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Description
Lets continue our Disney marathon with this tragic tale of two childhood friends, and a transitional film from the old team of animators to the new team.

After a young red fox is orphaned, Big Mama the owl, Dinky the finch, and Boomer the woodpecker arrange for him to be adopted by a kindly farmer named Widow Tweed. Tweed names him Tod, because he reminds her of a toddler. Meanwhile, her neighbor, a hunter named Amos Slade, brings home a young hound puppy named Copper and introduces him to his hunting dog Chief. One day, Tod and Copper meet and become playmates, vowing to remain "friends forever". Slade grows frustrated at Copper for constantly wandering off to play, and places him on a leash. While playing with Copper outside his doghouse, Tod awakens Chief. Slade and Chief chase Tod until they are stopped by Tweed. After an argument, Slade threatens to kill Tod if he trespasses on his farm again. Hunting season comes and Slade takes his dogs into the wilderness for the interim. Meanwhile, Big Mama, Dinky, and Boomer attempt to explain to Tod that his friendship with Copper will not continue, as they are natural enemies, but Tod naively refuses to believe them, hoping that he and Copper will remain friends forever. As months pass, Tod and Copper both reach adulthood, with Copper having become an experienced hunting dog. On the night of Copper's return, Tod sneaks over to visit him, asking if they can still be friends. Copper, however, says that the days of their friendship are over now that he is a hunting dog. Their conversation awakens Chief, who alerts Slade. In the ensuing chase Copper catches Tod, but lets Tod go and diverts Slade. Chief, however, catches Tod when he attempts an escape on a railroad track, but is struck by an oncoming train and falls into the river below, breaking his leg. Enraged by this, Copper and Slade blame Tod for the accident and vow vengeance. Realizing Tod is no longer safe with her, Tweed leaves him at a game preserve. Tod's first night alone in the woods proves disastrous, as he inadvertently trespasses into an irritable old badger's den. Thankfully, a friendly porcupine offers Tod shelter. That same night, Slade and Copper plan to poach Tod. The next morning, Big Mama finds Tod and introduces him to her best friend, a female fox named Vixey, who helps Tod adapt to life in the forest. Meanwhile, Slade and Copper trespass into the preserve to hunt Tod. Will Tod be able to survive, and is it possible for their former friendship to be amended?

Pros:
1. Tod and Copper are both great and well developed protagonists.
2. Widow Tweed, Big Mama, and Vixey are all great support.
3. Dinky and Boomer are both good comic relief.
4. Amos Slade and Chief are both good antagonists.
5. The comedy is very well timed and humorous.
6. There are some very well handled emotional and intense moments.
7. Amazing voice acting.
8. The music is very well done, and so are the songs such as "Best of Friends" and "Goodbye May Seem Forever".
9. The animation, as to be expected from Disney, is very well done.
10. The story is very well written with a powerful message.

Cons:
1. It does drag at times.
2. Some of the chase scenes with Dinky, Boomer, and the caterpillar are pretty much filler.
3. The rest of the songs aren't really that memorable.

Overall:
Not one of Disney's best, but still pretty damn good.

Rating:
8/10 (Great)

Production Notes and Trivia:
1. In May 1967, shortly before The Fox and the Hound won the Dutton Animal Book Award, it was reported that Walt Disney Productions had obtained the film rights to the novel. In spring 1977, development began on the project after Wolfgang Reitherman had read the original novel and decided that it would make for a good animated feature as one of his sons had once owned a pet fox years before. The title was initially reported as The Fox and the Hounds, but the filmmakers dropped the plural as the story began to focus more and more on the two leads. Reitherman was the film's original director along with Art Stevens as co-director. A power struggle between the two directors and co-producer Ron Miller broke out over key sections of the film with Miller supporting the younger Stevens. Miller instructed Reitherman to surrender reins over to the junior personnel, but Reitherman resisted due to a lack of trust in the young animators.
2. In an earlier version of the film, Chief was slated to die as he did in the novel. However, the scene was modified to have Chief survive with a cast on his back paw. Animator Ron Clements, who had briefly transitioned into the story department, protested that "Chief has to die. The picture doesn't work if he just breaks his leg. Copper doesn't have motivation to hate the fox." Likewise, younger members of the story team pleaded with Stevens to have Chief killed. Stevens countered that "Geez, we never killed a main character in a Disney film and we're not starting now!" The younger crew members took the problem to upper management who would also back Stevens. Ollie Johnston's test animation of Chief stomping around the house with his leg in a cast was eventually kept, and Randy Cartwright re-animated the scene where Copper finds Chief's body and had him animate Chief's eyes opening and closing so the audience knew that he was not dead.
3. Another fight erupted when Reitherman, in thinking the film lacked a strong second act, decided to add a musical sequence of two swooping cranes voiced by Phil Harris and Charo who would sing a silly song titled "Scoobie-Doobie Doobie Doo, Let Your Body Turn Goo" to Tod after he was dropped in the forest. Charo had recorded the song and voice tracks which were storyboarded, and live-action reference footage was shot of her in a sweaty pink leotard. However, the scene was strongly disliked by studio personnel who felt the song was a distraction from the main plot with Stevens stating "We can't let that sequence in the movie! It's totally out of place!" Stevens notified studio management and after many story conferences, the scene was removed. Reitherman later walked into Stevens's office, slumped in a chair, and said, "I dunno, Art, maybe this is a young man's medium." He later moved on to undeveloped projects such as Catfish Bend and died in a car accident in 1985.
4. By late 1978, Frank Thomas, Ollie Johnston, and Cliff Nordberg had completed their animation. Thomas had animated scenes of Tod and Copper using dialogue Larry Clemmons had written and recorded with the child actors. This project would mark the last film to have the involvement of Disney's Nine Old Men who had retired early during production, and animation was turned over the next generation of directors and animators, which included John Lasseter, John Musker, Ron Clements, Glen Keane, Tim Burton, Brad Bird, Henry Selick, Chris Buck, Mike Gabriel, and Mark Dindal, all of whom would finalize the animation and complete the film's production. These animators had moved through the in-house animation training program, and would play an important role in the Disney Renaissance of the 1980s and 1990s.
5. However, the transition between the old guard and the new resulted in arguments over how to handle the film. Reitherman had his own ideas on the designs and layouts that should be used, but the newer team backed Stevens. Animator Don Bluth animated several scenes including of Widow Tweed milking her cow, Abigail, while his team worked on the rest of the sequence, and when Tweed fires at Amos Slade's automobile. Nevertheless, Bluth and the new animators felt that Reitherman was too stern and out of touch, and on his 42nd birthday, September 13, 1979, Bluth, along with Gary Goldman and John Pomeroy, entered Ron Miller's office, and they turned in their resignations. Soon after, 13 more animators followed suit in turning in their resignations, and the rest is history. Though Bluth and his team had animated substantial scenes, they asked not to receive screen credit.
6. With those animators now gone, Miller ordered all of the resigning animators off the studio lot by noon of that same day and would later push the release of The Fox and the Hound from Christmas 1980 to summer 1981. New animators were hired and promoted to fill the ranks. To compensate for the lack of experience of the new animators, much of the quality control would rely upon a corp of veteran assistant animators. Four years after production started, the film was finished with approximately 360,000 drawings, 110,000 painted cels and 1,100 painted backgrounds making up the finished product. A total of 180 people, including 24 animators, worked on the film.
7. The Fox and the Hound was first released on VHS in 1994 as the last video installment of the Walt Disney Classics collection. In 2000, it was released on VHS and DVD for the first time as part of the Walt Disney Gold Classic Collection line. A 25th anniversary special edition DVD was released in 2006. The Fox and the Hound was released on Blu-ray in 2011 to commemorate the film's 30th anniversary. The film was released in a 3-disc Blu-ray/DVD Combo pack alongside its sequel.
8. A direct-to-video sequel, titled The Fox and the Hound 2, was released in 2006.

Description
Lets continue our Disney marathon with this tragic tale of two childhood friends, and a transitional film from the old team of animators to the new team.

After a young red fox is orphaned, Big Mama the owl, Dinky the finch, and Boomer the woodpecker arrange for him to be adopted by a kindly farmer named Widow Tweed. Tweed names him Tod, because he reminds her of a toddler. Meanwhile, her neighbor, a hunter named Amos Slade, brings home a young hound puppy named Copper and introduces him to his hunting dog Chief. One day, Tod and Copper meet and become playmates, vowing to remain "friends forever". Slade grows frustrated at Copper for constantly wandering off to play, and places him on a leash. While playing with Copper outside his doghouse, Tod awakens Chief. Slade and Chief chase Tod until they are stopped by Tweed. After an argument, Slade threatens to kill Tod if he trespasses on his farm again. Hunting season comes and Slade takes his dogs into the wilderness for the interim. Meanwhile, Big Mama, Dinky, and Boomer attempt to explain to Tod that his friendship with Copper will not continue, as they are natural enemies, but Tod naively refuses to believe them, hoping that he and Copper will remain friends forever. As months pass, Tod and Copper both reach adulthood, with Copper having become an experienced hunting dog. On the night of Copper's return, Tod sneaks over to visit him, asking if they can still be friends. Copper, however, says that the days of their friendship are over now that he is a hunting dog. Their conversation awakens Chief, who alerts Slade. In the ensuing chase Copper catches Tod, but lets Tod go and diverts Slade. Chief, however, catches Tod when he attempts an escape on a railroad track, but is struck by an oncoming train and falls into the river below, breaking his leg. Enraged by this, Copper and Slade blame Tod for the accident and vow vengeance. Realizing Tod is no longer safe with her, Tweed leaves him at a game preserve. Tod's first night alone in the woods proves disastrous, as he inadvertently trespasses into an irritable old badger's den. Thankfully, a friendly porcupine offers Tod shelter. That same night, Slade and Copper plan to poach Tod. The next morning, Big Mama finds Tod and introduces him to her best friend, a female fox named Vixey, who helps Tod adapt to life in the forest. Meanwhile, Slade and Copper trespass into the preserve to hunt Tod. Will Tod be able to survive, and is it possible for their former friendship to be amended?

Pros:
1. Tod and Copper are both great and well developed protagonists.
2. Widow Tweed, Big Mama, and Vixey are all great support.
3. Dinky and Boomer are both good comic relief.
4. Amos Slade and Chief are both good antagonists.
5. The comedy is very well timed and humorous.
6. There are some very well handled emotional and intense moments.
7. Amazing voice acting.
8. The music is very well done, and so are the songs such as "Best of Friends" and "Goodbye May Seem Forever".
9. The animation, as to be expected from Disney, is very well done.
10. The story is very well written with a powerful message.

Cons:
1. It does drag at times.
2. Some of the chase scenes with Dinky, Boomer, and the caterpillar are pretty much filler.
3. The rest of the songs aren't really that memorable.

Overall:
Not one of Disney's best, but still pretty damn good.

Rating:
8/10 (Great)

Production Notes and Trivia:
1. In May 1967, shortly before The Fox and the Hound won the Dutton Animal Book Award, it was reported that Walt Disney Productions had obtained the film rights to the novel. In spring 1977, development began on the project after Wolfgang Reitherman had read the original novel and decided that it would make for a good animated feature as one of his sons had once owned a pet fox years before. The title was initially reported as The Fox and the Hounds, but the filmmakers dropped the plural as the story began to focus more and more on the two leads. Reitherman was the film's original director along with Art Stevens as co-director. A power struggle between the two directors and co-producer Ron Miller broke out over key sections of the film with Miller supporting the younger Stevens. Miller instructed Reitherman to surrender reins over to the junior personnel, but Reitherman resisted due to a lack of trust in the young animators.
2. In an earlier version of the film, Chief was slated to die as he did in the novel. However, the scene was modified to have Chief survive with a cast on his back paw. Animator Ron Clements, who had briefly transitioned into the story department, protested that "Chief has to die. The picture doesn't work if he just breaks his leg. Copper doesn't have motivation to hate the fox." Likewise, younger members of the story team pleaded with Stevens to have Chief killed. Stevens countered that "Geez, we never killed a main character in a Disney film and we're not starting now!" The younger crew members took the problem to upper management who would also back Stevens. Ollie Johnston's test animation of Chief stomping around the house with his leg in a cast was eventually kept, and Randy Cartwright re-animated the scene where Copper finds Chief's body and had him animate Chief's eyes opening and closing so the audience knew that he was not dead.
3. Another fight erupted when Reitherman, in thinking the film lacked a strong second act, decided to add a musical sequence of two swooping cranes voiced by Phil Harris and Charo who would sing a silly song titled "Scoobie-Doobie Doobie Doo, Let Your Body Turn Goo" to Tod after he was dropped in the forest. Charo had recorded the song and voice tracks which were storyboarded, and live-action reference footage was shot of her in a sweaty pink leotard. However, the scene was strongly disliked by studio personnel who felt the song was a distraction from the main plot with Stevens stating "We can't let that sequence in the movie! It's totally out of place!" Stevens notified studio management and after many story conferences, the scene was removed. Reitherman later walked into Stevens's office, slumped in a chair, and said, "I dunno, Art, maybe this is a young man's medium." He later moved on to undeveloped projects such as Catfish Bend and died in a car accident in 1985.
4. By late 1978, Frank Thomas, Ollie Johnston, and Cliff Nordberg had completed their animation. Thomas had animated scenes of Tod and Copper using dialogue Larry Clemmons had written and recorded with the child actors. This project would mark the last film to have the involvement of Disney's Nine Old Men who had retired early during production, and animation was turned over the next generation of directors and animators, which included John Lasseter, John Musker, Ron Clements, Glen Keane, Tim Burton, Brad Bird, Henry Selick, Chris Buck, Mike Gabriel, and Mark Dindal, all of whom would finalize the animation and complete the film's production. These animators had moved through the in-house animation training program, and would play an important role in the Disney Renaissance of the 1980s and 1990s.
5. However, the transition between the old guard and the new resulted in arguments over how to handle the film. Reitherman had his own ideas on the designs and layouts that should be used, but the newer team backed Stevens. Animator Don Bluth animated several scenes including of Widow Tweed milking her cow, Abigail, while his team worked on the rest of the sequence, and when Tweed fires at Amos Slade's automobile. Nevertheless, Bluth and the new animators felt that Reitherman was too stern and out of touch, and on his 42nd birthday, September 13, 1979, Bluth, along with Gary Goldman and John Pomeroy, entered Ron Miller's office, and they turned in their resignations. Soon after, 13 more animators followed suit in turning in their resignations, and the rest is history. Though Bluth and his team had animated substantial scenes, they asked not to receive screen credit.
6. With those animators now gone, Miller ordered all of the resigning animators off the studio lot by noon of that same day and would later push the release of The Fox and the Hound from Christmas 1980 to summer 1981. New animators were hired and promoted to fill the ranks. To compensate for the lack of experience of the new animators, much of the quality control would rely upon a corp of veteran assistant animators. Four years after production started, the film was finished with approximately 360,000 drawings, 110,000 painted cels and 1,100 painted backgrounds making up the finished product. A total of 180 people, including 24 animators, worked on the film.
7. The Fox and the Hound was first released on VHS in 1994 as the last video installment of the Walt Disney Classics collection. In 2000, it was released on VHS and DVD for the first time as part of the Walt Disney Gold Classic Collection line. A 25th anniversary special edition DVD was released in 2006. The Fox and the Hound was released on Blu-ray in 2011 to commemorate the film's 30th anniversary. The film was released in a 3-disc Blu-ray/DVD Combo pack alongside its sequel.
8. A direct-to-video sequel, titled The Fox and the Hound 2, was released in 2006.