Summary:
A retelling of the story of Robin Hood and his struggle against the Sherriff of Nottingham starring humanoid animals.
My Thoughts:
This was a favorite from my childhood, so when we decided to do a spotlight on animated Disney films for the podcast I knew that I wanted to revisit this one. It had been years since I watched it, and honestly there were only a few scenes that I really remembered vividly, so I knew that most of the film would be a surprise. As the film began, I found myself swept up in a wave of nostalgia as a banjo-strumming Rooster (Roger Miller) crowing about Robin Hood and Little John walking through the forest (oo-de-lally, oo-de-lally, what a day!). However, as the film went on, I found that the movie was much slower than I had remembered, and I have to wonder if today’s younger audiences wouldn’t find this boring when compared to computer animated movies from Pixar (“Up”, “Toy Story”), Dreamworks (“Shrek”), or any other number of studios.
For one thing, much of the humor in this film feels incredibly dated, to the point that I didn’t know if some of the dialogue was meant to be funny or just peculiar. The only parts that I think children today would find humorous would be the physical humor, and even that feels a little repetitive after a while. There are a few scenes that really work well, for example when Little John (Phil Harris, “The Jungle Book (1967)”) and Robin Hood (Brian Bedford, “Nixon”) first encounter Prince John (Peter Ustinov, “Spartacus”), they dress up as female fortune tellers and rob him blind, all while the Prince’s consul, a snake named Sir Hiss (Terry Thomas, “It’s a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World”), tries desperately to warn him. That scene is particularly funny, and it really sets a great tone for the film, but after that, the film slows way down.
There are a few scenes where Little John and Robin Hood go about town and bestow gifts on people, all the while the Sherriff of Nottingham (Pat Buttram, “The Fox and the Hound”) goes about swiping up the gifts just dispersed. This dance of back and forth goes on for a while, and honestly it feels a little worn out by the time we get to the middle of the movie. Most of the actual plot progression is told to us directly by the Rooster, all of the actions that Robin Hood and his friends take onscreen really amount to very little until the end of the film. For a good forty minutes of this movie, there isn’t much plot progression; we just get to know our characters, and they do their thing, over and over again. While I do think that what the characters do is a bit repetitive (as are the animations- more on that in a moment), I also think they are quite charming. Robin Hood is a fun rascally character with a bunch of charm and a great heart. Maid Marian (Monica Evans, “The Odd Couple (1968)”) is equally loveable, and so are many of the side characters (including some of the little kids like the Bunny and the Turtle). Though the middle portion of this movie is really pretty slow, the end ramps up and gives the viewer some moderate excitement.
As I hadn’t watched this in quite some time, it didn’t surprise me at all that I started to notice little things about the animation that seemed a slightly off. There are quite a few moments that reuse animation (watch for parading rhinos), or if it’s not exactly reused, the animation is only slightly altered. I know that back in the 70s, when this film was made, the only way these kinds animation cells were produced was by hand, so as a cost cutting measure it makes sense, but as a viewer… well… As a child I of course didn’t notice this, and as this film is still intended for children, I can’t honestly say it’s that big of a deal. But as I’ve faulted other films I’ve reviewed for reusing shots before (looking at you “The Mummy (1932)”), I’d be remised if I didn’t at least mention it.
Verdict:
As “Robin Hood” has just passed it’s forty-sixth anniversary I find that it is still a classic, but I wonder, in the coming years, if this will be a movie that people don’t really watch as often. I’m sure there will always be Disney fanatics that watch all the old animated flicks, and I’m sure cinephiles will always flock back to them for their historical significance, but as for the average moviegoer, I wonder how entertaining they find these movies now. I would like to see classic Disney films continue on for generations to come, and with the announced Disney Plus streaming service forthcoming, maybe movies like this will find their way to audiences that still love them for what they are.
End Note: Reitherman also directed “The Sword in the Stone”, which I found to be a bit more entertaining.
If you like the legend of Robin Hood, you should also check out our review for “Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves”!
Review Written By: