Walt Disney Productions wouldn't release another animated feature until the dreaded "Black Cauldron" in 1985, by which point the last of Walt Disney's Nine Old Men (Frank Thomas, Ollie Johnston and Wolfgang Reitherman) had departed from the studio (after having worked there since before 1937's "Snow White"), Michael Eisner had taken over the Magic Kingdom, changed the company's name to Walt Disney PICTURES and pushed NEARLY ALL (if not ALL) film credits to the end of their animated features from the aforementioned "Black Cauldron" onwards (all animated Disney productions from before the dawn of Eisner's reign in 1984 ONLY had opening credits and simply ended with "THE END") and brought Disney dangerously close to Rock Bottom.
While the film isn't my favorite Disney flick, it's certainly a very sweet charming finale to the good old days at Disney. Especially the bonds between Tod and the Widow Tweed, and, of course, Tod and Copper, themselves ("The Best of Friends" and "Goodbye May Seem Forever" are two of the most poignant songs in the Disney canon, ESPECIALLY the latter, when the Widow Tweed has to reintroduce Tod to the forest). Even the "villains" (if you can even call them that) are actually likable and sympathetic (extremely unusual by Disney standards). Amos Slade the hunter is not your stereotypical "evil hunter" (that character archetype was not established until Percival McLeech in "The Rescuers 2" in 1990). He only hunts for a living and is, incidentally voiced by (and is even drawn to RESEMBLE) Jack Albertson, best known as Grandpa Joe in the original version of "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory" (this was also one of Albertson's last roles and the last film he starred in to be released prior to his death just a few months later in 1981). Copper's fellow hunting dog, Chief, seems like a bit of a curmudgeon, but is shown to have a heart of gold, when taking to the young Copper (though he does become somewhat jealous when Amos pays more attention to Copper than to him). Did I mention that Chief's voiced by Pat Buttram, who Disney fans will also know as the Sheriff of Nottingham in "Robin Hood" (1973) and Luke, the whiskey-drinking muskrat in "The Rescuers" (1977), and I'll admit, this definitely seems like one of his more serious, sympathetic voice roles for Disney (The Sheriff of Nottingham may have been laughably evil, but he was still a tax-collecting jerk, and, of course, a comedic idiot). It's hard for me to say whether or not Chief should have been killed after the train accidentally ran him over halfway through the film. On one hand, it would be believable that he'd die, as the train was shown to violently strike him off the bridge and send him sprawling onto the rocky waters below (mostly on screen, and much more detailed than Trusty merely being accidentally knocked over by the dogcatcher's wagon skidding to a sudden halt in "Lady and the Tramp" (1955)), and it would've fully justified Copper and Amos temporarily being upset with Tod for some time after the incident. However, Chief seemed somewhat admirable underneath his curmudgeon-like mannerisms (though not quite on par with the aforementioned Trusty in terms of likableness) and so it may be good that he survived (Incidentally, Trusty and Chief would've BOTH ended up dying in their respective films had "executive meddling" as TV Tropes calls it, not decided to spare them, which makes one wonder why they DID kill off some perfectly likable characters in later Disney films such as "The Lion King II: Simba's Pride", "Tarzan" and even "The Princess and the Frog").
Anyways, "The Fox and the Hound" is again, a beautiful goodbye to classic Disney, as (I forgot to mention earlier) even when Disney did recover from the critical disaster of "The Black Cauldron" (with the likes of "The Great Mouse Detective", "Oliver & Company", and, of course, "The Little Mermaid"), Disney animation was never truly the same again. The words "The End" conclude the entire film in a way almost no previous Disney film had done before (except possibly "Bambi" and "The Rescuers"): An audio flashback of young Tod and Copper saying however they'll always be friends forever ("Yeah, forever.") with a soft sweet finale medley blending the aforementioned "Best of Friends" and "Goodbye May Seem Forever" together. Two chimes faintly ding as the following words appear on screen for the final time:
The End - Walt Disney Productions. :.)
While the film isn't my favorite Disney flick, it's certainly a very sweet charming finale to the good old days at Disney. Especially the bonds between Tod and the Widow Tweed, and, of course, Tod and Copper, themselves ("The Best of Friends" and "Goodbye May Seem Forever" are two of the most poignant songs in the Disney canon, ESPECIALLY the latter, when the Widow Tweed has to reintroduce Tod to the forest). Even the "villains" (if you can even call them that) are actually likable and sympathetic (extremely unusual by Disney standards). Amos Slade the hunter is not your stereotypical "evil hunter" (that character archetype was not established until Percival McLeech in "The Rescuers 2" in 1990). He only hunts for a living and is, incidentally voiced by (and is even drawn to RESEMBLE) Jack Albertson, best known as Grandpa Joe in the original version of "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory" (this was also one of Albertson's last roles and the last film he starred in to be released prior to his death just a few months later in 1981). Copper's fellow hunting dog, Chief, seems like a bit of a curmudgeon, but is shown to have a heart of gold, when taking to the young Copper (though he does become somewhat jealous when Amos pays more attention to Copper than to him). Did I mention that Chief's voiced by Pat Buttram, who Disney fans will also know as the Sheriff of Nottingham in "Robin Hood" (1973) and Luke, the whiskey-drinking muskrat in "The Rescuers" (1977), and I'll admit, this definitely seems like one of his more serious, sympathetic voice roles for Disney (The Sheriff of Nottingham may have been laughably evil, but he was still a tax-collecting jerk, and, of course, a comedic idiot). It's hard for me to say whether or not Chief should have been killed after the train accidentally ran him over halfway through the film. On one hand, it would be believable that he'd die, as the train was shown to violently strike him off the bridge and send him sprawling onto the rocky waters below (mostly on screen, and much more detailed than Trusty merely being accidentally knocked over by the dogcatcher's wagon skidding to a sudden halt in "Lady and the Tramp" (1955)), and it would've fully justified Copper and Amos temporarily being upset with Tod for some time after the incident. However, Chief seemed somewhat admirable underneath his curmudgeon-like mannerisms (though not quite on par with the aforementioned Trusty in terms of likableness) and so it may be good that he survived (Incidentally, Trusty and Chief would've BOTH ended up dying in their respective films had "executive meddling" as TV Tropes calls it, not decided to spare them, which makes one wonder why they DID kill off some perfectly likable characters in later Disney films such as "The Lion King II: Simba's Pride", "Tarzan" and even "The Princess and the Frog").
Anyways, "The Fox and the Hound" is again, a beautiful goodbye to classic Disney, as (I forgot to mention earlier) even when Disney did recover from the critical disaster of "The Black Cauldron" (with the likes of "The Great Mouse Detective", "Oliver & Company", and, of course, "The Little Mermaid"), Disney animation was never truly the same again. The words "The End" conclude the entire film in a way almost no previous Disney film had done before (except possibly "Bambi" and "The Rescuers"): An audio flashback of young Tod and Copper saying however they'll always be friends forever ("Yeah, forever.") with a soft sweet finale medley blending the aforementioned "Best of Friends" and "Goodbye May Seem Forever" together. Two chimes faintly ding as the following words appear on screen for the final time:
The End - Walt Disney Productions. :.)