FROM "SONG OF THE SOUTH"
WARNING: THERE WILL BE SPOILERS!
Anyone who liked the movie "Song
Of The South" will say that the film's highlights are the animated
segments, and while I enjoy the film's live action segments despite my mixed
feelings towards them, it's pretty clear that the best and most entertaining parts of
the film are whenever we launch into a story about Br'er Rabbit! They were fun, colorful, and upbeat;
had fun and cute characters (If you can get past the stereotypical uneducated
black voices); songs that clearly upstage all the songs in the live action
segments; a wonderful blend between live action and animation; nice narration from Uncle Remus, as well as seeing him appear in the stories; and of course villains
who are clearly one of Disney's funniest inseparable duos. While Yzma and Kronk
are still the funniest Disney villain duos that Disney has ever created, Br'er
Fox and Br'er Bear are still on the same comedic level as them, top 3 easily!
However, since I think Yzma and Kronk are the funniest Disney villain duo, why
did I put Br'er Fox and Br'er Bear one step ahead of them on my list? Let’s
find out.
Starting off to when I was first exposed to these villains, despite not seeing the whole movie until I reached 5th Grade since it was really
hard to track down a copy; I was already familiar with the characters
and did find myself taking a liking to them before I saw the whole movie. I've seen their
images on multiple Disney pictures and cartoons where they make cameos along
with other Disney characters; I've read one of the books based off of the
movie; I've seen two of the cartoons that were featured in the film which were "Br'er
Rabbit Runs Away" and "The Laughing Place"; and of course I went
on the ride based off of the movie "Splash Mountain", which was the
first time that I ever got acquainted with these three characters. When I finally
got a hold of the movie and finally saw the animation segment I missed out on
which was "The Tar Baby" story, I found myself loving these characters
even more.
Getting to how much I enjoy the villains in the film, starting with the leader of the duo Br'er Fox; I like how we're first introduced to him. After when Br'er Rabbit gets caught in one of his traps, we cut to Br'er Fox's lair on top of a dark hill with hellish red fire as the only source of light up there. We see Br'er Fox looking across the distance to see if his trap has worked, and after discovering that his trap has been successful at capturing Br'er Rabbit, he comically gloats about his successful capture as he sharpens his Axe, while laughing menacingly. Despite coming up with fiendish plans of capturing Br'er Rabbit and always comically failing at doing so by being outsmarted, the reason why I put him higher than Yzma on the list is because of his intimidation. When he does have Br'er Rabbit in his clutches, things at first seem hopeless, even Br'er Rabbit seems to think his time maybe up before coming up with a plan. Also when he captures Br'er Rabbit, he thinks of many brutal ways of killing him, like cooking him on a roaring fire; butchering him with his axe; hanging him till his last breath; skinning him alive; and even deciding to kill Br'er Rabbit by doing something that he begs him not to do, and the way he tells him what he's going to do to him, along with that evil grin, lets just say that I personally wouldn't want to be captured by him if I can't think of a plan. On top of it, the part that surprises me the most about the character is the actor voicing him, which is James Baskett who also plays...
Uncle Remus! Yeah, really think about it! The actor who plays a very lovable upbeat and caring story teller, who sings songs and tells stories that warm our hearts...
voices this over the top sinister hunter, who plans to do really cruel things to a cute and innocent character, by making him slowly die as he watches and laughs with that evil grin; and the crazy part is I couldn't even tell that he was voiced the same exact actor who played Uncle Remus, nor would I suspect it would be him since all the other animated critters are voiced by different actors. That's pretty impressive voice acting!
Br'er Fox's henchman who ruins his chances just as much as Br'er Rabbit does is Br'er Bear. The funny thing is, when we first meet him, despite being somewhat friends with Br'er Fox, he doesn't want to flat out kill Br'er Rabbit nor does he start off working with Br'er Fox. Actually, he's just a happy dimwitted Bear, who goes after Br'er Rabbit only because Br'er Rabbit uses him to beat up Br'er Fox, while making him look like a fool in the process, which of course upsets him, and makes him swear revenge. On top of it, while being a comical idiot that falls for Br'er Rabbit's tricks, he too can be intimidating at times. Whenever he gets pissed off, his eyes begin to light up; his dimwitted happy face completely drops; and he starts growling like the wild bear that he is that's ready to smash the person that has pissed him off. He also has an obsession with knocking Br'er Rabbit's head clean off with his club, which may not be as sadistic as Br'er Fox's choice of killing Br'er Rabbit, but at least he has a determination to kill our hero while Kronk on the other hand doesn't. Br'er Bear maybe a comical idiot, but he still at least has a threatening side to him.
Looking at these two characters as a duo, as I stated earlier, they're one of Disney's funniest villain duo's of all time. The smart leader and dimwitted sidekick is obviously nothing new at all, but the way the two works off each other is really hard not to laugh or enjoy. While Br'er Fox is usually on to Br'er Rabbits tricks, Br'er Bear is always the gullible one. When he hears about Br'er Rabbit’s "Laughing Place" for example, he's so curious in seeing it, that even when Br'er Fox tells him that it's "one of his tricks" as he tries to quickly roast Br'er Rabbit; Br'er Bear quickly stops the process and intimidates Br'er Fox to let Br'er Rabbit show him the "Laughing Place", which of course turns out to be a trap. When Br'er Bear comes up with something smart, Br'er Fox either takes full credit for Br'er Bear's idea, or just completely ignores the idea till he realizes that maybe he should have just simply knocked Br'er Rabbit's "head clean off". Speaking of Br'er Fox realizing when his plans have failed, he seriously has some of the funniest reactions that I've ever seen in a cartoon. His reaction when he sees Br'er Bear caught in his trap while shouting "Oh no!"; his look and reaction towards the song that Br'er Rabbit and Br'er Bear sing that annoy him; his excitement when seeing Br'er Rabbit fall under his "Tar Baby" trap; and his look of defeat when he realizes that he's been tricked by Br'er Rabbit before Br'er Bear hits him in the head, are so priceless that I can't tell you enough how funny that those reactions are, you just got to watch the film to know what I'm talking about. As for the slapstick that these two characters suffer is really hilarious stuff as well. The scenes like when they're making "The Tar Baby" as Br'er Fox tears stuff out of Br'er Bear's clothes and fur; getting into a scrap fight as Br'er Bear pulverizes Br'er Fox thinking that he's Br'er Rabbit; and being attacked by Bees; the timing, the sound effects, the voice acting, the animation, and the writing is so funny that I can't help but laugh just as hard as Br'er Rabbit is every time I see these scenes.
Yzma and Kronk maybe the funniest Disney villains duo of all time, but Br'er Fox and Br'er Bear are not only as die hard hilarious as them, but they come off as more threatening and twisted when compared to them, thus giving them the higher spot on my list.
"Yes sir, he's really dressed for dinner. FOR MY DINNER! Because I'm going to barbecue you this very minute, ON THAT FIRE!"
-Br'er Fox
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