I’ve been talking a lot lately about Disney’s fairy-tale based films. They’re my favorite of Disney’s offerings because they appeal to the part of me that’s always loved fantasy stories. But I’ve decided to highlight some of Disney’s lesser-known but equally excellent films.
Every few months I will profile one of what I call Disney’s underappreciated movies. This month I’ve chosen one of my favorite non-fairy-tale Disney films, and one that gets a bit more attention than the others due to its legendary subject: Robin Hood.
The playfully anthropomorphic Robin Hood, released in 1973, is the perfect family film because it only gets better as you get older. Children love the movie for its humorous action scenes, jaunty sing-along songs like “Ooh-de-lally” and “The Phony King of England,” and the silly moments stuffed throughout, such as Prince John’s continual regression to infancy at the mention of his mother.
Sheer silliness pervades the film, to the delight of young viewers. Adults will also be entertained by the abundant cultural references in many scenes.
Folk star Roger Miller is just a rooster version of himself, constantly strumming his guitar and making asides to the audience like, “I’m Alan a’Dale, a minstrel, oh and that’s an early-day folk singer.”
Robin Hood brims with such cheerful abandon, never once bothering to remain true to its supposed medieval setting. The songs are full of folk and honky-tonk, the archery contest sequence devolves into a football game complete with brass-band accompaniment and the tinny roar of the crowd in the bleachers, and Phil Harris’ Little John talks more jive than the King’s English.
The movie’s overall breezy feel will entertain you and your children, but part of what makes it great, and what will help it stick in your children’s memories, is the way the story seamlessly fits in moments of gravity.
I still sniffle during the “Not in Nottingham” number, as children are chained to the wall of a jail and an emaciated mouse scrambles for a crumb to eat, and then breaks it up to share out amongst his family.
What knits together Robin Hood’s mischievousness and somberness is the overall sense of family and community. Robin Hood and Little John are best friends who spend as much time joking with each other as fighting for the other.
Rather than a gang of green-clad Merry Men skulking alone in the forest, Robin’s clan seems to include the whole of Nottingham, who band together both in times of merriment and struggle.
While that theme warms the heart, the film’s writing enriches the mind. Robin Hood contains the most skillful wordplay I have heard in a Disney film, from the consonance of Sir Hiss’s speech to the constant alliteration and Shakespearean-style prose peppered throughout. For example: “Faint hearts never won fair lady,” “reluctant reptile,” “corpulent cleric.”
This is one of the only Disney films I’ve seen with such clear attention paid to the sound and quality of its dialogue. It’s great for children to experience such strong writing, and entertaining for us adults.
All these reasons and more make Robin Hood one of Disney’s most undeservedly underappreciated films, and thus a perfect rental choice for families choosing to stay in this New Year’s Eve. Disney re-released the film on DVD a few years ago so it should be at your local video rental store, and is available for purchase on Amazon.com.
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