Disney Movie Challenge
The Fox and the Hound (1981)
The 80’s are a strange time for Disney Animated films. After the death of Walt Disney the company continued with the “Old Nine Men” still mostly in charge of the direction of the animated films. But by the time the 80’s started rolling around most had retired and the company seemed to be lost. While some consider the 80’s the dark ages for Disney Animation it’s really more of transition. The younger animators wanted to delve more into the deeper and darker themes but the older guys wanted to keep the more traditional light family friendly films (side note. John Lasseter was one of the uncredited animators on The Fox and the Hound. He would go to do the seemingly impossible and merge the two and tell family friendly stories with depth when he helped start PIXAR). Long story short The Fox and the Hound feels like a tug of war between the old school and new school, and the behind the scenes story is more interesting than the actual movie.
The movie itself is about a young fox, Tod, who loses his mother but is adopted by an old lady and raised as her pet. He meets a puppy named Copper and they become best friends. Unfortunately Copper is a hunting dog. Copper’s owner takes him away for hunting season and with the help of an older dog named Chief teaches Copper how to become a great hunter. When they return and Tod wants to play with Copper again but Chief sees Tod and begins to chase him. After Chief is hurt, Copper blames Tod and they become enemies. Due to the big hullabaloo the old lady decided to release Tod into a wooded preserve. There Tod trys to fit in but can’t seem to do anything right, but he does meet a female fox called Vixey. But the hunter and Copper can’t let it go. They head out to the preserve to find Tod. There ends up being a showdown that involves a bear that almost kills Copper. Tod comes to Copper’s aid and helps save him from the bear. When the hunter goes to shoot Tod it’s Copper who returns the favor and saves Tod’s life. Copper returns home with the hunter and Tod returns to the woods to live with his new girlfriend.
The film has received some praise for showing how societal pressure can affect those who try to break from what is considered the norm. Some see the film as an allegory for LGBTQ relationships. While I see how you can read that from the film unfortunately the film is a bit of a mess and it gets lost. The film skirts around the bigger issues and instead has slapstick stuff with birds and very unmemorable songs that doesn’t really add to the story. We see the story and we understand what is happening but it doesn’t get much deeper or explore those issues. I think this is where the tug of war between animators really hurt the film. I think if they had picked a direction either way the film would have been better for it. Personally I would have liked to see them delve more into the darker material but I can see a light hearted version being good also. But by kind of bringing up the issues but then switching to a bird chasing a worm it ends up not feeling sincere.
The one scene that caused the most division in the animation department was the scene where Chief the older dog gets injured. In the book Chief actually dies. And the younger animators wanted him to die in the film also. They felt that it would make Copper’s hatred of Tod feel more authentic. The higher ups at Disney wanted nothing to do with Chief dying. Their stance was Disney had never killed a main character before and they weren’t starting now. So Chief was given a broken leg and nothing else. But the arguments over this scene cause a big riff with major repercussions.
Even though it doesn’t explore the deeper psychological stuff the movie is still a bit sad and depressing. Tod not only loses his mother in the beginning but then loses his best friend and his home. At the end the film wants to leave us on a happy note but it’s not really a happy ending. Tod and Copper saved each other's lives but you get the feeling they will never be friends again and that they never will see each other again. I never got the feeling that the friendship was restored. But a caterpillar turned into a butterfly and the old lady and old man became friends so I guess all is right in the world.
Overall: I know in some circles this is considered a classic but just didn’t work for me. A story about friends having a falling out and one trying to kill the other should be a powerful emotional story but it just isn’t. The songs and music were forgettable. The voice acting was fine but nothing that really stands out. It’s not one I feel I need to revisit.
Random Fact
First Animated Disney Film released after I was born.
Uncredited Animators include John Lasseter, Brad Bird, Don Bluth, and Tim Burton. All would go on to make a name for themselves in the years to come.
Was released the same weekend as Escape from New York which featured a different side of Kurt Russell.
Production was stalled a year when Don Bluth left with a group of other animators
Most expensive animated movie at the time.
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