Released in 1981, The Fox and the Hound is the 24th movie in the Disney Animated Canon, very, very, veryloosely based on a book of the same name.An old woman finds a small orphaned fox whom she adopts and names Tod. Meanwhile, the woman's neighbor, a hunter, brings home a hound puppy named Copper intent on raising him to be a hunting dog. Copper and Tod soon meet and quickly become best friends, which raises conflict between their respective owners. Despite everyone saying that the two should be mortal enemies, the two promise to remain friends forever.Once the two are grown up, Tod is released into the wild and Copper is actively participating in his master's hunts. The friendship between the two is put into jeopardy.A Direct-to-Videomidquel, The Fox and The Hound 2, was released in 2006.
The film provides examples of:
Anti-Villain: Amos Slade is a rare Disney example of this. He's a Jerkass but not a bad guy, and he doesn't see his career of hunting as a bad thing. The only time he actually does anything illegal is when Chief almost dies thanks to Tod and he's determined to get Tod's pelt even though hunting isn't allowed in that area, but backs off when Copper shows Amos that Tod is his friend.
Chief also counts, as the viewer is supposed to care about him even though he is antagonistic towards Tod. It helps that he does have some sort of genuine affection for Copper, even after it turns to jealousy when Copper grows older.
Corrupt Hick: Copper's owner is willing to hunt foxes in a nature preserve.
To be fair, he's only hunting this one fox and for personal reasons.
Disney Death: Chief, though it initially appears certain he won't survive, after the train accidentally hits him.
Disneyfication: The story the movie is based on ends with both main characters amongst others dead.
Disney Villain Death: The bear, who falls off the log and down a steep waterfall.
Curiously, Tod was also shown to fall and yet was clearly shown to survive.
Double Take: The chicken looks over to her little chicks, for a second, who are curious about that fury red thing that has it's paw reaching up to them, as if to...Cue the chicken freaking out and chasing Tod in the barn shed.
Go Through Me: At the very end, when Copper positions himself above Tod to prevent Amos from shooting him.
Green-Eyed Monster: Chief and Copper's roles are reversed from the original novel; here Chief is the aging hound and Copper the new favorite who he becomes jealous of.
Hypocritical Humor: Chief tries to milk his leg injury for sympathy, but later thinks Amos is making too big a deal out of his own leg pain when the Widow is dressing his wounds.
Ink Suit Actor: Amos bears more than a little resemblance to Jack Albertson.
In Name Only: How Walt Disney Studios managed to look at what reads like a fictionalized documentary about the life and times of a mongrel hunting dog and a human-reared wild fox who live through bear hunts, rabies epidemics, and the rise of suburbia among other things and turn it into a musical is a mystery for the ages.
Oh Crap: Chief gets one before getting hit by the train. Copper gets one when he's sniffing around for Tod and smells a bear. Amos gets one a second later when he sees it.
Papa Wolf: Tod becomes this when Copper is threatened by a very pissed off bear near the end.
Copper himself counts too, since he tries (and fails) to protect his master from said bear.
Puppy-Dog Eyes: Naturally. When standing up to Slade at the end Copper gives a defiant but earnest use of this trope. Tod, the more idealistic of the two, gives a lot of these over the course of the movie as well.
Raised by Humans: Tod is raised by an old widow woman after his real mother is killed by hunters.
0 reviews 