My Review of The Fox And The Hound (1981)

 

Written by Larry Clemmons And Ted Berman And David Michener And Peter Young And Burny Mattinson And Steve Hulett And Earl Kress And Vance Gerry

Directed by Ted Berman And Richard Rich And Art Stevens

Tod: "Copper, you're my best friend."

Copper: "And you're mine too, Tod."

Tod: "And we'll always be friends forever. Won't we?"

Copper: "Yeah, forever."

I've been on a tiny bit of a Disney watch along and I have to admit that this movie in particular was a first time watch for me. I had heard of it but I had never watched it until recently and like many Disney movies from this era, I'm glad I did. 

Our story began with an abandoned red fox cub who would be named Tod (Mickey Rooney/Keith Mitchell) upon being adopted by Widow Tweed (Jeanette Nolan). Of course it was the wise owl, Big Mama (Pearl Bailey) who brought the two together and it's a rather sweet pairing.

On the other side, there was the hound himself - Copper (Kurt Russell/Corey Feldman). He was raised by Amos Slade (Jack Albertson) and fellow hunting dog, Chief (Pat Buttram). The latter was a bit exasperated with Copper while Amos was very into hunting foxes.

Thus leading to the conflict of interest. What happened when Tod and Copper actually met? Why, they only went and became friends, in spite of everyone else telling them that they were supposed to be natural enemies. However, they didn't let their friendship get derailed until both of them got older and circumstances changed their respective outlooks.

This film really does have a great focus on friendship and the one between Tod and Copper was lovely to watch. It's believable that we would get circumstances that would test that friendship while proving that friendship really can overcome the odds.

- There's a fun subplot with Dinky (Dick Bakalyan) and Boomer (Paul Winchell) try and failing to eat a caterpillar who eventually became a butterfly.

- In the novel the movie's based, Chief died but that didn't happen here of course.

- Standout music: Best Of Friends, A Huntin' Man and Goodbye May Seem Forever.

- Chronology: Years pass throughout the movie as both Tod and Cooper get older. We do get a nice glimpse of winter mid way.

The Fox And The Hound is a sweet tale about an unlikely friendship and overcoming the odds of two characters that everyone else wanted to be enemies. While the songs lack a punch compared to other movies, it's still a nice one to watch.

Rating: 7 out of 10