Bambi Diamond Edition Combo Pack Blu-ray (pre-order)

More than 60 years before The Lion King, Walt Disney and his original dream team of animators illustrated the circle of life with this classic coming-of-age fable based on the book by Felix Salten. Bambi traces the seasons in the life of a young deer prince, from his birth and adolescence through the birth of his own two fawns. This masterpiece ranks near the top of the Disney pantheon. Bambi boasts some of Disney's most memorable characters (Thumper the rabbit and Flower the skunk), its loveliest songs ("Love Is a Song" and "Little April Showers"), and its most haunting and harrowing score -- listen to how the ominous Man's theme anticipates the incoming shark music from Jaws. It抯 hard to imagine an animated scene that more effectively depicts joy and wonder than Bambi's first skittish skate on the frozen pond. There is heartbreak here, too, in Walt Disney抯 first-ever death scene: "We'll tear [the audience抯] hearts out," the animator famously predicted. This two-disc set will leave Disney and animation buffs "twitterpated" with its wealth of archival rarities and unprecedented features. Chief among these is, in lieu of a commentary, audio reenactments of the actual story meetings that chart the film's production. Bambi is truly one for the ages, and this Special Edition will en-deer it to yet a new generation. Donald Liebenson,