Fox & The Hound 2
Picture:
B- Sound: B- Extras: B- Film: C
25 years
after the original 1981 release of The
Fox and the Hound, reviewed elsewhere on this site), Walt Disney Studios
has created for its loyal fans a mid-quel entitled simply enough The Fox and the Hound 2. The animated, straight to DVD feature takes
place during the youth of the young Fox (Tod) and Hound Dog (Copper) in a more
playful time, before the darker side of the original 1981 feature film. There was a point in the original film where
Amos Slade (Copper’s owner) along with his trusty old dog Chief attempted to
teach Copper to hunt. For the purposes
of the sequel, Disney animators created a mid-story addition, letting audiences
in on a tale they had no idea existed (much like the straight to DVD release Lion King 1 ½). After feeling he had failed as a hunting
dog, Copper is tied to his barrel by his master, not allowing him to go to the
county fair. Luckily for Copper his good
pal Tod the Fox shows up to remind Copper of the fair and they run off to the
county fair together.
At the
fair, Copper finds himself captivated by a singing, dancing, western, dog band
known as the ‘Singin Strays.’
Coincidentally, the Dog Band has just lost there lead singer, a young
dog named Dixie. Copper joins up with
the talented Dog Band as their new lead singer after a temporary replacement
fails to entertain. Copper is let into
the ‘Singin Strays’ after Tod tells Cash the leader of the western dog band
that Copper is surely a stray. Throughout
the animated feature the estranged Dixie plots against Copper with her
overflowing jealousy, even go as far as to use a nasty trick with peanut
butter. At the same time as Dixie’s
trickery, Tod finds himself jealous of his friend not spending as much time
with him as he should. Overall, the film
represents a fun and playful way of demonstrating the importance of friendship,
both new and old. Where the film is
definitely family friendly and children are sure to enjoy, the plot is thin
being veiled with clean animation and cute musical numbers.
The plot
is thin and truly deviates from the original meaning and atmosphere of the 1981
film. Where as the quality of animation
is quite good and an improvement over the rough edges the original had, the thin
plot and ill placed, unoriginal musical numbers detract continuously. The original film was deep, emotional, and
possibly one of the darkest Disney films to date; this film somewhat taints the
intentions of the original film, but has a level of cuteness which appeals to
younger audiences. In the end, where the
film is lacking in depth and creativity, it somewhat makes up for itself with
clean, colorful animation and a certain level of a child/family friendly message.
The DVD
has many nice technical features overall.
The animated picture is presented in a clear, crisp, 1.78 X 1 Anamorphic
Widescreen. The picture is somewhat
better than the 25th
Anniversary release of The Fox and
the Hound (which still needs a little clean-up work) with the new digital
animation utilized by Disney Animation Studios.
Overall the picture quality is bright, colorful, and enticing. The sound quality in the DTS 5.1 Digital
Surround Sound sounds quite good only having a few high/low errors, and the
musical numbers sound particularly crisp.
The extras don’t offer too much for adults, but children are certain to
be entertained. Some enticing features
include a featurette entitled ‘Making The
Music – Behind The Scenes feature,’ Music Videos and Games (very
entertaining). On top of these extras,
Disney has been very good about offering an extra short with their DVD releases
in recent years and this DVD is no different, including ‘Goofy and Wilbur’; a fun a refreshing classic animated short.
In the
end, this DVD does not maintain the depth of the 1981 Disney turning point
animated piece original, but does offer its own cuteness and quaintness for a
younger audience. The music is sure to
have the kids tapping their feet the country twang, but also should have
offered a greater creative edge. With
the plethora of guest voices and colorful animation kids will find this very
entertaining.
- Michael P Dougherty II
