it was one of the new people who would make a name for himself and not a classic legend). A point you also brought up was how the characters did not blend in with the shots. Are you talking about how the characters are like cel's that are just placed on the layouts and not living into them? If that is the case, "The Fox and The Hound" wasn't the only case where that happened at the time and I don't think the young animators at the time were to entirely blame. I went back to not just "The Fox and The Hound" but to "The Aristocats" up to "The Rescuers" to see if this was the case because I did see that in some scenes in "The Rescuers". For proof please watch the Rescue Aid Society Anthem and in a couple of places, you can see the spots that you can similarly criticize just like this film. As for the criticisms with the animation I have are just minor nit picks but they are relevant if you do have a sharp eye. The first are a couple of times where I can tell that they used limited animation. One particular scene is when Widow Tweed stood in front of Amos Truck to force him to stop driving and chasing Tod. The second was after a ballad with Tod and Vixey and the scene ends with Vixey takes Tod to see the waterfall where if you see the waterfall before it goes into the climax of the movie, you can see the waterfall has it's water painted on. So you can tell that there were some corners cut there. As for the characters I loved the voice acting in all of them and they are a right fit. But when it comes to some reused voice actors like Paul Winchell where you can tell Disney at the time did rely on their old talent to handle small minor characters, but thankfully not major to large secondary characters like they did with Phil Harris. But from what I read on a website called "TV Tropes" if they didn't use Paul Winchell they would probably have casted Shawn Wallace as Boomer. I don't know if it was fact, but I am curious if that was true and see what his take on Boomer would be like because I am so accustomed to Rex from "Toy Story". As for my personal highlight for this movie, the climax is outstanding. That look on Tod's face against Copper was completely unsettling and of course the Bear. I know that the weight of the log couldn't support them after his swipe but the sound mixing and music was the highlight as well thanks to composer Buddy Baker. And those are my thoughts about the movie. Also, I can't wait to see your review on "Cars", I can't wait.