The Fox and the Hound 2 (2006)

by Tristi Pinkston | More from this Blogger

06 Apr 2007 06:03 PM

Disney has been acting very strangely lately. They've been going through their vaults, locating their most successful movies, and making sequels to them. Strangest of all - they're finding movies that have a time lapse in them, and then making a movie to fill in that time lapse. Like how we see Bambi as a child and then an adult, so in Bambi II, we see what happened in that growing-up time. Well, Disney did it again with "The Fox and the Hound."

In "The Fox and the Hound 2," we see a young Tod and Copper still hanging out together. This show is supposed to fill in some of the time between Tod and Copper making friends and Tod and Copper growing up, although I wasn't aware there was a time lapse there. Oh, well. Anyway, Copper is being trained by Chief to become a hunting dog, and it's not going very well. He doesn't seem to have a natural aptitude for it, and he's scolded regularly for making mistakes. His self-esteem is pretty low, and Tod's attempts to cheer him up aren't going very well.

It's time for the county fair, and the two friends decide to get away from it all and go see the sights. One attraction is particularly attractive (sorry about the pun) to Copper - it's a band of singing strays, accompanied by a gangly fellow on a banjo (voiced by Jeff Foxworthy. I wonder if he was chosen because of his name?) Copper loves to sing, and soon finds himself crooning at the top of his lungs, during the show. Instead of becoming angry, the head dog, Cash, pulls Copper up on the stage and invites him to join the show. Copper has never known such a feeling of accomplishment as the crowd cheers, just for him.

The lead singer of the Strays, a sassy little dog named Dixie (voiced by Reba McEntire) is engaged in a battle of wills with Cash (Patrick Swayze) and has threatened to quit. Cash, determined to be right, tells her that she's fired, and he offers a spot in the band to Copper. There's just one problem - the band is just for strays, and Copper has an owner. But he doesn't need to tell them that, does he?

This is a mildly pleasant show, with nothing to either rave about or criticize. My kids enjoyed the music, especially my two-year-old, the music lover in our family. I just don't know why Disney decided to make it a sequel to "The Fox and the Hound." They really could have told this story with any group of dogs.

This film is rated G.

Related Blogs:

The Fox and the Hound

Bambi

Bambi II

Learn more about Tristi Pinkston

I've been a blogger for Families.com since August of 2006.

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