Perri
follows the squirrel of the Bambi saga, particularly the one introduced in the
second book. Is it as good as Bambi and it’s sequel, or does it have
some flaws? Let’s explore! Spoilers ahead.
Perri is a young squirrel who lives with her mother and
future mate Porro in the same woods as Bambi and his friends. She comes across
a human child that can speak the language of the animals, which sparks the
interest of her and her fellow forest critter. The rest of the story is once
more very much structured like the Bambi novels, just a character growing up,
no real central conflict other than survival.
Does that work? I feel like it works a little less here than
in Bambi and especially Bambi’s Children. Perri has some of the same problems
the first Bambi book has: Perri is simply not an interesting character. Bambi
wasn’t very engaging, either, but you still cared a lot about him and wanted to
see what was going to happen to him and his peers. With Perri, I felt nothing
for the character. I didn’t care if she was going to live or die, or her mate
did.
This story is also rather uneventful in comparison to the
companion books. There’s a lot happening and constant danger in both Bambi
books, yet here there’s rather little presence of Him and/or hunting animals.
Perri’s mother dies, but because we got to see so little of her and the bond to
her child (unlike Bambi and his mother) it doesn’t work like it did with Bambi.
Outside of this, there’s also a lack of explaining things.
It’s never addressed why the child can talk to the animals, and once she stops
being able to, it’s never stated why, either. I think what the story wants us
to assume is that all young children can talk the animal’s tongue, but grow out
of it, but that’s very between the lines. It really should’ve been a little
more clear on this.
Also, if you want any references to the Bambi stories, you
will get barely a thing. I think that Bambi’s mentioned once or twice and
Faline may or may not have appeared (I don’t think they ever mentioned her by
name, just a doe who referred to Bambi in a way that she might be Faline), but
that’s it.
Perri is a far cry from the awesomeness that is the Bambi
books. It feels far less mature and has rather uninteresting characters and low
stakes. I do not recommend this one, just check out the original Bambi books
again rather than this.
Rating: 2/5
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