Robin Hood is an unremarkable but nice enough in its own way Disney animation that follows the famous story of the man in green who stole from the rich to give to the poor, albeit all the characters are animals not humans in this version.  It's strictly light entertainment - it follows the traditional tale relatively closely, has a few laughs and songs along the way, and while there's nothing outstanding about it, it's still rather enjoyable.

Robin Hood in this version comes in the form of a dashing young fox, complete with a cavalier attitude, an exceptional ability at archery, and a strong attraction to Maid Marian (who is, appropriately enough, a vixen.).  Prince John (though he'd rather be called King John, of course) is a lion, rather grouchy and with a series of advisors who manage to be mostly unhelpful.  Other characters include Friar Tuck, Little John, Will Scarlet and the Sheriff of Nottingham- all the characters you would expect to find in any Robin Hood tale, in fact.  There are really no surprises in terms of storyline if you know the legend, and there's little in the way of character development.  There are plenty of different animals portraying the different characters, and these mostly seem to fit the individual characters well - for instance, the Sheriff is a wolf, while the phoney king's sneaky advisor is a snake (Sir Hiss).  Lady Cluck, Maid Marian's lady-in-waiting, is a mother hen, which is very much in keeping with her job!

The animation in Robin Hood definitely isn't up to the standard of the classic Disney movies, but it's not terrible.  The visuals are decent; nowhere near the quality of the best Disney, but they do the job.  The songs were pretty forgettable and didn't add much to the film.  The voice acting is fine - the characters aren't very deep so the cast didn't have a lot of work to do in this regard, but the voices sound natural and appropriate for their characters.  The voice talent includes Peter Ustinov (great fun as the voice of Prince John and, later in the movie, Richard the Lionheart), Brian Bedford and Monica Evans are fine as Robin Hood / Maid Marian, and Terry Thomas is probably my pick of the voices as Sir Hiss.

The things you most remember Disney animated movies for are usually the songs, and it's in this regard particularly that I felt Robin Hood was weaker than the classics.  The songs are pleasant enough but none are memorable.  With few memorable characters, I don't really feel this belongs among the Disney classics, though others of course would disagree.  (A note on this... I remember loving it as a kid, but when I watched it quite recently it just didn't do much for me.  In this case, nostalgia alone wasn't enough to make me love the movie, though I still enjoyed it.)  I guess the humour didn't work for me either - most of it was slapstick and though there were moments of humour in the dialogue, it just got a little too cute for my liking.  The love affair between Robin Hood and Maid Marian seemed a little pointless too, though of course it's key to staying near the story we all know.

From start to finish Robin Hood is enjoyable if unremarkable.  The new digital transfer on the Special Edition ensures that it looks great, with vibrant colours and nary a scratch.  Other features on the Special Edition include:

•Ø  Robin Hood's Merry Games - Archery Trivia Challenge and Rescue Maid Marian - these are okay for kids, which is obviously who they're aimed at.
•Ø  Disney's Song Selection - "Oo-de-lally", "Love" and "The Phoney King of England" - okay if you like the songs, I guess!  Didn't do a lot for me really.
•Ø  Deleted scene - This is more interesting - an alternate ending (done in storyboard with voice acting).  Though it was easy to see why they went with the ending they did, it's nice to see what could have been.
•Ø  Bonus Short - "Ye Olden Days" - a very old animated short featuring Mickey Mouse as a wondering minstrel who saves the maiden Minnie from an unwanted wedding and an overbearing father... it's interesting to see how cartoons were made back in the early 30s, but like most of them, it doesn't come across too well today!
•Ø  Stills Gallery - concept art, mock-ups and some behind-the-scenes photos.  You can view them in a virtual scrapbook or have them individually come up one by one as a video clip.

The extras are so-so, and convince me to give Robin Hood: Special Edition a 3 star rating.  It's quite fun but to me it's definitely missing something that other Disney animations had. 


This was my second entry to the Disney Write Off (80 Years of Mickey Mouse)- my first was The Aristocats.  I have at least two more to come...

You might also enjoy Mel Brooks' Robin Hood: Men In Tights, a funny movie also based on the man in Lincoln Green.

See also: My Top Ten Animated Movies 


If you want to actually be Robin Hood, you might want to try one of these PC Games:

Robin Hood: Defender of the Crown
Robin Hood: The Legend of Sherwood

Recommended:
Yes

Viewing Format: DVD