Reception
Bambi lost money at the box office for its first release, but recouped its considerable cost during the 1947 re-release. This was due to the timing of the release, during World War II and this hurt the film's box office numbers. The film did not do so well at the box office in the U.S., and the studio no longer had access to many European markets that provided a large portion of its profits. Roy Disney sent a telegram to his brother Walt after the New York opening of the film that read: "Fell short of our holdover figure by $4,000. Just came from Music Hall. Unable to make any deal to stay third week...Night business is our problem."
At the time of the film's release, Bambi received mixed to negative reviews from the critics, mainly because of the realistic animation of the animals, and the story of their fight against the evil humans in the story. Hunters spoke out against the movie, saying it was "an insult to American sportsmen." The New York Times claimed that "In the search for perfection, Mr. Disney has come perilously close to tossing away his whole world of cartoon fantasy." Film critic, Manny Farber called it "entirely unpleasant" and agreed with the New York Times statement saying, "In an effort to trump the realism of flesh and blood movies, he has given up fantasy, which was pretty much the magic element." The criticism, however, was short-lived, and the financial shortfall of its first release was made up multiple times in the subsequent re-releases.
Today, the film is viewed as a classic. The film holds a 91% "Fresh" rating from critics on Rotten Tomatoes. Critics Mick Martin and Marsha Porter call the film "...the crowning achievement of Walt Disney's animation studio." In June 2008, the American Film Institute revealed its "10 Top 10" — the best ten films in ten classic American film genres – after polling over 1,500 people from the creative community. Bambi was acknowledged as the third best film in the animation genre. It is also listed in the Top 25 Horror Movies of all Time by Time magazine. Bambi, Time states, "has a primal shock that still haunts oldsters who saw it 40, 50, 65 years ago."
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