#66 - The Fox and The Hound

"My name's Copper. I'm a hound dog." Okay, out of context, it doesn't seem like much of a quote, but the way it is said in the movie is the sweetest thing ever. A little puppy hound dog gruffing up his voice a little bit to let a little fox know who he is. Seriously, the quote doesn't mean squat without the proper pronunciation. If you have seen this movie and know what I am talking about, then do your best to imagine me saying this to myself about a hundred times during the last couple of weeks since that's how long it has been since I have seen this. Of course, I don't do it in front of other people, I do it in the privacy of my own home, so as to make it really odd. But anyways, on to more important business.

This movie made me hate Oliver and Company, Rock-a-Doodle, and A Troll in Central Park even more. This is due to the fact that it is a good cartoon made when Don Bluth worked for Disney. It has it style all over it, especially his classic cartoon sparkles. You know what I am talking about. Every movie Bluth makes has at least one instance where he throws in a shiny, sparkly something or other. Water droplets on a spider web, a fat trolls green thumb, magical sparklies from some magical animals magic... all those things. The titles were in a Bluth style font. The music, story, theme, pacing and action were all in that classic Don Bluth style, and it worked. The animation was well done. The characters were exactly what they needed to be to tell the story. They were well written, drawn, and performed. So, why does this make me hate the other movies more? Because it shows how bad of a cartoonist Bluth became and it shows how lame Disney was at that point trying to recreate the style of somebody who doesn't work there anymore instead of moving on and doing something new. Shame on both of you!!!

You see, in this movie, there is a lesson about friendship vs. identity. It isn't a subtle message, but you aren't beaten over the head with it like you were with the fat ass troll and his love of flowers and pretty things. The Fox and the Hound had also had some action sequences which were well done, well planned out and not too much. Well, maybe the bear with the blood red eyes was a bit much, but it was properly paced for the kind of movie it was and nothing like the overdone action sequences you saw in Rock-a-Doodle. It was simply a nice, charming, little cartoon without any spontaneous and unnneccessary singing from the characters. Do be sure, there are musical montages, but they are just fine and actually serve a purpose.

And here's why Oliver and Company sucks even more...it's like a sequel to a movie that doesn't have anything to do with the original production team, therefore leading to a copying of a style that is just lame as hell. I don't understand why a company with such great tradition as Disney would have felt the need to try to copy someone else's style, and then do a piss poor job of it. And I know in the Oliver and Company review I said that Disney shouldn't have gone away from is style. They shouldn't have gone away from their recipe for success. While I understand that this may lead to stale recreations and you have to try new things to keep the imagination primed, but you gotta go with what you know. I still think that, even though The Fox and The Hound is in no way the traditional Disney style cartoon. It's like an aberration. Nah, it's just a good Disney cartoon that isn't like any of the others.