Welcome back for another edition of A Second Look with Jeff Stockton! In this segment I will take a "second look" at a past LRF release with a fresh set of eyes.
Jacob Jones has easily been the LRF writer to cater most to families and animation fans over his seasons with the studio. With his latest entry Madeline in theaters this round, I decided to take a look at one of his earliest animated efforts - Oh Deer. When it was first released, I did not care for Oh Deer one bit. It felt too childish and episodic, even for an animated film.
Taking a second look at Oh Deer now, and my opinion did not improve. In fact, it got worse. The story in Oh Deer is basically non-existent and completely lacking in any kind of stakes or urgency. The deer characters want to find the perfect berry bush. Why? Because the berries might taste really good. So they decide to wander toward the bushes, occasionally meeting some other animal. Are these berries going to improve their lives or do anything other than taste good? Nope. And then in the end we get a speech about how the friends they made along the way are important than any berries. It felt more like an episode of an animated cable show for very young children than anything that belongs in on the big screen.
While I did dislike Oh Deer more this time around than I did back in Season 14, I can thankfully say that Jacob Jones has gotten much better at writing these types of films since his first attempt.
Original Grade: D+
New Grade: D-
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