Bambi (character)

Bambi is the protagonist of Disney's 1942 animated classic feature film of the same name and its midquel. A deer living in a forest, he's best friends with Thumper (a rabbit) and Flower (a skunk). However, he was closest to his mother, who was shot on his first winter. Raised into a buck by his father, he strongly falls in love with his childhood sweetheart and love interest, Faline, and they end up, later on, having twin fawns, a son and daughter named Geno and Gurri, respectively.

Bambi originated as the main character in Felix Salten's Bambi, A Life in the Woods. He has made cameos in several Disney cartoons. In the Disney films, his species was changed from the roe deer to the white-tailed deer, which would be more familiar to American audiences. His image is a Disney icon comparable in recognition factors to Mickey Mouse, and he is even shown on Disney stock certificates.

Bambi was voiced by Hardie Albright as a child, and by John Sutherland as an adult.

Personality
Bambi is not very strongly characterized. This was one of the film’s key strengths as an environmental film, the point because Bambi---as with most of his friends---is similar to any deer in any forest. In his early youth, Bambi has the full measure of charm that many young mammals display, with his wide eyes, spindly legs, curious nature and a good cute voice. As he grows he gradually becomes more mature, but even in young adulthood he always seems a very young buck, with a graceful build and a fairly naïve, shy nature. He was nicer than his mean rival, Ronno who was jealous of poor Bambi. When he had two fawns, Geno and Gurri, he was a carefree father, happy and sweet to his children.

Physical appearance
Bambi has a fur coat of safety orange and wheat spots and underbelly with a brown stripe that runs from his head down to his tail. He has brown hooves and wide red eyes. He has a large head with fuzz on it.

Bambi has brown fur without his premature spots. He has antlers with 2 points to represent his maturing youth. His eyes change from red to brown as well.

Bambi
In the first film, the chronology of Bambi's life from birth to young adulthood is showcased. At his birth, all the inhabitants of the forest gather to greet the new prince with open arms. Among them are Friend Owl (who acts as an adviser to Bambi's father, the Great Prince of the Forest), and Thumper became Bambi's closest companion.

As the years go by, Bambi creates bonds with Thumper and a bashful skunk by the name of Flower, forming a strong trio. He also builds a weak friendship with Faline, a fawn who he fell in love with, despite being disgusted by her at first glance because of her overly bubbly personality. Aside from friendships and romance, Bambi's primary concern is his mother, who he loves deeply, often learning life lessons that stick with the young prince. One of those lessons involve being conscious of "Man"; the forest's most feared enemy. Man is known for being a ruthless hunter, killing animals for the sake of sport, having no regards for anything else. One day, while out during the winter, Bambi's mother is killed by Man; though the young deer manages to escape before he falls victim, as well. Without a parent to care for him, the Great Prince of the Forest arrives and raises Bambi himself, tragically confessing the loss of his mother and taking him from his old home. Years later, Bambi grew into a strong young adult buck, dashing, but still as shy and somewhat clumsy as ever. He retains his friendship with Thumper and Flower and, as predicted, falls in love with Faline; or as Friend Owl likes to put it; becomes "Twitterpated". Now experiencing true love for the first time, Bambi began his life with Faline as his mate, exploring the forest together, proclaiming their love, and battling the vicious Ronno for her affections, eventually coming out victorious. This also signifies dominance and maturity on Bambi's part, which comes in use, as he's slated to take the role as Great Prince of the Forest, following his father's footsteps.

With life seeming as peaceful as ever, Man returns to the forest with more men and with a pack of bloodthirsty dogs. Several forest dwellers are killed by the invasion and Faline is attacked, but was rescued by Bambi before it's too late. Even so, back at Man's camp, a fire accidentally breaks loose, setting the forest ablaze. Bambi and his father rush through the woodlands to escape the devastation as the other creatures do the same, finding a small island off shore of the forest where they're sheltered until things settle down. And although they barely survive, Bambi and the Great Prince manage to escape the catastrophe, as well.

Some time after the forest's restoration, Bambi, now ruling the lands alongside his father, watches in the light of the sun as Faline gives birth to two young fawns, causing a celebration echoing Bambi's birth and ushering in a new chapter for the prince and his forest.

Bambi II
In Bambi II, Bambi is much more distinctly personalized. In this film, which fills in the gap between the death of his mother and when he was next shown as a young adult, Bambi finds himself faced with a number of challenges. First, there is the death of his mother and his consequential move to live with his father, the Great Prince of the Forest. Connecting with that, there is the fact that his father has no knowledge of raising children and is reluctant and slow to learn. In addition, Bambi begins to develop romantic feelings for Faline, and comes into conflict with his present and future rival, Ronno.

Throughout all of this, he shows much more personality than he did in the first film. Whereas before he essentially followed life where it led him, now he grabs life by the horns in one attempt after another to bond with and impress his father. In the first film, Bambi's status as the young prince had little impact on the flow of the story. But now his rank becomes a key part of the situation as he sets out to prove to himself and others, most of all his dad, that he deserves to be prince and can live up to his father’s name.

Close to the end of the film, Bambi has lost his spots, and gets prickled by the porcupine and kisses Faline. He then leaves with the Great Prince who takes him to the meadow where he and Bambi's mother first met as children.

Kingdom Hearts
Bambi's unnamed (as of yet) world was destroyed by the Heartless. However, the strong sense of courage, innocence and purity in the young fawn's heart allowed it to be preserved in the form of the Naturespark Gem. It somehow ended up in a torn page in the 100 Acre Wood.

After Sora finds this item in the Hundred Acre Wood and takes it to the Fairy Godmother, she restores Bambi's spirit and Sora gains the ability to summon him in battle.

After sealing Kingdom Hearts, Bambi returns to his world and keeps his memories of his time as a Summon (hinted by Mushu and Simba knowing the trio while they were Summons).

Bambi's role in battle is to prance about the area, dropping huge amounts of MP orbs by hopping around the area. Any enemy defeated while Bambi is summoned drops more orbs than usual. Also, the more enemies Sora defeats while Bambi is summoned, the more orbs Bambi drops. If a certain amount of enemies are defeated while Bambi is in play, Bambi will make a great leap and drop a special item, usually mega-potions and elixers.

Despite being warned of humans before his world was destroyed, Bambi already becomes Sora's friend as expressed on his cheerful expression and reaction to the keyblade wielder's summoning. Bambi dances around Sora, then approaches him, and allows the boy to pet him on his head before continuing to assist Sora in a battle.

Cameos
Bambi and his mother make a brief cameo in the Donald Duck short No Hunting.

In The Rescuers during the song "Someone's Waiting For You", Bambi is seen eating the grass in Devil's Bayou with his mother.

In Who Framed Roger Rabbit he has a cameo appearance during the final scene with the other Disney and non-Disney characters.

Bambi received numerous cameos in the series often seen with Thumper and Flower in House of Mouse. In the episode "Dining Goofy", he showed to be unamused with the fact that he was seated with Big Bad Wolf. His only speaking role is the episode "Mickey vs. Shelby". In the film Mickey's Magical Christmas, Bambi was seen singing during the ending song, and in Mickey's House of Villains, Bambi was seen walking, next to Piglet, with the Disney Villains in the opening only.

In The Reluctant Dragon, Doris presents a completed cel of the titular character at the the ink-and-paint department during a Technicolor-showcasing montage of the paint-making process.

Disney Parks
Like most characters from the film, Bambi makes no live appearances in the parks but being one of Disney's most iconic characters, can be seen in several shows and merchandise. During the Epcot Flower and Garden Festival, Bambi has his own exhibit and topiary.

World of Color
In Disney California Adventure, Bambi was briefly seen during the So Close segment with Flower and Faline. He also appears in a segment of the winter rendition "Winter Dreams", with his friend Thumper.

It's a Small World
In Hong Kong Disneyland's version of the ride, Bambi was seen alongside Thumper as a puppet.

Fantasmic!
Bambi makes a somewhat notable cameo in Disney's Hollywood Studios' version during the bubble sequence.

Bambi

 * "Twitterpated?"
 * "Terrible!"
 * "Me neither."
 * "Faline!"
 * "What happened, Mother? Why did we all run?"
 * "Mother! Mother!"
 * "Whatcha wanna do that for?"
 * "He stopped and looked at me."
 * "Why was everyone still when he came on the meadow?"
 * "Bur... Bur!"
 * "Bur!"
 * "Bur."
 * "Bur!"
 * "Bird!"
 * "Bird!"
 * "Butterfly? Butter... [Bambi sees the butterfly has now gone; he then runs over to a big yellow flower among some other wildflowers] Butterfly!"
 * "Flower?"
 * "Purty. [Bambi starts smelling the flowers, and comes nose-to-nose with a little skunk] Flower!"
 * "Purty. Purty flower!"

Bambi II

 * [Nervous] "I... don't know..."
 * "Mother! Mother! Moth..."
 * "She's not coming back, is she?"
 * "It is?"
 * "I'm a... I'm a bear! Maaa!"
 * "It was mother. I heard her voice."
 * "But I thought..."
 * "I'm... I'm sorry."
 * "Uh, yeah."
 * "I didn't even know this place was here."
 * "Really?"
 * "What were you like?"
 * [Bambi has a dream in which he meets his mother] "I miss you so much."
 * "Why'd you have to go?"
 * "But I feel so alone."
 * [trying to master his dad's advice, he walks along with his eyes closed] "Feel the forest. Feel the forest."
 * "Feel the - OOF![walks headfirst into a tree] Heh, heh. Felt it. "
 * "That's all you care about! Not about me!"
 * [running off] "I wish Mother was here instead of you!"
 * "Oh! I gotta go! My dad's waiting for me!"

Trivia

 * Bambi is similar to Simba in The Lion King in the sense that they learn the lessons of life and fall in love with their female best friends, as well as losing one of their parents to death at a young age.
 * In fact, Bambi is the first Disney hero to have known his love interest as a juvenile, with the second being Robin Hood from the film of the same name, and the third being Simba from The Lion King.
 * In A Goofy Movie, Bambi makes a cameo appearance as a stuffed animal for a young girl that Goofy is photographing in the film.
 * Bambi is mentioned in the song Malachis by the Malachi Brothers saying that their "favourite part of "Bambi" was the forest fire".
 * Bambi is the first Disney hero to be shown as a child, and then as a young adult in his debut film. The second is Tod in The Fox and the Hound, the third is Simba in The Lion King, the fourth is Hercules in the 1997 film of the same name, the fifth is Tarzan in the 1999 film of the same name, and the sixth is Jim Hawkins in Treasure Planet.
 * The name "Bambi" was derived from the word "bambino" which is the Italian word for "baby". The Italian translation for "baby girl" is "bambina".
 * A species of velociraptor was named "bambiraptor" after him.