Disney Month III- The Fox and the Hound

The Fox and the Hound (1981)
Starring: Mickey Rooney, Kurt Russell, Corey Feldman
Directed by: Ted Berman, Richard Rich, and Art Stevens


Plot Summary: A young red fox is left orphaned in the woods, so Big Mama the owl, Dinky the finch, and Boomer the woodpecker help get him noticed by the Widow Tweed on her farm. She finds the fox and names him Tod, since he reminds her of a toddler. Her hunter neighbor Amos Slade brings home a hound puppy named Copper and leaves him in the care of his hunting dog Chief. Tod and Copper meet each other and vow to be best friends forever. When Tod comes over to play one day, he is chased away by Chief and Slade, leading to a heated conversation between Slade and Tweed. Slade leaves for a long hunting trip, taking Chief and Copper with him. Despite their claims of being best friends forever, everyone around Tod tries to warn him that Copper may be different when he returns from the trip. If Slade and Chief train Copper to be a proper hunting dog, he may return to find that his best friend is now his prey.


I was never the biggest fan of The Fox and the Hound growing up because I was a kid and I thought the film was really boring. A story about a fox and a hound being the best of friends never seemed to appeal to me. Give me films like Aladdin and Hercules any day. Those movies had action and stuff for boys. RAH! I've grown up a lot since then, but you can't blame a kid for having that mindset at such an early age. I didn't care about princess movies either and a lot of those are my favorite Disney movies nowadays. Moral of the story is that all Disney movies deserve a second chance throughout a lifetime. You never know when your opinion about them can change. And after re-watching The Fox and the Hound, I can say my opinion on them has definitely changed. For starters, it's definitely a lot more adult than I remembered, having scenes that are very emotional, very tense, and very traumatizing for both children and adults. Yet, it's wrapped up in a cutesy Disney package thanks to our two main characters. But there is a lot more than what's on the surface, so let's look at the pros and cons of the Disney film for BFF's everywhere.

Let's look at The Fox and the Hound by looking at the young versions of Tod and Copper, voiced by Keith Mitchell and Corey Feldman. First thing, they're absolutely adorable and innocent characters. That already makes them likable. That being said, this is the portion of the movie that I found boring just because they don't really do anything. Also, they have like 2 sentences together and then they declare themselves best friends forever. I know kids do that, but this is the central point of the movie. Shouldn't there be a little more for them to do other than just saying their names and calling themselves BFF's? They should at least have some form of adventure that causes them to bond. And no, I don't mean joining a band like they did in the direct to Disney DVD midquel.

When they're older, they're a lot more interesting. Tod is voiced by Mickey Rooney and must cope with life in the wilderness without his friends. He's a fish out of water (so to speak) and you can't help but feel bad for him. Copper's voiced by Kurt Russell (yes, THAT Kurt Russell) and is now the top hunting dog in his household, so he's the one that's most compromised by their age. He's been trained to hunt and kill prey like Tod, yet he tries to keep his friend safe. It's only through an act of revenge that causes Copper to actually become a bit of a villain during the climax. Though, naturally he turns around for the sake of friendship.

The side characters that are really compelling in the film are Tod and Cpper's human owners. Tod's owner is Widow Tweed, voiced Jeanette Nolan, and Copper's owner is Amos Slade, voiced by Jack Albertson. Their bickering is actually really funny to watch. Slade's older hunting dog Chief, voiced by Pat Buttram, is also a great character, as he looks after Copper to help him learn the ropes of becoming a true hunting dog. Big Mama the owl, voiced by Pearl Bailey, is also a great character, as she does her best to watch out for Tod throughout the film.

The only real side characters that don't work are Dinky and Boomer, voiced by Dick Bakalyan and Paul Winchell. They don't really offer much other than chasing a caterpillar, which has nothing to do with the main plot, so I don't really care about it.

The thing that really made the movie work for me this time around was just how adult it seemed. There is a lot to deal with that might slip your mind when you're thinking of showing this film off to your kids. Besides the fact that it's heavily implied that Tod's mother was killed by hunters and that Slade attempts on more than one occasion to shoot Tod, we have arguably one of the saddest moments in Disney history. Kids may not find it too sad, because they may not understand why it's sad yet, but I've heard that many parents (particularly mothers) have related to the scene where Widow Tweed has to release Tod into the woods for his safety. It's a subtle and powerful scene, but its beauty is in the sadness it produces. And to think this all came from The Fox and the Hound, a movie I thought was too boring as a kid. Go figure.


Rating: 3 out of 5 stars

The positives of The Fox and the Hound definitely outweigh the negatives. The cute characters, surprisingly adult themes, and one of the most heart wrenching moments in Disney history definitely make this a film worth checking out at least once. It's a harmless movie about the importance of friendship, and who couldn't use a movie like that in their lifetime, right?

The Fox and the Hound and movie images are copyrighted by Walt Disney Pictures