Robin Hood (1973)

Robin Hood is another of those Disney movies I never cared much about as a kid. Why I can't say since I love animals --all the characters here are portrayed as animals-- and Robin Hood is pretty much doing the right thing by doing what he does.

Just like the classic tale, Disney's film follows Robin Hood (voiced by Brian Bedford) and his companion Little John (voiced by Phil Harris) as they steal from the rich and give to the poor. The riches happen to be the immature and greedy Prince John (voiced by Peter Ustinov) who has the corrupt Sherif of Nottingham (voiced by Pat Buttram) collect crushing taxes from poor citizens. Which is why the Sherif of Nottingham is out to catch them. Being wanted by Prince John, however, won't stop Robin Hood from entering an archery contest to win the hand of Maid Marion (voiced by Monica Evans).

Because Robin Hood tells a story we already know, the plot is very predictable. It also occasionally wanders and loses its focus and yet it manages to keep you interested and engaged.

That happens only because Disney found a way to make the classic story more original by using anthropomorphic animal characters --Robin Hood is a fox, Little John is a bear, Prince John is a lion, the Sherif of Nottingham is a wolf, Maid Marion is a vixen, and let's not forget about Prince John's right hand, Sir Hiss, a snake (voiced by Terry-Thomas). There's something charming and creative about it and makes the characters so much more lovable and funny. Even some of the villains, especially Prince John as he's being portrayed as a spoiled little brat who cries when things don't go his way. Some of the characters though are basically characters from another Disney film, The Jungle Book. It's indeed more than obvious than Little John is Baloo and Sir Hiss is Kaa. The Sherif of Nottingham is by far the least likeable character which is why he makes a great villain. The solid voice work from the cast helps too.

Buena Vista Distribution

The songs are nice too. They aren't as catchy or memorable as songs from other Disney movies, The Jungle Book or The Lion King to name a few, but they are still enjoyable. The animation, on the other hand, isn't that great. Actually, it's terrible as it looks pretty amateurish and very cheap. You can even see pencil marks at times!