Let me first start off by saying that I couldn't be happier that Netflix has finally reached a deal with Disney which will allow them to stream many of the Disney Studio's classic films, films I would much rather watch than the current crop of animated movies from Disney and other studios. "The Fox and the Hound" (1981) was always one of my favorite of Disney's older films and so I had to watch it again after having not seen it in years. I didn't realize the movie was based on a book and in reading up on the movie after watching it again, I realized the book was a little bit darker for all the characters concerned. Disney, of course, played it safe and created a light, family friendly version that appealed to kids and adults. Tod, the fox, is so named by the lonely Widow Tweed because, according to her, he's 'such a little toddler'. He's rambunctious and always getting into mischief as foxes like to do, I suppose. Copper, the hound dog, gets into trouble of his own, much to the annoyance of his owner's older hunting dog, Chief, who bellows 'you can't tell these young whippersnappers anything.' The pair (Tod and Copper) meet in the forest and soon become inseparable, frolicking and playing without a care in the world. Other woodland animals, such as Big Momma the owl can see that the two friends are 'such a funny pair' even though they can't see it themselves. After all these years, I always remembered the line where Tod says 'Copper, you're my very best friend' and Copper responds with 'And you're mine too, Tod.' Little do they know, their friendship will fall by the wayside because that's how nature dictates it should be. Copper is being groomed to be his owner Amos Slade's new hunting dog. He'll become 'a real killer' say the other animals, but naive Tod reassures them, 'oh no, not my friend Copper, he won't ever change.' Wise Big Momma tells him 'time has a way of changing things'. The dialogue in this film was very good for an animated film, which is probably why I am repeating so much of it here. As the animals grow up, they grow apart. Copper knows they can't be friends anymore. 'Those days are over,' he warns Tod. Tod's owner abandons him in the forest where he is left to fend for himself among the other forest animals. He doesn't do such a great job of this until meeting Vixie, a fellow fox. She's Tod's new friend, but his friendship with Copper is put to one final test before the film's conclusion. This film had an interesting attitude towards women, I thought. While Big Momma the owl is thought of by the other animals as wise and all-knowing, even singing her lessons to the other animals (in singer Pearl Bailey's voice) at times, Tod's owner Widow Tweed is called a 'meddling female' by the hunter Amos Slade. He also calls her 'female' and 'woman' as he blows his top at her and her mischievous fox. Tod himself, upon first meeting Vixie, calls her a 'silly, empty-headed female'. It's interesting that he thinks of her that way. Also, there is the fact that Tod's mother abandoned him at the start of the film and this made me think the character is supposed to resent females. He feels further abandoned when the female he does trust, Widow Tweed, leaves him on his own in the forest. Maybe the hunter feels the same way. He's alone, aside from the company of his hunting dogs and he likes to be by himself, so he resents the interference of his widowed neighbor. I enjoyed hearing the voices of the recognizable voice cast, most of them Disney Legends who had contributed voice work and in some cases, live-action work, to different films in the studio's library over the years. Mickey Rooney ("Pete's Dragon") played Older Tod and Kurt Russell (whose Disney legacy includes films too numerous to mention) played Older Copper. Paul Winchell ("Tigger" from the Winnie the Pooh films) voiced a wacky woodpecker doing his best to capture a green caterpillar for his breakfast in a small subplot and Winchell's Winnie the Pooh costar John Fiedler ("Piglet") who died a day after Winchell in 2005, voiced a timid porcupine who took Tod in during his rainy first night in the forest alone. Sandy Duncan (the live-action studio film "Million Dollar Duck") voiced Vixie and John McIntire (seen in the live-action "Herbie Rides Again") voiced an angry badger who turned Tod away before the porcupine came to the rescue. And lastly, Pat Buttram (heard in everything from "The Aristocats" to "Robin Hood" to "Who Framed Roger Rabbit?") played Chief, the older hunting dog who resents young Copper, the new dog in town. This film, always one of my favorite Disney classics, was a lot of fun to revisit. Luckily, there are more Disney classics in the Netflix queue waiting for me to rediscover them.
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