I remember seeing The Fox and The Hound in theaters and it instantly became one of my favorite Disney films. At the time, I was aware of who Mickey Rooney (adult Todd's voice) and Kurt Russell (adult Copper's voice) were, and possibly even Corey Feldman (young Copper's voice) from his time on the Bad News Bears, but I had forgotten just how many famous voice actors were in this film. There's also Pearl Bailey as Big Mama, the maternal owl, Jack Albertson (Willie Wonka) as old man Amos Slade, Copper and Chief's owner, and Sandy Duncan as Vixie, Todd's love interest.
The film begins as hunters are chasing a mother fox and her baby. Naturally, the hunters kill the mother and the young, defenseless fox is left on his own. Big Mama (Bailey) sees the whole scene play out and takes the young one under her wing, placing him in the path of Widow Tweed (Jeanette Nolan, The Rescuers), knowing she will take him in, which she does, naming him Todd (voiced by Keith Coogan, Adventures in Babysitting). Meanwhile, on the next property over, Amos Slade (Jack Albertson) introduces a new hound puppy named Copper (Corey Feldman) to his existing dog, Chief (Pat Buttram, The Rescuers), much to Chief's chagrin. While out playing one day, Todd and Copper discover each other and become instant friends. Not long after, Slade takes Chief and Copper out on an extended hunting trip, to train Copper to be a great hunter, and Todd is very sad to see his buddy leave for a few months.
With the arrival of spring comes Chief, Copper and Slade's return, with a truck full of animal skins and a newly trained and grown up Copper. Since Slade has never liked Todd (Mickey Rooney) living with Widow Tweed, when he spots the fox on his property, he sends Chief and Copper out after him. Copper (Kurt Russell) realizes his new line of work conflicts with his old friendship with Todd and lets him go, just this once. Unfortunately, Chief isn't so lenient and intervenes, but gets badly injured in the process, leaving Copper with a huge grudge against Todd. Todd is deeply saddened by the turn of events, but soon meets Vixie (Sandy Duncan) and falls in love.
With Slade and Copper both gunning for Todd, and Chief recuperating at home with a few broken bones, Vixie and Todd narrowly escape death, but Todd still places his own life on the line to save Copper's life from a killer grizzly, proving that their old friendship still stands.
Now, you'd think that The Fox and The Hound II would pick up where the first film left off, even though it was released some 25 years later. Instead, it tells a musical tale of the friendship between the young fox and hound, presumably between their first meeting and the time when Copper went off to hunt.
Amos Slade wants Chief to win another 4th place ribbon at the county fair, but tells Copper he can't go with them. So Todd and Copper decide to head to the fair on their own and there they meet The Singing Strays, a band of howling hounds. Managed by human Lyle (Jeff Foxworthy) and led by Cash (Patrick Swayze) and Dixie (Reba McEntire), the dog singers enchant young Todd and Copper completely, and even invite Copper to join them on stage for a song. Dixie, being the diva that she is, decides to threaten the group with leaving, only to be shocked when she is replaced by the young and talented Copper. At first, Todd is happy for his friend, but when Todd gets pushed to the sidelines, he is crushed. Dixie tricks Todd into revealing to Cash and the group that Copper is not a stray, as he led them to believe, in the hopes that he'd be kicked from the band and that she could reclaim her place. With all of the commotion, a talent scout from the Grand Ole Opry was supposed to see the group, but didn't get the chance, so Todd, Copper and The Singing Strays work together to make sure he sees them perform and the group gets their chance at stardom.
First off, there is absolutely no comparison between the two films. One is a heartfelt story about two unlikely friends, while also managing to be a bit of a social commentary on racism, while the other is just a cash-in using some of the same characters. The hand-drawn animation of the original has been cleaned up beautifully, but still maintains that soft lushness that Disney classic animation has. The newer film was clearly a product of digital animation, at least in part, and the edges are harsher. The whole package looks great in high def, and the music in The Fox and The Hound II is crisp and clear, there's just not as much heart in it as the original. While the tunes were enjoyable, they just seemed more like a bunch of country songs instead of the typical musical Disney fare you'd sing long after the movie ended.
Special features are sparse and include a small featurette called Unlikely Friends that appears to be a short Disney Channel featurette; a sing-along with songs from The Fox and The Hound II, as well as a featurette on the music; a making-of featurette on The Fox and The Hound; and finally, a music video. Unfortunately, the special features are spread across the Blu-ray and both DVD discs, rather than being included on the Blu-ray, as well as duplicated on the DVDs. While I can see wanting to include a special feature or two on each DVD so that you have some extras to bring with you on the go, I can't see not putting the entire package on the Blu-ray. There's certainly enough room and having to swap between three discs just to watch a few special features seems a bit ridiculous.
Overall, if you don't already have The Fox and The Hound in your collection, this is a good pickup because the film has been restored and looks stellar on Blu-ray, although I felt like The Fox and The Hound II was a throwaway. Considering you really aren't paying anything extra for the additional film, it's fine.
