Bambi Meets Godzilla

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, crushing him (set to the final chord of the Beatles' "A Day in the Life"). 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. ==Reception==

Cartoonist Zander Cannon said the film "achieved a weird sort of notoriety" as a comic piece of anti-art, shown at short film festivals and on bootleg tapes along with other short films like Hardware Wars (1978). Animator Bill Plympton noted it as an inspiring example of a very low-budget film that was both funny and financially successful. It is discussed in a film textbook as an example of how a film can set up and then subvert viewer expectations. ==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. ==See also==