Of Course 'Bambi' Is Getting A "Live-Action" Remake At Disney
Did you love the emotionless, photorealistic animals from Disney's remake of The Lion King? Well, we have good news for you. The House of Mouse isn't anywhere near done reaching into their vault to give a makeover to their classics with an animal-centric cast. The next one on the roster is Bambi, the coming-of-age story of a young deer who happens to be the prince of the king of the forest, and Disney has already hired pair of writers to tackle it.
The Hollywood Reporter has word on the Bambi remake in the works at Disney with Geneva Robertson-Dworet (Captain Marvel, Tomb Raider) and Lindsey Beer (Sierra Burgess Is a Loser, Chaos Walking) hired to write the screenplay. Meanwhile, Chris & Paul Weitz and Andrew Miano will be producing through their Depth of Field production banner, which just recently earned acclaim for Lulu Wang's indie gem The Farewell.
The original Bambi was nominated for Best Original Score, Best Sound (Recording), and Best Original Song ( for the tune "Love Is a Song" that plays in the opening credits). It's also one of the most beloved classic Disney movies, made in the earlier days of the studio's feature animation efforts. So this remake has quite a legacy to live up to. But then again, Bambi isn't exactly a movie that's beloved by today's generation's of kids, and it may not be as popular as The Lion King or Aladdin were, so maybe older fans will be more forgiving if it gives the movie a refreshing direction.
The Weitz brothers seem like a great producing duo to work on Bambi specifically since the two directed and wrote About a Boy, which shares some thematic flairs with the animated classic. Even The Farewell shares some emotional DNA with Bambi since the young deer ends up losing his mother, who is unfortunately shot by a hunter in the forest. Robertson-Dworet and Beer seem like surprising choices for a lower key movie like Bambi, especially since the two are working on a female-led Fast and Furious spin-off , but maybe they have an interesting take that Disney was keen on.
The only downside is that this will be a remake in the same style of The Lion King, which was criticized for having animals that looked so realistic that it took away any of the emotion and passion that Disney's classic 2D animation brought to the table. It made the story lifeless, even in what were supposed to be the more energetic musical numbers. For what it's worth, /Film contributor and all around Disney expert Josh Spiegel isn't exactly thrilled at the prospect:
Thankfully, Bambi isn't a musical in that way, so maybe this "live-action" approach won't be as detrimental to the film. We can already hear Jacob Tremblay being called to voice Bambi, and maybe Roman Griffin Davis and Archie Yates from Jojo Rabbit can join him as Thumper and Flower.