Tod: Copper, you're my very best friend.
Copper: And you're mine too, Tod.
Tod: And we'll always be friends forever, won't we?
Copper: Yeah, forever!
Copper: And you're mine too, Tod.
Tod: And we'll always be friends forever, won't we?
Copper: Yeah, forever!
Released in July 10, 1981, The Fox and the Hound is the 24th movie in the Disney Animated Canon, very, very, very loosely based on a book of the same name. It is the first Disney animated feature which Walt Disney had no involvement in whatsoevernote and the last to feature any significant involvement from members of the veteran board of animators known as the "Nine Old Men", with director/producer Wolfgang Reitherman and animators Frank Thomas and Ollie Johnston (the last of the nine employed full-time at the studio by 1977) retiring before the end of production. Resultantly, the majority of the film would be animated by a younger crew, among them John Musker and Ron Clements, Glen Keane, Chris Buck, Henry Selick, Brad Bird, and an eccentric young assistant animator known as Tim Burton. It is the studio's last project to have the creative involvement of Don Bluth, who left midway during the production.
The plot features an old woman (Jeanette Nolan) finding an infant orphaned fox whom she adopts and names Tod (Keith Coogan and Mickey Rooney as a child and adult, respectively). Meanwhile, her neighbor, a hunter (Jack Albertson in his last theatrical role before his death), brings home a hound puppy named Copper (Corey Feldman and Kurt Russell as a child and adult, respectively) intent on raising him to be a hunting dog. Tod and Copper soon meet and quickly become best friends, which raises conflict between their respective owners, but the two promise to remain friends forever. Later, once the two are grown up, Copper is actively participating in his master's hunts, and the friendship between the two is put into jeopardy.
The film also stars Pearl Bailey as Big Mama the Owl, Richard Bakalyan and Paul Winchell as the comedic birds Dinky and Boomer, Sandy Duncan as Vixey, and Disney veteran Pat Buttram as Chief.
A Direct-to-DVD midquel, The Fox and the Hound 2, was released in 2006. One of the final direct-to-DVD sequels to date, the film is significantly Lighter and Softer than its predecessor and has almost no notable bearing on its narrative, instead centering on Tod and Copper joining a band of country-singing dogs.
Compare One Stormy Night (which has been interpreted as The Fox and the Hound with sexual tension).
The Fox and the Hound contains examples of:
- Actor Allusion:
- An intentional one done in the Latin American Spanish dub: Vixey and Mr. Digger were voiced by Diana Santos and the late Pedro D'Aguillon Sr., who already voiced another vixen and badger respectively, though anthropomorphic ones: Maid Marian and Friar Tuck.
- For the US cast, this wouldn't be the last time Chief's voice actor, Pat Buttram, played a carnie in hot pursuit of a fox, as he also voice the Sherrif Of Nottingham (that time he voice a wolf, rather than a wolf hound).
- Adaptational Alternate Ending: The original book ends with a full blown Downer Ending where Tod dies, both of his mates and his kits all die, Copper is put down by the hunter (who Amos is based on) so he doesn't have to abandon him when he's taken to a nursing home, and the forest has been completely destroyed by urbanization. The Disney adaptation alters it into a Bittersweet Ending where Tod, his mate Vixey, and Copper survive, but Tod and Copper are forced to permanently go their separate ways.
- Adaptational Friendship: Tod and Copper in the novel were strictly prey and predator. The Disney movie turns them into childhood friends tragically torn apart in adulthood.
- Adaptational Location Change: Possibly. The author of the original novel said he based some of his human characters on people he knew who lived in Oro Valley, Arizona. However, other aspects of the novel were inspired by events in Pennsylvania and Virginia. The film itself follows the latter route; while not explicitly stated, the setting is heavily implied to be in Appalachia.
- Adaptational Nice Guy:
- In the novel, Tod intentionally lured Chief to the tracks to be killed. In this adaptation, it was a genuine accident on his part.
- Similarly, while Copper snaps at Tod at this point in the film, it was out of genuine guilt and concern for Chief, while in the book, Copper was jealous of Chief and was actually happy that Chief died because he was concerned the (younger) Chief would take his place as the top hunting dog.
- Adapted Out: In the novel, Tod had two different mates over a period of time and had kits with them. Only one of them (Vixey) appears in the film, and the film closes before Tod and Vixey have time to have any kits.
- Advertised Extra: Most covers for the film, including the one featured on this site (which is from the first home video release from 1994), feature the bear, even though he only shows up for a few minutes towards the end of the film.
- Age Lift: Chief was younger than Copper in the novel. It's the other way around here.
- Agitated Item Stomping: During his argument with Widow Tweed, Amos Slade throws his hat to the ground and starts stomping on it to vent his rage.
- Agony of the Feet: Amos steps into a bear trap after getting startled by, of all things, a bear and is obviously in a shitload of pain from this.
- Ambiguous Time Period: Since the only humans in the movie are two fairly old people who live in an area seemingly far from most technology, it could easily be set any time between when the movie was produced (the late 70s and early 80s) to half a century earlier.
- American Kirby Is Hardcore: Inverted with the Japanese poster
(the main duo facing off against a big, scary bear) compared with the American poster (them standing cutely with other characters, minus the bear). - Animal Nemesis: Tod becomes this to Amos.
- Animals Not to Scale:
- When stood alongside Copper and Chief, Tod looks to be closer in size to an Australian Shepherd than an actual fox.
- Chief, an older Irish Wolfhound, only looks to be about the same size as Copper, a Coonhound, when the latter is fully grown. Irish Wolfhounds in real life are among the tallest dogs on Earth, much larger than Coonhounds.
- The bear in the climax is significantly larger than any known living species of bear in real life, looking closer in size to a fully grown elephant in some shots.
- Anti-Villain:
- Amos Slade is a Jerk with a Heart of Gold but not a bad guy, and he doesn't see his career of hunting as a bad thing. The only time he actually does anything patently wrong is when he harasses Widow Tweed out of anger when Chief almost dies thanks to Tod and he's determined to get Tod's pelt even though hunting isn't allowed in that area; he's forced to calm down and back off when Copper shows Amos that Tod is his friend.
- Chief also counts, as the viewer is supposed to care about him even though he is antagonistic towards Tod. It helps that he does have some sort of genuine affection for Copper, even after it turns to jealousy when Copper grows older.
- Apron Matron: Widow Tweed is kind and caring towards her animals, especially Tod, but if you mess with any of them, you will face the consequences.
- Artistic License – Animal Care: In-universe example. Foxes learn to hunt and survive on their own from their parents. Widow Tweed leaves Tod, a bottle raised fox who's never learned how to do anything save nap in a bed in front of the fire, in the forest alone minutes before a rain storm. Indeed, he's shown to be a poor hunter and his lack of survival skills and brushing off of Vixey's is what nearly gets them caught in Slade's gauntlet of leg hold traps.
- Artistic License – Biology: Tod bares his teeth in the staredown with Copper near the end. Foxes cannot bare their teeth as they lack the necessary muscles in their upper lip.
- A-Team Firing: It gets a bit silly after a while when Amos can't get a single hit towards Tod despite all the clear shots he has. Makes you wonder how he became such a good hunter in the first place (if his winter hunt results are anything to go by). The only time we see him hit anything on screen is when he fires a shot that grazes the shoulder of the bear. Ironically this is the one time it's justified, as Amos was panicking and not holding his gun straight.
- Bad Ol' Badger: Mr. Digger has a very cantankerous personality and isn't willing to make friends with everyone else.
- Bears Are Bad News: In the climax, a bear is portrayed as some demonic beast spawned from the depths of Hell. (This has a lot to do with the fact that Amos shoots it but only wounds it, making it very, very angry, as wounded animals often are.) It might not be the most terrifying antagonist to appear in a Disney film, but it's definitely on the list.
- Bear Trap: Amos employs some of these in his hunts. In the climax, when he tries to flee a bear he's pissed off, he gets his foot caught in one of his own bear traps.
- Berserk Button: Amos Slade does not take kindly to being contradicted, and he certainly has no tolerance for being called out on his bad behavior.
- Big Bad: Amos Slade tries to kill Tod several times.
- Big Damn Heroes: Tod manages to save Copper in time from the bear near the end of the movie. It's because of this that Copper has a Heel Realization.
- Big, Thin, Short Trio: The three birds in this film have this dynamic, with Big Mama the Owl being... well, the Big, Boomer the Woodpecker being the Thin, and Dinky the Sparrow being the Short.
- Bittersweet Ending: Tod and Copper must go their separate ways and likely will never see each other again, but part on good terms and remain friends in their hearts. Tod goes on to live with his mate Vixey in peace, while Copper returns home with an injured and apparently humbled Amos. Even the last shot of the movie is tinged with melancholy, with a visibly saddened Tod looking down on the two farms from afar as a reprise of "Goodbye May Seem Forever" plays, and Vixey nuzzles him comfortingly.
- Bloodless Carnage: Double subverted twice in the bear fight. Amos manages to shoot the bear with visible blood, and Copper bites its muzzle with more visible blood, but afterwards neither of the wounds are visible. Meanwhile, Amos gets his foot caught in a bear trap and while he's obviously in pain, there's absolutely no blood or even damage to his boot. Maybe the animators didn't want to push their luck?
- Brick Joke: When chasing after Squeaks the caterpillar, Boomer pecks through a glass insulator on a utility pole, and he and Dinky get electrocuted. When night falls later on, we see Widow Tweed's house and Amos's cabin are lit by hand lanterns, since they have no power after Dinky and Boomer blew out the insulator.
- But Now I Must Go: Tod and Copper part ways after rekindling their friendship, because of Tod's new life with Vixey in the forest.
- Butt-Monkey: Dinky and Boomer, the two trickster birds, take quite a bit of abuse throughout the movie.
- Carnivore Confusion: Mostly handled realistically, with one major exception - foxes, especially young kits, are fair game to large owls, yet Tod and Big Mama get along fine. Strictly speaking she might also go after Dinky and Boomer, but owls aren't especially prone to hunting other birds - and in real life, they'd be awake at different times anyway.
- Casting Gag: Pat Buttram once again plays the leader of a pair of farm dogs.
- Central Theme: The film emphasizes the theme that people may change differently over time, but should not let their friendship or companionship decline over enforced roles and racial boundaries.
- Cerebus Syndrome: The movie slowly becomes darker and less humorous as Tod and Copper's friendship falls apart.
- Chekhov's Skill: While playing hide and seek with Copper, Tod jumps between different objects to scatter his scent and confuse Copper. He does this again as an adult with Vixey to make Copper lose track of them by a waterfall.
- Children Are Innocent: Tod and Copper as kids, and in the midquel.
- Convenient Cranny: Employed and failed three times.
- On his first night in the preserve, Tod crawls into a burrow to get out of a thunderstorm. Said burrow turns out to be the home of a very cranky old badger who promptly forces Tod back out into the rain.
- Halfway through the film, Tod hides under a woodpile while being chased by Amos Slade and the hounds. Chief runs right past him, but Copper's keen nose leads him right to his former friend's hiding spot and an act of kindness on Copper's part is the only reason Tod even survives past this point.
- Tod and his new mate dive into a burrow to avoid the snapping jaws of Copper. However, this cranny proves useless when the hunter finds a way to drive them out. That said, Amos probably wasn't expecting them to chance running through the fire he started to smoke them out.
- Cool Old Lady: Widow Tweed, who isn't afraid to grab Slade's gun and blow a hole in his car engine.
- Covers Always Lie:
- Nearly all posters from the film feature the younger Tod and Copper from the first half, with very few posters depicting their older appearances after the Time Skip.
- Many posters feature the Bear in the background looking down on the younger Tod and Copper, making him look like a prominent Big Bad. While the Bear does play a major role in the climax, it is his sole appearance in the film, and he never interacts with the pair during their childhood.
- Create Your Own Villain: Amos and Chief don't do anything villainous until they discover Tod who wakes up Chief who then alerts Amos who hates foxes and tries to shoot Tod only to be stopped by Widow Tweed and holds a grudge against him till he realizes Tod and Copper's friendship. The bear doesn't appear till the climax when it was woken up by Copper and Amos and only attacks Tod when he was biting him.
- Curb-Stomp Cushion: Tod, Copper and Amos are all clearly overmatched by the bear, but all three manage to wound it at some point during their fight.
- Darker and Edgier: Not so much compared to the original novel by Daniel P. Mannix or to Disney's next animated film, The Black Cauldron, but this film, along with the previous Disney installment, The Rescuers are more serious in comparison to some of Disney's animated movies from 1961 to 1977. The gloomier tone is established right at the start with a series of slow pans through a Bambi-esque forest with no title song, or even any other music for almost 2 minutes. When the music does finally start, it's an ominous underscore that slowly builds until we see Tod's mom for the first time.
- David Versus Goliath: First Copper, a dog, and then Tod, a fox, take on a bear. Even Amos's first instinct is to try shooting the massive beast rather than running away.
- Deconstructed Trope:
- Despite the obvious child-friendly changes from the original novel that inspired this film, at the end the most Tod and Copper can do is treasure the friendship that they once had, while they'll likely never be together again. It still remains one of the very few animated Disney movies to have a Bittersweet Ending.
- Copper tries to defend Slade from the bear. A hound fighting a bear has predictable results. Tod sees that the bear will kill Copper and runs to save him, but all he can do is make the bear mad. He only survives because the bear stupidly breaks the log he and Tod are standing on, dropping the bear to his death.
- Diabolus ex Nihilo: Much of the film's third act revolves around Amos and Copper pursuing Tod in the woods to avenge Chief. Without any prior foreshadowing, the hunters accidentally disturb a massive bear who tries to kill the pair for trespassing on his territory. When seeing them in trouble, Tod intervenes and fights the bear, nearly at the cost of his own life, and upon seeing what he did for them, a tired, badly injured Copper and Amos decide to abandon their revenge mission and return home, allowing Tod to live in peace.
- Ding-Dong-Ditch Distraction: A variation occurs when Boomer pecks on Mrs. Tweed's door, as part of Dinky's plan to get her to take in Tod.
- Disc-One Final Boss: Subverted. While Tod defeating the bear saved not only Copper but Amos (both of whom who were built up to be the ones who Tod had to defeat), it's revealed that Amos was still intent on killing Tod until Copper stepped in and pleaded to not kill him considering his reconciliation.
- Disney Death: Chief, though it initially appears certain he won't survive, after the train accidentally hits him. Tod counts as well, seeing as he fell down a steep waterfall. (see below).
- Disneyfication: Heck, the story the film is based on ends with the majority of characters, including both main ones, dead.
- Disney Villain Death: The bear, who falls off the log and down a steep waterfall. Curiously, Tod was also shown to fall and yet was clearly shown to survive. Truth in Television: The bigger they are, the harder they fall.
- Disproportionate Retribution: Amos (with Copper at his side) risks arrest, injury, and death to catch a fox that doesn't even live nearby anymore on the grounds that Chief got a broken leg chasing him note .
- Dissension Remorse: Tod and Copper immediately stop their conflict when the bear shows up and attempts to kill both Copper and Slade, thus the two have to put their differences aside and Tod fights the bear while Copper escapes.
- Distressed Dude: Amos and Copper both have an "Oh, crap!" look on their faces when the bear shows up.
- A Dog Named "Dog": As is the case with the original book, our main character is a male fox, in other words, a Tod, named "Tod". Vixey offers a downplayed example, being a vixen, and all.
- Don't Wake the Sleeper: This trope figures in the scene where Todd is poking around Chief when the latter is asleep in his barrel-house.
- Double Take: The chicken looks over to her little chicks, for a second, who are curious about that furry red thing that has its paw reaching up to them, as if to...Cue the chicken freaking out and chasing Tod in the barn shed.
- Downer Beginning: The film starts with Tod's mother running away from hounds, and ultimately getting shot. Amos Slade probably wasn't responsible because at that time Chief was asleep and he had yet to come back from getting Copper, but it certainly sets the tone for much of the movie.
- Dramatic Chase Opening: The film opens with a mother fox and her kit being chased by hunters. The mother hides her child (our hero, Tod) and leads the hunters away, eventually being shot dead.
- Dub Name Change:
- In the Norwegian dub, nearly all the names apart from Tod and Copper were changed. Big Mama was named Mor Ugle (Mother Owl), Amos Slade was named Ola Jeger (Ola Hunter), Vixey was named Mari, Widow Tweed was named Tante Hilde (Aunt Hilde), and Chief was named King.
- Todd is also spelled with two D's, and not just one, in this version. In fact, its title is Todd og Copper: To gode venner (Todd and Copper: Two Good Friends).
- The Danish dub also changes these names, even going as far as to change Tod to Mikkel and Copper to Mads. Thus the movie is called Mads og Mikkel (Copper and Tod) in Danish.
- Similarly in the Finnish dub, Tod's name became Topi and Copper's name became Tessu and the Finnish title of the film is Topi ja Tessu (Tod and Copper). Amos Slade became Aatu Remunen, Widow Tweed became Hilma-täti (Aunt Hilma), Vixey became Kiki and Chief became Pösö.
- In the German dub, the names of Tod and Copper are changed to Cap and Capper. Vixey is renamed to Trixie, most likely because her original name sounds similar to wichsen, a German word for masturbating. Additionally, Tod (pronounced "toad" in German) means death in German.
- In the French dub, the names of Tod and Copper are changed to Rox and Rouky. It's the name of the movie (Rox et Rouky.) Boomer is renamed Piqueur and Widow Tweed became Veuve Tartine.
- The End: This is the last Disney animated film to date to end with these two words, along with "Walt Disney Productions". A few subsequent films would have "The End" appear before the closing credit crawl as a stylistic touch (such as The Great Mouse Detective, Aladdin, The Hunchback of Notre Dame and The Emperor's New Groove).
- End of an Age:
- The Fox and the Hound is the last film in the Disney Animated Canon to employ at least one of Disney's Nine Old Men. Specifically, Wolfgang Reitherman produced the film, and Frank Thomas and Ollie Johnston worked as supervising animators. It's also the final film to have any involvement from Don Bluth who quit partway through production and took a good chunk of staffers with him.
- This is the last film in the canon to have the entire credits at the beginning of the movie and end with "The End: Walt Disney Productions". Starting with The Black Cauldron, all movies would end with a credit crawl played over music (Alice in Wonderland was an exception prior to this, having the cast credits follow its The End card).
- This is the last film in the canon to be produced without any computer assistance. Though it was justified in that the technology was still in its infancy at the time.
- Evil Poacher: Downplayed. For the first half of the film, Amos is shown hunting on legitimate ground and during the appropriate season. The one time we see him poaching — with him and Copper pursuing Tod into a protected reserve in the climax — is treated as a serious low point, showing just how desperate and vengeful Amos has become.
- Face–Heel Turn: Copper temporarily pulls this off after Chief was nearly killed.
- Failed a Spot Check: Chief and the bear run afoul of this trope exactly the same way at different points by being so hell-bent on catching Tod that don't notice how precariously high up they are and that a train could barreling down the tracks at any moment (in Chief's case) or that an old log bridging a gap can only hold so much weight, much less take having a chunk slashed out of it (in the bear's).
- Fighting Your Friend: Copper and Tod end up fighting one another at the climax, Copper being turned against his old friend by his owner.
- First Day from Hell:
- Tod's first day in the nature preserve is this. First, he's abandoned by Tweed without fully understanding why, then, it starts raining buckets on him. Desperate to get out of the storm, he makes for the first shelter he can find, only for it to turn out to be an irascible badger's burrow, whereupon he's given an unsympathetic tongue-lashing and sent packing back out into the rain.
- His first day meeting Vixey hardly fares any better, as he tries to impress her by trying to catch a fish and fails miserably, leading to all of the animals, including Vixey, laughing at him. Flustered, he insults Vixey by calling her a "female", and is all but ready to give up. Thankfully, Big Mama lends a wing and helps him smooth things over.
- Five-Second Foreshadowing: As Copper reaches the top of the cliff, ominous music begins as he sniffs around a dense bush, then gasps in horror, shrinking back as Amos catches up to him. And out of the bush emerges a gigantic ferocious bear!
- Forbidden Friendship: The movie stars two talking animals. The Fox is orphaned and some old lady adopts it as a pet. A man who lives nearby is a hunter that just got a puppy he is training to be a hunting dog. The two animals meet each other and form a friendship, in spite of the fact that the man is training the puppy to hunt (among other things) foxes.
- Foreshadowing: The widow warns Amos that his temper will get him into a lot of trouble one day. Come the climax, that's exactly what happens.
- Friend-or-Idol Decision: When the bear gets involved, Tod is forced to choose between taking advantage of the bear's attack to escape with Vixey, or saving his old/former friend's life. He chooses the latter.
- Friendship Song: "Best Of Friends" sung by Big Mama as she watches Tod and Copper play together.
- Fury-Fueled Foolishness: As Widow Tweed warned him at one point, Amos Slade's bad temper gets him in hot water when his obsession with hunting Tod for inadvertently lead Chief to get hurt nearly does him in when he makes an enemy out of a wild bear.
- Gendered Insult: "Female" is used derogatorily a couple of times. Based on the context, it's probably meant to fill in for another genderfied insult that rhymes with "itch".
- Go Through Me: At the very end, when Copper positions himself against Tod to prevent Amos from shooting him.
- Grand Finale: The film is this for the Walt Disney Classics video line, bookending it with Robin Hood (1973). It's one of four video lines, the other three being the Walt Disney Platinum Editions, Walt Disney Diamond Editions, and Walt Disney Gold Classics Collection to have a Grand Finale video release.
- Gravity Is a Harsh Mistress: Boomer goes full Wile E Coyote after pecking through the branch on which he was standing. Chief winds up on the wrong end of this after getting bumped by an oncoming train and the bear at the end of the film get a similar treatment after slashing through the log on which it's standing, but it's not nearly as comedic in either instance.
- Green-Eyed Monster: Chief and Copper's roles are reversed from the original novel; here Chief is the aging hound and Copper the new favorite of whom he becomes jealous.
- Grumpy Old Man:
- The badger's shown to be a cantankerous animal who doesn't want anyone entering his den.
- Amos and his dog Chief are elderly, short-tempered, cranky hunters that can get pretty ruthless once they get an idea set into their minds, e.g., being willing to hunt Tod to the end of the world and back because they thought Tod was eating their farm animals. It must be noted, however, that they can be a couple of softies as shown in their interactions with Copper.
- Hair-Trigger Temper:
- Amos Slade is practically known for his bad temper, for which he does not take kindly to being called out.Amos: TEMPER?! TEMPER, WOMAN! YOU AIN'T SEEN MY TEMPER!
- It doesn't take much for Chief or Mr. Digger to get annoyed either.
- The bear was pissed off from the jump at just having his territory intruded upon. Amos shooting him in the shoulder only made it worse.
- Amos Slade is practically known for his bad temper, for which he does not take kindly to being called out.
- Have You Tried Not Being a Monster?: The original story was an allegory for racism separating two friends. The film is sometimes interpreted as depicting an innocent summer romance between two boys torn asunder by divergent career paths and the folly of machismo. Sometimes it is seen as showing how men repress their feelings as they come of age, and lose touch with their innocence.
- Heel Realization:
- Amos has a big one when Copper prevents him from shooting Tod at the end.
- Copper himself had one after the Black Bear battle.
- Hero Antagonist: Once Tod's (the protagonist) best friend and a pretty decent dog himself, Copper's loyalty to his owner and a huge deal of misunderstandings lead him to chase his Childhood Friend anytime he happens to catch sight of him.
- Heroic Dog: While he serves an antagonistic role at the time, Copper still deserves major credit for trying to protect his master from a huge, ferocious bear. Just as he's about to be killed, it switches to Heroic Fox.
- Hoist by His Own Petard: Amos gets caught in his own bear trap. He survives, though not without needing medical attention, which he receives (albeit reluctantly) from Widow Tweed.
- Humans Are Bastards: Averted with the kind and protective Widow Tweed. Played straight with the unseen hunter at the beginning, and with Amos until the end.
- Hypocritical Humor: Chief tries to milk his leg injury for sympathy, but later thinks Amos is making too big a deal out of his own leg pain when the Widow is dressing his wounds. Copper was shaking his head in a small no over this.
- Implied Death Threat: Copper gives one to Tod after the latter accidentally injures Chief.
- Imperial Stormtrooper Marksmanship Academy: Amos, fortunately for Tod (and Vixey later on).
- Informed Species:
- Chief is intended to be an Irish Wolfhound◊. He looks nothing like that type of dog, lacking their distinctive shaggy hair, and looks much smaller when stood alongside Copper (a Coonhound).
- The bear in the climax is supposedly a grizzly, going off the film's implied setting in North America, but has striking black fur and red eyes, and is much bigger than any kind of bear that exists in real life.
- Chief is intended to be an Irish Wolfhound
- Ink-Suit Actor: Amos Slade bears more than a little resemblance to Jack Albertson.
- Interspecies Friendship: Between, well, a fox and a hound.
- In Name Only: How Walt Disney Studios managed to look at what reads like a fictionalized documentary about the life and times of a mongrel hunting dog and a human-reared wild fox who live through bear hunts, rabies epidemics, and the rise of suburbia among other things and thought it would make a wonderful talking animals cartoon about racism is a mystery for the ages.
- Irony: Amos and Copper go hunting for Tod but end up running into a giant, pissed-off bear. The hunters become the hunted and it's up to Tod to save them.
- It's All My Fault: Copper blames himself for Chief's accident on the grounds that he let Tod go.
- It's Personal: Amos' vengeful obsession with killing Tod stems from the latter almost killing Chief.
- It's Quiet… Too Quiet:
- Vixey is afraid to enter a copse when she realizes that it's too quiet, while Tod, who unlike her was raised in captivity, has no such qualms and narrowly avoids falling foul of Copper, Amos' shotgun and a shitload of bear traps.
- Copper also falls into this when he is sniffing for Tod up the cliff and picks up a new scent...From a giant bear!.
- Jerkass: The badger is a jerk to the porcupine and Tod.
- Jerkass Has a Point: Although the badger can be quite a jerk to other animals, he's understandably upset about Tod trespassing in his home during the latter's disastrous first night in the forest.
- Jerk with a Heart of Gold: Chief. Amos is an arguable case.
- The Juggernaut: The giant bear who appears at the climax. Copper biting him on the neck just serves to enrage him. Tod biting and yanking on his ear just causes the bear to throw him off. The only thing able to stop the bear is to send him falling in a waterfall.
- Karma Houdini:
- Zigzagged for Amos Slade, as he sparks off the end conflict by poaching on a petty vendetta, hunting on a game preserve, which nearly gets Tod, Copper, and himself killed. Yet everyone lives, and the only thing Slade gets out of it is an injured foot. Poaching can get you arrested, hunting license or not. Granted, he seems to have been served a dose of humility by Copper after the latter stands between Amos and an injured Tod when Amos has the fox dead to rights. Then again, his injury does mean he won't be hunting for a while.
- Played straight with the unseen hunter at the beginning of the film, as he got away scot-free with killing Tod's mother.
- Lighter and Softer: Compared to the book, but for the most part, it remains significantly darker in tone than usually expected from Disney.
- A Lizard Named "Liz": Vixey the vixen.
- Made of Iron:
- Chief is hit by a train while pursuing Todd, sent flying, crashes into the side of a cliff multiple times, and then hits the water below hard. Despite that, he inexplicably survives with only a broken leg to show for his trouble.
- The bear hardly flinches when Amos grazes its shoulder with a shotgun blast. Truth in Television, hunters use different gauges to hunt different animals; a bullet that would kill a fox would only serve to piss a bear off.
- Mama Bear: Tweed when she catches Slade trying to shoot Tod because he thought the fox was chasing his chickens. She grabs his shotgun out of his hands and shoves the barrel right up against his chest. All Slade can do is nervously remind her that the gun's loaded.
- The Matchmaker: Big Mama is this with Tod and Vixey.
- Meaningful Background Event: As mentioned previously, most covers for the film feature the bear in the background.
- Meaningful Name:
- Tod is an old English word for a male fox. However, he is named this by Tweed because he's "such a little toddler".
- Copper, of course, has copper fur.
- Vixey sounds very similar to "vixen", which is a female fox.
- Chief acts like he's the chief — or head mentor — to Copper's hunting.
- Mentor Occupational Hazard: Played with - Chief is sort of a father/big brother figure to Copper and is nearly mortally wounded while chasing Tod.
- Missing Mom: Tod's mom is shot during the opening credits. The identity of the unseen hunter who shot her remains unknown.
- Moses in the Bulrushes: Because she knows that she can't outrun the hunter that was pursuing her forever, when she is briefly safe from the hunter, she abandons her son because she's aware that the hunter after her will eventually kill her and she doesn't want her son to be killed too.
- My God, What Have I Done?: Copper has two of these:
- Copper when he blames himself for letting Tod escape, thus inadvertently causing Chief to get hurt.
- Tod saves Copper from the bear, and barely survives plummeting down a waterfall with it, leaving the fox, weak and exhausted, collapsing at the riverbank. Copper approaches, amazed that Tod—the very fox he tried to hunt—saved his life, despite everything that happened, and now feels genuinely remorseful for what he's done to him. He then steps in between Amos' gun and Tod, causing Amos to come to his senses and lower his gun.
- Near-Villain Victory: Amos Slade is intent on killing Tod for nearly getting Chief run over by a train, even trespassing into the game preserve. And when Slade and Copper found themselves in the wrath of an angry bear, Tod manages to save their lives by distracting the bear and getting themselves plunge into a waterfall, though Tod survives. However, Slade still wanted to kill Tod, and if Copper hadn't convinced him to perform a Heel–Face Turn, Tod would've been done for.
- Never My Fault: Slade accepts absolutely no responsibility for anything he does. Not shooting at Widow's Tweed's car while she's in it, not ruining the milk she was transporting, not relentlessly chasing Tod until Chief gets hurt, and not everything that happened when he went poaching just to get revenge on a damn fox.
- Not Allowed to Grow Old: During the Time Skip to when Tod and Copper become older, their owners, plus Big Mama, Chief, Dinky and Boomer don't show any signs of aging.
- Not Quite Forever: Played for Drama:
- First, there's:Tod: And we'll always be friends, forever, won't we?
Copper: Yeah, forever. - Later:Tod: And we'll keep on being friends forever. Uh, won't we, Big Mama?
Big Mama: Darling, forever is a long, long time and time has a way of changin’ things.
- First, there's:
- Not the Fall That Kills You…: Played rather accurately in the cases where a character falls from a very high place. Both Chief and Tod survive their respective falls due to being lightweight and conveniently suspended over water. The larger, heavier bear at the climax of the film isn't so lucky and gets a Disney Villain Death.
- Not What It Looks Like: Much of Amos' vendetta with Tod is caused by the latter unwittingly framing himself as antagonizing his property. At one point Amos spots him mid chase with Chief after a bunch of chickens have been let out of the coop and are outrunning Tod.
- Odd Friendship: Used for the movie's entire premise. The theatrical release poster even reads "A story of two friends who didn't know they were supposed to be enemies."
- Oh, Crap!:
- Big Mama, complete with Jaw Drop, when she hears Tod's mother getting shot in the opening.
- Tod and Chief each get one when they both find themselves in the path of the train. Tod ducks in the trestles, but Chief gets hit.
- Copper gets one when he's sniffing around for Tod and smells a bear. Amos gets one in the same scene when he sees it.
- Pet the Dog: Literally. Amos Slade's family-like devotion to both his dogs serves to make him similar to Widow Tweed and brings him closer to Anti-Villain territory.
- Plucky Comic Relief: Dinky and Boomer - and considering how incredibly sad this movie can be, their comic relief is very much needed.
- Predator-Prey Friendship: A variant is featured where they aren't prey and predator, but are still natural enemies. A fox kit named Tod and a Bloodhound puppy named Copper become friends however are too young to realize that Copper is a hunting-dog. When they meet as adults, it becomes clear that they can't be friends anymore. They end up fighting, and Amos, Copper's owner, becomes obsessed with hunting Tod. However, when Tod rescues Copper from a gigantic grizzly bear, Copper returns the favor by placing himself between his owner's gun and the injured fox, forcing Amos to relent.
- Puppy-Dog Eyes: Naturally. When standing up to Slade at the end, Copper gives a defiant but earnest use of this trope. Tod, the more idealistic of the two, gives many of these over the course of the film as well.
- Railroad Tracks of Doom: Chief ends up chasing Tod onto a railroad trestle, just as a speeding train (complete with old wood-burning steam locomotive) comes rolling around the bend and onto the trestle. Tod is small enough to duck between the rails and let the train harmlessly pass over him, but Chief is struck and falls from the trestle, breaking his leg in the process and leading Copper to vow revenge against Tod.
- Raised by Humans: Tod is raised by an old widow woman after his real mother is killed by an unseen hunter.
- Recycled Animation: The storm scene features Woodland Creatures from previous Disney movies...
- The family of ducks swimming in the pond and the pheasant family running in the rain are both lifted from the "Little April Shower" sequence in Bambi.
- The squirrel leaping from branch to branch (and getting Tod more wet in the process) is young Wart in his squirrel form, albeit with his eyes changed.
- Red Eyes, Take Warning:
- The bear has these kinds of eyes, as does Tod moments earlier when he confronts Copper and snarls viciously at him.
- Tod's eyes turn red when he confronts and snarls at Copper.
- Revenge: Copper and Slade blame Tod for crippling Chief for a while and try to kill him for it.
- Ridiculously Cute Critter: Squeaks the caterpillar who becomes a butterfly at the end. Tod and Copper also count while they're little.
- Road Runner vs. Coyote: Dinky and Boomer try to catch Squeaks so they can eat him, but suffer a series of Amusing Injuries in their attempts. Because they never succeed, Squeaks is able to turn into a butterfly at the end of the film.
- Satellite Love Interest: Vixey doesn't get much characterization beside being a sweet vixen who becomes Tod's mate.
- Save the Villain: In the climax, Tod saves Amos Slade and Copper from the bear.
- Serious Main Plot, Wacky Side Plot: The main serious plot is the two titular characters, Todd and Copper, becoming friends only to find out they are meant to be enemies by the time they grow up; it doesn't help that their respective owners, Widow Tweed and Amos Slade, are also rivals. Meanwhile, the two birds Dinky and Boomer continuously try to catch and eat a caterpillar that they mistake for a worm only to get thwarted in humorous ways each time.
- Shooting Superman: Copper and Tod both keep trying to bite the bear even though it doesn't do any real damage. Justified; the bear was going to kill Amos if Copper didn't intervene. Tod tried running from the bear but he didn't stop pursuing him, so he had no options that didn't guarantee the bear wouldn't kill him.
- Show, Don't Tell:
- Chief's first encounter with Copper; while Amos talks, there's no dialogue between the two dogs. Chief initially wants nothing to do with Copper at first, but quickly warms up to him as the two fall asleep together. It serves as an Establishing Character Moment of Chief's personality.
- Tod and Copper's final interaction after the former saved the latter from the bear. No words are exchanged between them. Copper convinces Amos Slade to finally leave Tod alone. Then Tod and Copper simply give each other a small smile to let each other know they're not enemies anymore.
- Shipper on Deck: Big Mama, deliberately hooking Tod and Vixey up together. She correctly surmises a bottle-fed fox like Tod won't survive on his own, but also very clearly just thinks the two are adorable together. She sings about it, for Christ's sake.
- Shoo the Dog: The saddest scene in the entire film has a teary-eyed Widow Tweed leaving Tod in the wild, silently gesturing at him not to follow her back as she leaves.
- Sliding Scale of Adaptation Modification: The Disney film lands on Type 1 (In Name Only) end of the scale. It has very little in common with the original novel that inspired it.
- Sound-Only Death:
- After leaving her kit behind, Tod's mother runs out into a field, disappears into the grass, and then... A gunshot is heard. We then cut to Big Mama doing a horrified double take, before it cuts to a flock of ground birds who scatter at the second gunshot.
- Even though Chief doesn't actually die when the train hits him on the trestle, we still don't see the actual impact; the train rolls right into the camera with its' headlight engulfing the screen in white followed by the sound of Chief getting hit, and then it cuts to Chief falling from the trestle.
- Spared by the Adaptation: Tod, Copper, Chief, and Vixey.
- The Speechless: Squeaks the Caterpillar and the bear.
- Terrible Trio: Subverted with respect to Tod. Amos, Chief, and Copper technically make it up but Copper only actually starts hunting Tod with Amos Slade after Chief is put out of commission. Played straight during their winter hunting trip, though.
- They Have the Scent!: Copper first meets Tod by tracking his scent. And then, because he's in training to be used as a hunting dog (though he doesn't know that), lets out the most earnest and adorable baby howl ever.
- This Cannot Be!: Amos and Copper try to ferret Tod and Vixey out of their burrow by lighting a fire in the back entrance to block their escape route so that they will have no choice but to come out the front, whereupon they will get shot by Amos' cocked gun. However, Tod and Vixey sense one chance to escape through the fire and take it, darting through the flames without getting burned, after which Amos, his plan having proven futile, screams, "No! No, I don't believe it!" and resuming the chase.
- Those Two Guys: Dinky and Boomer are predecessors to the later Plucky Comic Relief duos in Disney animated films, such as Timon and Pumbaa from The Lion King, Tantor and Terk from Tarzan (1999), Rutt and Tuke from Brother Bear, and Tip and Dash from The Little Mermaid II: Return to the Sea.
- Title Drop: After Tod and Copper meet and start to play hide and seek, Big Mama says "My, my! Look it that! A fox and a hound, playing together!"
- Token Human: Tweed and Amos Slade are the only humans in the original film. In the midquel, there are more humans.
- Trailers Always Lie: Okay, it's not really a lie, but in the original theatrical trailer, the announcer says that this is Disney's twentieth fully animated motion picture, when in reality it is the twenty-FOURTH. The Aristocats was the 20th. (Unless they didn't count the package films of the '40s at the time.)
- Trailers Always Spoil: The original theatrical trailer spoils the entire outline of the plot, even going as far as to show key scenes and characters.
- Trapped the Wrong Target: Antagonist Amos Slade sets out several snap-jaw traps in the game preserve to capture that pesky fox, Tod. However, in Amos' fervent pursuit of Tod, he bumbles into a huge bear. While backpedaling, Amos steps onto one of his own traps, which snaps on his ankle, and anchors him in place. It's up to his hound dog, Copper, to distract the bear, sparing Amos from a horrible mauling. But even Copper is no match for it. Tod leaps onto the bear's back and and barely survives falling down a waterfall with it. As Copper approaches the fox who just saved him despite everything, Amos shows up to shoot Tod. Copper steps between Tod and Amos' gun, and the hunter eventually relents and decides he and Copper go home. As Amos turns to leave, he is quite visibly limping painfully.
- Triumphant Reprise: The last 30 seconds of the movie feature a wistful, instrumental Triumphant Reprise of "Goodbye May Seem Forever".
- Thwarted Coup de Grâce: Tod attacks the bear just before it lands a killing blow on Copper.
- Ungrateful Bastard: Amos still insists on shooting Tod even after he saved both his and Copper's lives. Thanks to Copper's Go Through Me action, however, he comes to his senses.
- Villain Song: "A Huntin' Man" is a zig-zagged case as Amos sings about his love for hunting, but he also sings about his love for his dogs.
- Warning Song: Big Mama has "Lack of Education" as she warns Tod that despite his friendship with Copper, they are not supposed to be friends and when they grow up, they will become mortal enemies. Tod is against this, but he soon finds out she's right.
- We Only Have One Chance: Tod and Vixie are trapped in their burrow, with Copper blocking the front exit and Amos having set a fire to block the rear exit. Realizing they were dead if they tried to go out the front, Tod urges Vixie that their only chance is to risk rushing through the fire. They make it out unharmed, much to Amos' shock.
- We Used to Be Friends: As children, Tod and Copper quickly became the best of friends. But years passed and, now adults, things have taken a much darker turn. Despite it all, their last interaction is the two silently smiling at each other, showing they at least don't part on bad terms.
- Wham Line: From Copper: "Those days are over. I'm the huntin' dog now."
- Woodland Creatures: The majority of the animal characters fall into this.
- You Are Grounded!: Happens to both Tod and Copper after trouble that ensues from them spending time together.
- Your Size May Vary: Adult Tod has a tendency to shrink slightly whenever he's in a scene where Widow Tweed has to carry him.
- Goodbye may seem forever
Farewell is like the end
But in my heart is a memory
And there you'll always be