Rich Burns, Daniel P. Mannix and Roger S.H. Schulman wrote and Jim Kammerud directed a midquel story of Tod the fox (Jonah Bobo) and Copper the hound dog (Harrison Fahn). The Fox and the Hound 2 follows the adventures of Tod and Copper as young animals. As the two journey through a local carnival, Copper finds himself in the midst of a band of misfit dogs. Once the dogs discover his musical talent, he is excited to join the band. As he grows closer and closer to the band members, his relationship with his best friend Tod is put in danger of falling apart. Can the two youngsters overcome this bump in the road and save their innocent bond?
This sequel comes more than twenty years after the release of the original film, proving to make casting difficult. With household names such as Mickey Rooney and Kurt Russell at the helm of the first film, it would be hard to replicate those voices and continue the story of the adult fox and hound without audiences knowing the difference. So, the midquel was born, and Bobo and Fahn were cast to play the two titular characters in their formative years. To replace the larger than life cast members from the first film, casting director Jamie Thomason chose modern stars to play alongside the two young actors. Reba McEntire (Dixie), Jeff Foxworthy (Lyle), Vicki Lawrence (Granny Rose) and Patrick Swayze (Cash) are used to lure seasoned audiences and to create a musical element to the film that did not exist in the first.
Disney attempted to develop a musical in order to create some success for the film. The lack of music in the first film allowed the story to develop and allowed audiences to connect with the characters; adding this element to the sequel made the film almost entirely about the music and strained the connection between viewer and the two protagonists. As the film progressed, character development took a backseat to the music and, for viewers who often try to stray from musicals, it became difficult to appreciate the story as it was overshadowed by the less than adequate music. The addition of a musical element was disappointing and ultimately took away from the story of friendship and innocence.
Like the first film, The Fox and the Hound 2 tried to touch on the idea of innocence and the ability for people who come from different backgrounds to get along. It made it hard, however, to appreciate the obstacles that Tod and Copper overcame throughout the film due to the fact that audiences would have already known what happens to their relationship as they grow older. The same sentiments were present in this film, but they did not make as much of an impact due to the reasons I previously mentioned.
No one expected this sequel to live up to its predecessor, and they were right to believe this. Having low expectations for the film allowed for less of a let down. However, hope was ever present throughout, as fans of Disney expected that the production company would have some tricks up their sleeve that would lead to, at the very least, mild success. Lucas Grabeel saves the day in the closing credits, providing some bit of entertainment with his song You Know I Will. This was the one and only surprise that Disney threw at viewers, at least leaving them with a somewhat positive feeling at the end of the film.
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