Robin Hood (1973)

 ROBIN HOOD (1973)

By Ralph Santini - ***

In 1973, two years after Roy O. Disney’s death, Walt Disney Productions decided to release their 21^st animated feature, this time an “animal kingdom” version of the great legends of “Robin Hood”.  The cast of animal characters in Disney’s animated version are the following, Robin Hood is a fox, Maid Marian is a vixen, Little John is a bear, Friar Tuck is a badger, Prince John is a lion, and The Sheriff of Nottingham is a wolf; among other animal characters in this children’s film. This film, mind you, is not one the greatest of all Disney films but still it hasn’t lost its fascination, nor its witty sense of humor.

Aside from its attractive animation, 1970s Disney style, it has some wonderful interpretations of the Robin Hood legends characters. The animals in this screenplay here match perfectly, Robin Hood as a fox is convincing given that foxes are pretty clever mammals. Robin Hood has always being described not only as brave, but also being clever himself.  Maid Marian being a Vixen is also perfect because vixens are the few non-human animals to match the beauty of a woman and besides it makes both characters part of the same species; on top of that, it’s biologically correct. Little John being the bear is no imperfection either given that Little John has been Robin Hood’s tough bodyguard in all ancient Robin Hood legends. The Sheriff of Nottingham also deserves to be a wolf because wolves are strong and fierce just like the Sheriff in most other Robin Hood versions. And don’t forget Prince John being a Lion because the Lion has always been the royal symbol of England.

The story told in Disney’s version might be a little routine, and it does kind of rip-off Disney’s version of “The Jungle Book”, more or less. So what? It doesn’t stop this cute version from being entertaining since I first saw the film on videocassette when I was only 4 years old.  It brings back wonderful memories and in fact it’s the film that caused me to be more and more obsessed with the Robin Hood legend. Sure the interpretation of Prince John as an immature villain can be very distracting but who cares it’s still funny after 40 years. On top of that I happen to still enjoy the songs, including Roger Miller’s wonderful “Whistle Stop” in the opening credits and even “Prince John, That Phony King Of England” which was written by the great American music lyricist Johnny Mercer.

 Moreover, this film, to my mind, is probably the best of only 4 of Disney’s animated features of the 1970s. Yes, it’s even better than its subsequent Disney film, the extra money making potboiler “The Rescuers”. It’s more energetic and a lot more entertaining.