Despite its status as one of Disney’s lesser animated classics their 1973 take on the Robin Hood legend had always been a childhood favourite. Yet even though it had been a good few years since my last visit to Sherwood forest it was amazing how fresh in the memory this film remained and how well it still holds up now viewing it through more cynical eyes.

Wolfgang Reitherman’s Robin Hood seems best known for its cheap production values rather than its exciting adventure, catchy tunes and memorable characters. Whilst it may famously recycle animation from the studio’s earlier movies (Reitherman’s own The Jungle Book being repurposed several times) as well as repeat sequences to save money it rarely impacts on…

I grew up on quite a lot of Disney fare as child, but this is one that I sadly missed out on. Robin Hood was one of the first Disney films that was put into production after Walt passed away. They were also in a bit of a financially dire state at the time, so some corners had to be cut while making this one. Despite the few shortcomings that resulted from this, it's just as solid as anything else I've seen from the studio's output.

This is of course their take on the 'Robin Hood' legend, where (in true Disney fashion) the cast consists of anthropomorphised animals, which makes this feel like a spiritual predecessor to Zootopia in some…

For as long as I can remember I have loved this film with all my heart. I used to have a VHS tape with this and Sword in the Stone on that my dad taped off the telly that I watched religiously when I was little!

This film has such an unfair stigma attached to it, that because it was done on a budget with the reuse of other Disney film cells, that somehow detracts from how good it is. WELL THAT IS FUCKING STUPID. This film is great, original and funny. It is very well made, from how well anthropomorphised the characters are (making them totally believable despite the fact they are animals in medieval clothes) to the amazing…

O filme como um todo, no caso a história e o roteiro, também sabe usar de suas limitações para se fortalecer, mas isto não significa que não hajam falhas. O principal problema com Robin Hood é o quão genérico ele pode parecer às vezes, e sim, de fato ele é um clássico filme infantil, sem grandes inovações. Assim como na animação, a Disney resolveu reutilizar de coisas que funcionaram para ela no passado, ao invés de dar a liberdade para Robin Hood ser seu próprio filme, sobretudo na caracterização de seus personagens, que parecem versões pioradas de figuras do passado. Um grande exemplo disso é João Pequeno, que nada mais é que um Balu 2.0, mas sem todo o charme…

Disney’s Animation Canon #21

Having seen all of Disney’s ouevre up to this point so close within each other, noticing and identifying the recycled animation (the most used within the Xerox era) becomes a lot easier and for a more heavy-handed critical eye, it would be a hindrance. But given my unabashed adoration for the film, I still see it as but another application of Robin Hood’s charm. 

In an decade where animation was appearing more workprint and sketchy, and voice acting for it became noticeably tinny and analog, this entry remains an outlier much in the same fashion as Ralph Bakshi’s grungy city odysseys, the deceptive beauty of Watership Down, and the harrowing psychedelia of La Planete Sauvage. It…