Robin Hood [G]

With King Richard away from home, England is in the hands of the greedy and cowardly Prince John, who is taking all the poor peoples’ money for himself. Luckily, there lives an outlaw called Robin Hood who steals the money back from Prince John and gives it to the poor. 

The legend of Robin Hood being a classic tale, it would not be right for Disney not to make his own version of it. Robin Hood was a great animated feature filled with action, songs, comedy, and romance. It’s sad that it is one of the often forgotten Disney classics. 

With King Richard away form home, England is in the hands of the greedy and cowardly Prince John, who is taking all the poor peoples’ money and keeping it for himself.  But there is hope for the poor, and his name is Robin Hood; a brave and witty outlaw who makes it his mission to take back what rightfully belongs to the people of Nottingham. 

What I particularly like about this movie was that it told the classic tale and adventures of Robin Hood, but it had animals as its characters. It was really interesting to see a sort of reverse-personification in the whole thing. Robin Hood was a fox, the maid Marion was a vixen, the Sheriff of Nottingham was a wolf, Prince John and King Richard were lions, and Friar Tuck was a badger. You can imagine them being those animals really. 

The film uses the same rough-drawn animation that was used in The Jungle Book, The Sword in the Stone, and The Aristocats and there is one particular scene, a song and dance number, where the exact same dance routines and animation from both The Arisotcats and The Jungle Book are used. I suppose you could look at that as a form of animation recycling. Whether it was Disney being subtly clever or a complete fluke and copy, I loved it either way. 

Featuring the voice talents of Brian Beford, Phil Harris, Andy Devine, Monica Evans, Carole Shelley, Terry-Thomas, Pat Buttram, Roger Miller, and Peter Ustinov, Robin Hood is a classic Disney take on the timeless legend and is filled with action, romance, comedy, songs, and memorable characters. I love it!