My quick rating - 4.8/10. Bambi: The Reckoning is one of those movies where the title alone tells you exactly what kind of ride you’re in for, and to its credit, it mostly delivers. I tossed this onto my Christmas horror watchlist thinking it was Rudolph, which…close enough, I guess. Instead of a glowing nose, we get a grief-fueled, mutated deer on a revenge rampage, and honestly, that’s a holiday miracle in its own right.
The film opens with an animated backstory explaining how deforestation and human cruelty may have pushed the forest’s animals over the edge. It’s surprisingly earnest, laying the groundwork for why Bambi has gone full apex predator. After a car accident strands a mother and son, they quickly discover they’re not just injured, they’re prey. Bambi isn’t content with a simple hit-and-run either; his wrath extends to their entire family, including the matriarch (Nicola Wright), who suffers from dementia and shares a strange, unexplained psychic connection with the deer. The movie never really digs into that bond, but it’s weird enough to keep things interesting.
As if an enraged kaiju-sized deer weren’t enough, the plot piles on additional chaos with a group of bounty hunters hired to capture or kill the creature, plus other mutated animals roaming the woods. The standout offenders are the rabbits, who have somehow become carnivorous murder machines. Watching them go feral reminded me of the bunny from Monty Python and the Holy Grail on blood thirsty steroids. It’s ridiculous, but it works within the film’s aggressively campy tone.
Let’s talk scale. Bambi’s size fluctuates wildly depending on the scene’s needs, but the first attack establishes him as car-sized, literally flipping a vehicle before standing atop it like an angry woodland god. Later moments stretch logic even further, including a genuinely hilarious shot of Bambi delicately turning a round doorknob with his hoof. This comes immediately after he smashes straight through a window and the wall supporting it, because consistency is optional in movies like this.
Roxanne McKee brings a bit of polish to the proceedings, while Joseph Greenwood’s Harrison is engineered to be absolutely unbearable, and kudos to director Dan Allen for ensuring that a character this obnoxious gets the kind of send-off he truly earns. The kills, overall, are a pleasant surprise. Several are genuinely well-staged, with the chase sequences and Harrison’s encounter with the bunnies standing out as my highlights.
The CGI is better than expected for a film of this ilk, and fans of the original Bambi will appreciate a certain familiar rabbit making an appearance. Sure, there are nitpicks - flares definitely last longer than thirty seconds - but after all the absurd carnage, Bambi: The Reckoning ends up being far more watchable than it has any right to be. It’s silly, violent, occasionally clever, and fully aware of its own insanity, which makes it a solid choice if you’re in the mood for campy creature chaos.
No comments:
Post a Comment