Robin Hood

Disney's animated "Robin Hood" gets somewhat lost in the shuffle of great animated films from the famed studio, but is still a nice piece of entertainment that tells the popular story well. Good songs and fun situations are the greatest assets here. The film lacks the real drama that makes others of its kind better cinematically. Still a good film for the whole family. 4 stars out of 5.

When one thinks of Disney songs, one generally thinks along the vein of "Someday My Prince Will Come" or "Once Upon A Dream". Disney songs are usually silly love songs, villain's expressions of their villainy, or some generally upbeat nonsense. Disney songs are generally not hard and gritty.

Which is why "Not In Nottingham" is my favourite Disney song ever. It is a hard and emotional song, blues like an icepick to the soul, the loudest and harshest cry of pain I have ever heard in a Disney film. Where else in Disney-land would you hear a line like "Don't you know there's nothing left for me?".

Combined as it is with the jail scene, it is melancholia at its depths, and a refreshing change from the general froth one expects, and generally gets, from Disney movies and songs.

When I was about four or five years old I used to watch this film almost every day in my day care. Then a couple of weeks ago I was discussing with my friend about animation movies and it came up that he had this important piece of my childhood on VHS. So of course I borrowed it and watched it for the first time in about 13 years. I remembered surprisingly many scenes.

Watching this movie wasn't as big event as it was years ago, but I still find it quite enjoyable. There were some funny mistakes in the translation from English to Finnish, but nothing crucial. I think I'll watch this a couple of times again for the old times sake before I give the tape back to my friend. :) 8/10

It is strange how many people damn the Disney version of "Robin Hood" for rough and repetitious animation, one-dimensional characters, and weak pacing. After all, A LOT of animated films suffer from this syndrome, even "landmark" productions like "Anastasia" and "Shrek." The characters are stereotypes, but they act believably: Prince John is silly, but with a truly evil undercurrent ("Squeeze every last drop out of those insolent...musical...peasants."), the Sheriff is deliciously nasty ("Upsy-daisy"), and Robin Hood is very affable. The music is, quite simply, fantastic. "Not in Nottingham" is easily the best Disney song ever (barring "When She Loved Me" in Toy Story 2), the opening theme and song are catchy and appropriate for the movie's tone, and the movie's action scenes are clever, chaotic, and action-packed but not gory. This is a movie you can show your kids without being embarrassed upon seeing that the movie is one long commercial for action figures and plush toys.

Robin Hood is personally one of my favorite Disney movies of all time, it's one of those animated films that gets over looked or over shadowed by other Disney classics, I wish it did get more notice. The animation is great and just has that old feel to it when animators used to draw the pictures, it feels more personal and special that way. Not to mention that this was a great adaptation of the Robin Hood story for the kids. Even as an adult I still enjoy watching this movie, it's funny, romantic, touching, and just very entertaining to watch. How could you not love Prince John? He is one of Disney's most awesome and hilarious villains of all time! Granted I know this film can come off as a little corny, but seriously give this movie a chance, it's one of Disney's buried treasures.

The story begins as Robin Hood and Little John run from the Sheriff of Nottingham, who has ambushed them with a team of archers. After narrowly escaping, Robin Hood and Little John happen upon the royal entourage which is taking Prince John and his counselor, Sir Hiss, to Nottingham in order to tax the people there. Disguised as female fortune-tellers, Robin and Little John effectively steal all the gold they can carry and run off into the forest, leaving Prince John sucking his thumb in humiliation. In Nottingham, Robin uses Friar Tuck to smuggle the stolen gold back to the peasants. Later Robin sees Maid Marian, she and Robin had once been sweethearts as children, but were forced to part ways when she moved to London. But she is mistaken: Robin can't stop thinking about her. But since Robin is an outlaw he and Marian wait for marriage. Seething with rage, that Robin is winning, John triples the taxes, making the bleak situation in Nottingham even worse. One night, Robin Hood, disguised again as the beggar, learns that Friar Tuck is in jail and will rescue him, save Nottingham once and for all and give Prince John the justice that has been coming to him for a long time.

I can't tell you how much I love this film, I think my favorite scene will always be the archery scene. Robin Hood learns that there is an archery contest and the winner gets a kiss from Maid Marian, so he enters and goes in a disguise, and Little John had his back the whole time while getting Prince John to lighten up about Robin being in the contest. I also love Prince John's side kick, Sir Hiss, he's the perfect little sleaze bag tattle tail and we go in Tom and Jerry classic mode when Prince John has it with him and just ties Hiss's body in a knot. This is a terrific Disney movie, just trust me when I say that it's a lot of fun to watch and just enjoy it, we don't get films like this any more.

10/10