Bambi Meets Godzilla

Bambi Meets Godzilla is a 1969 black-and-white animated short student film produced entirely by Marv Newland. Less than two minutes long, the film is seen as a classic of animation; it was listed #38 in the book The 50 Greatest Cartoons.

Plot

The opening credits, consisting of roles filled by Newland himself, scroll over an image of the fawn Bambi serenely grazing on a field of grass and flowers while the Chicago Symphony Orchestra's recording of William Tell's Ranz des Vaches plays in the background. After the credits, Bambi looks up to see Godzilla's foot coming down, squashing him flat. After a moment, the closing credits appear alongside the image of Godzilla's foot atop Bambi. The closing credits give acknowledgement to Tokyo "for their help in obtaining Godzilla for this film". Godzilla's toe claws wiggle once and the cartoon ends.

Screenings and distribution

In 1973, Bambi Meets Godzilla was paired with John Magnuson's Thank You Mask Man by Randy Finley and Specialty Films in Seattle and released widely under the title The King of Hearts and His Loyal Short Subjects. The program ran in repertory theaters across America for several years. The short was also included on VHS home video releases of Godzilla 1985 and Fantastic Animation Festival.
The Academy Film Archive preserved Bambi Meets Godzilla in 2009.

Sequels and remakes

In 1976, the black-and-white sequel Bambi's Revenge was released.
In 1999, the 3D-animated color sequel Son of Bambi Meets Godzilla was released.
In 2013, animator Coda Gardner made a frame-by-frame recreation of the original via tracing the film frames and assembling the animation via digital video editing.
In 2015, a live action remake was created by Scotty Fields.
In 2020, a CGI remake was released by Steven Taylor on his YouTube channel, ARX. In the video description he pays homage to Marv Newland's original version.