History WesternAnimation / BambiII

* {{Foreshadowing}}: At one point, Thumper laments that Bambi's new life with his father means he never has time for his friends anymore. Without a trace of sarcasm, Faline calls this "wonderful." [[spoiler:Adulthood will find Bambi observing Faline and their new fawns from a distance, with Faline apparently fine with this.]]

* DeerInTheHeadlights: Quite literally. As a result of his traumatic experiences with man, Bambi is left paralyzed with fear whenever he spots hunters or dogs closing in on him. He overcomes it in the climax.

* HeroicBSOD: Bambi literally freezes in terror at the sight of man's hunting dogs, but the Great Prince snaps him out of it just in time before the hunter can shoot him.

* ICanExplain: The Great Prince may not have said the exact phrase, he did had this moment when Bambi found out about the arrangement of living with his new stepmother and tried to explain his motives to Bambi, but Bambi was too heartbroken to listen.
--> '''Bambi:''' (''to his father'') You're sending me away?
--> '''The Great Prince:''' No! Just...just let me explain.

* ImmediateSequel: Or rather, Midquel. The film starts right at the midpoint of the first film where Bambi's mother dies and he finds The Great Prince.

* WorldBuilding: The midquel has bits of this as a byproduct of humanizing the animals more than they had already been in the original film (which isn't a new idea in the Bambi universe per se, as it was sometimes present in the comic book tie-ins, it was just the first time it was applied to an actual movie). It adds new characters and locations in the forest that weren't seen before, and builds on an idea that the animals have a primitive form of culture (i.e. celebrating holidays like Groundhog Day, the characters briefly singing an actual song with lyrics in-universe, the Prince's beliefs of how he and his son should conduct themselves being firmly rooted in a tradition as opposed to just being driven by animal instinct). However, aspects of it manage to stay consistent with the original films naturalistic depiction of nature, such as the plot point of the Great Prince ordering Friend Owl to find a doe to adopt Bambi instead of having him raise him, which of course is rooted in the fact that [[TruthInTelevision stags never have anything to do with raising their fawns]] (which was already strongly implied in the first film, but not outright stated).

* PlotIrrelevantVillain: While the plot was directly kicked off by Man's actions in the first film, they only get one scene in focus early on. The conflict is mostly Bambi trying to bond with his father, with Ronno being the closest thing to an antagonist for the bulk of the film until the climax, where Man's precense is implied due to the pack of hunting dogs going after Bambi, but they dont directly take part in it.

* NiceJobFixingItVillain: [[spoiler:If Ronno hadn't goaded Bambi into fighting him, which in turn unintentionally caused Mena to fall into a hunters trap and prompt Bambi to rescue her by distracting a pack of hunting dogs at the risk of his own life, Bambi wouldn't have reunited with his father and friends.]]

* MissionPackSequel: Being a midquel set between the second and third act of the first film, the story doesnt really add that much new to the Bambi universe or the first films story aside from expanding on some of the characters personalities and some minor {{Worldbuilding}}, and it naturally works as a side story that you don't need to see in order to follow the original. Some of the story beats of the original are even reused in the context of InternalHomage. The more character-driven narrative is generally a fair bit different from the original film however, still giving the midquel a somewhat unique tone and direction, especially in how it contextualises some characters and how they grow between the TimeSkip.

* AdaptationAmalgamation: While the film is largely it's own unique story, it does feature several nods to not just the first film, but the two original novels and even some earlier Disney tie-in media. See MythologyGag below.

** When Faline and Ronno hear Bambi's squeals of pain, Ronno dismisses it as “some poor dumb animal caught in a trap. In the climax, Ronno is completely at fault for Mena getting caught in a snare.

* ICanExplain: The Great Prince may not have the exact phrase, he did had this moment when Bambi found out about the arrangement with living with his new stepmother and tried to explain his motives to Bambi, but Bambi was too heartbroken to listen.

[[caption-width-right:280: [[{{Tagline}} A son’s courage. A father’s love.]]]]

[[caption-width-right:280: A DTV Disney sequel that is actually pretty good? What madness is this?!]]

* ArmorPiercingQuestion: As his father escorts him home, a heartbroken Bambi ask his father a question about his mother
--> '''Bambi:''' She's never coming back...is she?
--> ({{Beat}})
--> '''The Great Prince:''' (''sadly'') [[ArmorPiercingResponse No.]]

* CallingTheOldManOut: A heeartbroken Bambi gets really angry when he abruptly discovers that his father was planning to send him to live with his new stepmother, and goes as far as to saying that he wish his mother was with him, and accuses him of only caring about him being the next prince of the forest, and not caring about him as a son. It also makes sense from a narrative standpoint, since Bambi had been spending a good chunk of the film [[WellDoneSonGuy trying to earn his father's approval]] and finally started to bond with him, only for Friend Owl to break the news to him at the worst possible time. Making matters worse is that the Great Prince had actually intended to call off the arrangement, but wasn't able to explain it to him because Bambi was too hurt to listen, making him believe he has to go through with it anyway.

* ShooOutTheClowns: Subverted; Thumper and Flower play a small, but important, role in the climax by using Flower's musk to scare off some of the hunting dogs chasing Bambi. Theyre also present when Bambi has [[DisneyDeath seemingly]] fallen to his death.

* RealityEnsues: Bambi's upbringing becomes this as a result of his mother's death, due to tradition and his standard stoic disposition, his father is completely unadjusted to raising him, [[ParentsAsPeople leading to a much more contentious relationship between father and son.]]