A Brief History of "The Fox and the Hound"

I always thought The Fox and the Hound could have been darker and grittier than it turned out to be. But if it had been those things, maybe it would have made less money.

Whatever else TFATH was, among its distinctions are ...

Being Frank Thomas's, Ollie Johnston's and Woolie Reitherman's last Disney feature.

Being the FIRST Disney feature of Brad Bird, Chris Buck, Tim Burton, Ron Clements, John Lasseter, John Musker, Jerry Reese, and others I'm no doubt leaving out.

Multiple development and production hiccups. Brad Bird got fired. Woolie got pushed to the side by upper management. Don Bluth took a large chunk of staff and went off to make his own animated movie(s).

The feature was made in the midst of generational change at the House of Mouse. Staff that had been working for Walt Disney Productions since the 1930s was retiring, and a lot of twenty-somethings who would be Movers and Shakers in Cartoonland for the next thirty-plus years were getting their starts.

p>The Fox and the Hound could have been better. But it could have been one hell of a lot worse, too.