Bambi is a 1942 American animated film produced by Walt Disney and based on the book Bambi , A Life in the Woods by Austrian author Felix Salten . The film was released by RKO Radio Pictures on August 13 , 1942 , and it is the fifth film in the Walt Disney Animated Classics series . Thumper A charming young rabbit who introduces Bambi to fun in the forest . The main characters are Bambi , a white - tailed deer , his parents ( the Great Prince of the forest and his unnamed mother ) , his friends Thumper ( a pink - nosed rabbit ) , and Flower ( a skunk ) , and his childhood friend and future mate , Faline . For the movie , Disney took the liberty of changing Bambi ' s species into a white - tailed deer from his original species of roe deer , since roe deer do not inhabit the United States , and the white - tailed deer is more familiar to Americans . This film received three Academy Award nominations : Best Sound , Best Song ( for " Love Is a Song " sung by Donald Novis ) and Original Music Score . In June 2008 , the American Film Institute presented a list of its " 10 Top 10 "— the best ten films in each of ten " classic " American film genres — after polling over 1 , 500 people from the creative community . Bambi placed third in animation . Flower One of Bambi ' s forest friends . When they first meet , Bambi mistakenly calls him a flower — a name that the shy young skunk is happy to adopt . Faline Bambi ' s mate . Bambi meets her for the first time in the field when they are young and becomes Twitter - pated by the young doe when they are older . Bambi The young Prince of the Forest . Under the guidance of his mother and with the help from pals Thumper and Flower , Bambi learns about the wonder of nature and the power of friendship and family . http : / / disney . go . com / disneyvideos / animatedfilms / bambi /