Bambi lost money at the box office for its first release, but recouped its considerable cost during the 1947 re-release. Although the film received good reviews, the timing of the release, during World War II, hurt the film's box office numbers. The film didn't do so well at the box office in America, and the studio no longer had access to many European markets that provided a large portion of its profits. Despite this, today, the film is viewed as a classic. Critics Mick Martin and Marsha Porter call the film "...the crowning achievement of Walt Disney's animation studio." In June 2008, the American Film Institute revealed its "Ten top Ten"—the best ten films in ten "classic"American film genres. Bambi was acknowledged as the third best film in the animation genre.
《小鹿斑比》首次發布時在票房上沒有賺到錢,但在1947年的第二次放映中彌補了它的虧損。雖然電影收到好評,時間上安排的很好,但是在第二次世界大戰期間,票房受到很大影響。那部電影在美國沒有賣的很好,以及工作室不再有很多能賺取很大利潤的歐洲市場。盡管如此,今天,電影已經被視為經典。批評家米克·馬丁和瑪莎波特稱這部電影"…沃爾特·迪斯尼動畫工作室最高的成就”。2008年6月,美國電影協會公布了“十佳”——美國電影流派的十大經典影片。《小鹿斑比》被看作是排名第三的最佳動畫電影。