Once upon a time...Walt Disney made timeless, beautifully animated classics for children, stressing the universal quality of the tale, and avoiding current references, cheap laughs (such as having animals fart) and in-jokes directed at adults. Well, folks, this wonderful films is a throwback to those days--its a grand, if often poignant, adventure in the woods, as Bambi learns to be courageous with the help of Thumper and Flower (back again, the former with four sweet, giggling sisters) and with his father.

This is, indeed, more a film for the present (since Mommy was taken away in the original) a Sonny-Daddy bonding movie, but the animation is gloriously anachronistic, carefully hearkening back to the classic Disney look, immersing the viewers, be they children or adults, in the luxurious changing seasons, all the while telling a solid story.

Some folks complain it isn't long enough, which I think is just another indication that we have become overstuffed and incredibly greedy--the original Bambi was a minute shorter than this, Dumbo just above an hour, and even Snow White only ten minutes longer. Do we need to SuperSize everything? Bravo Disney! If you had called this Prince Bambi instead of Bambi II, it would have cleaned up at the box office! Sensitive adults are advised to bring hankies.

I honestly wasn't expecting Bambi 2 to be as good as it was. I found it it sweet, funny and adorable. The original Bambi is not only one of my favourite Disney movies, but one of my favourite movies ever. I thought this a very worthy sequel, well it was more of a midquel really, if a tad rushed in places. I liked the fact that they focused on Bambi and his father, after his mother dies, and the story itself was very sweet and well crafted. The animation was beautiful here, not quite as splendid as its predecessor. I have seen sequels like FernGully 2 and Secret of NIMH 2 where the animation is dull, tacky and choppy. Here it was colourful, vibrant and fluid, just look at the wondrous backgrounds. And I absolutely loved the soundtrack, that alone contributed to the film's charm. Of course I do slightly prefer the original's music, but the soundtrack here was so pleasant to the ears. The characters were every bit as likable as they were in the first- Bambi if you forgive the fact his facial expressions were overdone at times, was still adorable and appealing, and Thumper is hilarious. If there is one thing I prefer over the original, it is that the sequel is funnier than the original. The original, while having some very funny moments was more of a tearjerker and a genuine one it was too. In the sequel, there are five or six funny bits in the first fifteen minutes alone. The voice acting was most impressive, special mention must go to Patrick Stewart, who was perfect as the Great Prince. My final verdict is that it isn't quite as good as the stunning original, but along with King Of Thieves and Enchanted Christmas, this is in the top 5 of my favourite sequels. A solid 8/10 Bethany Cox

I have to give this one a mixed review--the good with the bad.

Those Disney animators deserve credit for trying to be as true to the source material as they could possibly be. The animation shows they did their homework in getting as close to natural movement of the animals as possible and the art work is often stunning.

But two things hold it back from being a true work of art: the songs have none of the stirring qualities of the original with their beautiful choral arrangements but instead have a folksy, country music style that seems to jar with the material rather than support it; and the forest is a virtual chatterboxing match with much too much dialog--the exact opposite of the Disney original.

On the other hand, Felix Salten's book did have the animals chatting much more frequently than Disney did in the first film and there is a credit noting that this is based on Felix Salten's book with story elements not included in the original film.

As a direct to TV film, it's perfectly within the benchmark of good entertainment for children. Whether adults will feel the same way about many of the story elements, is debatable. The groundhog sequence adds little to the story development, but the porcupine scene--much more amusing--does serve a story purpose.

Credit must be given to the beautiful backgrounds and smooth animation, but it's a shame that with the passage of time it took to make a prequel, the Disney studio couldn't have come up with a stronger storyline. Andrea Dejas obviously supervised with his own special brand of artistic expertise--but so much care, detail and artistry wasted on a trivial story that never captures the feel of danger and excitement that made the original so memorable but is calculated to appeal more to the very young.

All of the voice-overs are superbly done with special credit to Patrick Stewart's princely job as The Great Prince of the Forest.

Serves its purpose well, if you're not expecting too much--but there are faults that prevent it from achieving the high status of the original despite the care with animation and backgrounds.