From left to right: Friar Tuck, Maid Marian, Robin Hood, and Little John.
"There's been a heap o' legends told about ol' Robin Hood — all different too. Well, we folks in the animal kingdom have our own version — it's the story of what really happened in Sherwood Forest." — Alan-a-Dale's Opening Narration
Robin Hood, the 1973 animated feature by Disney and 21st film in the Disney Animated Canon, takes the classic story of the original Robin Hood and replaces all the characters with Funny Animals. Among the cast and the animals they're portrayed as:
Nutsy and Trigger (the Sheriff's Mooks) — vultures
Lady Kluck (Maid Marian's lady-in-waiting) — a chicken
This movie was the first in the Disney Animated Canon that was made completely independent of Walt Disney, who had died in 1966 - The Aristocats was personally greenlit by Walt. Therefore, it is one of the most visibly - how can we best put this kindly? - economical Disney animated films. The studio was suffering financially during its production, resulting in plenty of recycled animation from a multitude of films. Luckily for the company, the movie made enough money in the box office to pull through. That didn't prevent Disney from viewing it as one of their worst entries - during production, and even after the box office success. Additionally, the movie was poorly received critically and has ended up branded "Rotten" on Rotten Tomatoes. But in contrast, fan reaction has always been unanimously positive, to the point where the movie has been Vindicated by History through 80s and 90s kids who know it from VHS. It's also considered one of the gateway drugs to the Furry Fandom.Take a shot when you notice recycled animation.
Disney's Robin Hood provides examples of:
Absence Makes The Heart Go Yonder: Marian fears this is what happened to Robin. However, it is quickly subverted in the next scene, as Robin is shown daydreaming about her. He's just afraid that he might not be good enough to be with her due to his status as an outlaw.
Ambiguously Gay: Prince John and Sir Hiss are both contenders.
Anachronism Stew: Mostly averted, except for the voices. The Sheriff and his mooks as well as Friar Tuck and Alan-a-Dale talk like characters from a western *
The actors were almost certainly cast to fulfill that characterization and not vice-versa
, while Little John shares Baloo the Bear's beatnik-inspired personality (as well as his voice-actor).
Although Friar Tuck comes from the original legend, his presence during the reign of Richard I makes no sense, as the first Mendicant order was not founded until 1209, a full decade after the Lionheart's death.
The rabbits sing "Happy Birthday to You" - which was written in the late 19th century in Louisville, Kentucky - to Skippy. The film takes place in the 12th century. America hadn't even been discovered yet.
While in the ale barrel, Sir Hiss sings "For He's a Jolly Good Fellow" (although he says "for I'm a jolly good fellow"). Again, that song hadn't been written yet— it was written in 1709.
In their first scene, Maid Marian and Lady Cluck are playing badminton, which was invented in the 18th century.
Nottingham Castle has a scaffold gallows, even though it was invented by the Scot Deacon William Brodie in 1787.
Artistic License - History: Pretty much to be expected considering the Robin Hood genre which commonly puts the outlaw as a contemporary of John and Richard rather than (probably) Edward I. However, just to reiterate, John was not taxing the poor of England just so he could swim around in mountains of gold coins; though he was definitely attempting to seize the throne, he had no authority to raise revenues from any but his own possessions (of which Nottingham was one). *
The film does not mention Richard's captivity and ransom, but the money for that was raised by a special collection largely overseen by Eleanor of Aquitaine, Richard and John's mother.
Richard didn't imprison John or the Sheriff of Nottingham (though the sheriff did lose his job) when he got back; in fact, John eventually became king, the first after the Norman Conquest (possibly) to speak English fluently. John did make a lot of enemies and suffer a lot of setbacks, but it is debatable whether he was the grasping, cowardly tyrant portrayed in the film.
Ass in a Lion Skin: Robin, a fox, disguises himself as "the spindle-legged stork from Devonshire" and as Nutsy, a vulture.
Barefoot Cartoon Animals: A few of the characters, most notably Lady Kluck, Alan-a-Dale, and Mother Rabbit and her children (for whom this trope might overlap with Barefoot Poverty).
Batman Gambit: How Prince John fooled Robin Hood to take part of the archery tournament. Knowing that he's in love in Marian, he announces that the winner of the tournament shall get a kiss from Marian as a first prize, knowing that Robin just wouldn't refuse to take that opportunity. Of course, the tournament was just all a trap to snare Robin Hood in, based on which one was the unnatural superior archer.
Berserk Button: Mentioning King Richard in front of Prince John. Mentioning his mother is probably okay, as it just causes him to bluescreen and start sucking his thumb.
Beware The Cute Ones: Skippy, a seven-year-old rabbit, successfully shoots an arrow at Prince John's rear end! (It bounces off).
Beware the Nice Ones: Do not take money from the poor box in front of Friar Tuck.
Prince John: Hiss. I've been robbed. Sir Hiss:[more vehement than at any other time in the movie]: Of course you've been robbed!
Casual Danger Dialogue: Robin proposing to Marian and the two of them discussing the plans for their honeymoon and children during a major Sword Fight.
Cats are Mean: Played straight and inverted with Prince John and King Richard (who are both lions), respectively.
Chekhov's Gun: The little rabbit sister can't run nearly as fast as the other kids. This becomes very important in the final battle when she's struggling to keep up with the evacuating villagers, and Robin Hood has to turn around and rescue her, leaving him trapped on the opposite side of the portcullis.
Cuffs Off Rub Wrists: Friar Tuck does this after being released from his shackles by Robin Hood.
Dangerously Genre Savvy: Watching the film, one gets the feeling that if Prince John had actually listened to Hiss' advice now and then (don't trust the strange gypsy women for one), he'd have been spared some of his humiliations.
Did Not Do the Research: The Prince John of the Robin Hood stories did indeed become the first (and thus far only) King John of England.
The lyric "too late to be known as John The First" most likely refers to the fact that if he had been born before Richard he would have been King John I.
The Church was very powerful in the 12th Century and would have made a serious fuss over the Sheriff helping himself to the contents of the church poor box. Especially since the Crown had no authority to collect taxes on church income at all at that point in history - that was one of the many issues that the Church and Crown argued over until Henry VIII broke from Rome in the 16th century.
Disguised in Drag: Robin Hood and Little John both pulled this trick at the beginning, stealing everything valuable that wasn't nailed down after Prince John dismissed the notion of female bandits as "rubbish". Robin was good at it, Little John...not so much; his cover would have been blown if he spoke to anyone up-close.
Robin's voice actor, Brian Bedford, has performed in drag since, and this film probably wasn't the first time, given that his female voice is fairly convincing.
While it's not really shown as one, or commented on, the Sheriff managed to escape from the burning castle along with Prince John and Sir Hiss. If the final scene had been omitted, you could've easily assumed all the villains burnt to death.
Distressed Damsel/Neutral Female: Marian. She's lovely and graceful but almost completely helpless, even when her love is about to be executed before her eyes.
She does beg Prince John to spare Robin (though YMMV on how successful it would have been) and hits a guard aiming for Robin with a pie. Pretty distressed, but it's something.
Dolled-Up Installment: Ever wonder why it's Robin Hood with funny animals? That's because Disney had previously been trying to make a movie about Reynard the Fox but abandoned the idea. Since they had tried to make the character more appealing by giving him Robin Hood-like qualities, it wasn't too hard to take what they had and turn it into a Robin Hood the fox story instead.
The Dragon: The Sheriff of Nottingham to Prince John. One of the few really obvious Disney examples. He's aggressive, takes orders from his (slightly) brighter boss, orders the Mooks around, and serves as the primary physical threat to Robin as demonstrated nicely during the final battle scene in the tower.
Ear Worm: An in-universe example — "The Phony King Of England" is so catchy even Hiss and the Sheriff enjoy it.
As well as Roger Miller's quite memorable folk/country tunes "Whistle-Stop" and "Oo De Lally", which he played as In-Universe character Alan-a-Dale (the Rooster).
Earwormy enough to spark an internet phenomenon almost three decades later. Enjoy the Hamster Dance? It's "Whistle-Stop" sped up by about 60%.
Even Bad Men Love Their Mamas/My Beloved Smother: Prince John's relationship with his mother is... complicated. He seemed to react with a huge amount of remorse when he ends up either wrecking her things (ie, her mirror and her castle) or is reminded of her in some way, and childishly sucks his thumb. However, he also disparagingly states that his mother liked Richard much better than him.
The part about his mother liking King Richard better was allegedly a Truth in Television.
Even Evil Has Standards: Sir Hiss has no problem with Prince John's evil deeds until he decides to hang Friar Tuck.
Expy: Little John could be Baloo's long lost twin brother, ditto Sir Hiss for Kaa of The Jungle Book. Also, Nutsy and Trigger (and another one of Little John's identical twins) got smaller roles in Bedknobs and Broomsticks.
Nutsy and Trigger also share animation models with the Beatles-esque vultures from The Jungle Book. Many other characters are drawn similarly to other Disney characters. The elephants look like the elephants from The Jungle Book, the crocodiles and hippos look like the ones from Fantasia, the owls look similar to Archimedes from The Sword in the Stone.
Robin Hood and Maid Marian may be the inspiration for Tod and Vixie of The Fox and the Hound.
Eyes Never Lie: Marian realizes it is Robin in disguise after she looks deeply into his eyes.
Flirting Under Fire: Robin Hood proposes to Marian during a battle, and they start making plans for the honeymoon and starting a family.
Foreshadowing: If the original ending under What Might Have Been had been used, Robin's comment about "That one almost had my name on it" would have been a lot more significant in the beginning.
Considering we see Little John pulling a cart and Prince John's rhino soldiers pulling his carriage, so maybe the bigger animals are paid to pull carts.
Greed: Prince John is depicted as not only hoarding gold, obsessively counting it, and even fondling it, but he actually sleeps with it in his bedchamber. To be fair, no one could expect the royal chambers to be vulnerable to any but the most daring and skillful of thieves, but surely there were more secure places to put it...
Historical In-Joke: Prince John begins crying and sucking his thumb when his mother is mentioned. John's mother in real life was the infamousEleanor of Aquitaine. And she really did favor the elder son, King Richard, over John.
On the other hand, Marian was clearly overwhelmed by the confusion, while the more.. solid... Kluck got into the mix and proceeded to lay the feathery smack down.
And who said anything about Kluck being a lady? She's a badass!
Actually a bit of Fridge Brilliance. Lady in the middle ages meant a noblewoman, whereas Kluck is a commoner.
And then there's the corpulent Sheriff of Nottingham saying that "that fat friar is gonna hang".
Similarly, Little John calling the Sheriff "Bushel Britches". He's one to talk!
Hypocrite: After he is captured at the archery contest, Prince John calls Robin a traitor to the crown, despite the fact that he unlawfully seized the throne while Richard was off on the Crusades. Robin calls him out on it in the most badass way possible.
Robin Hood: Traitor to the crown?! That crown belongs to King Richard! LONG LIVE KING RICHARD!
I Call It Vera: Trigger and his trusty crossbow "Betsy".
I Kiss Your Hand: Robin and Little John use this trope to steal PJ's finger rings at the beginning. He gets wise to this trick when Little John tries it again later.
Improbable Aiming Skills: In the archery contest, Robin still manages to score perfect bull’s-eyes in spite of the fact that the arrows he's using are literally made of two twigs tied loosely together with cord. HE'S FRIGGIN' ROBIN HOOD!
Ink Suit Actor: Terry-Thomas as Hiss being the most blatant example. Complete with Thomas's gap in his teeth, perfect for having his tongue lash out.
Instrument of Murder: Friar Tuck and Alan-a-Dale use Alan's lute as a bow. In this case though, it's more to pop a balloon than to kill someone.
Interactive Narrator: Alan-a-Dale sometimes chats to the audience, sometimes sings a song about what's going on just then, and sometimes gets stuck into the fighting. The sheriff even manages to arrest him.
Ironic Echo: Early in the movie, the characters talk about how if Robin marries Maid Marian, Kind Richard will have an outlaw for an in-law. At the end of the movie, Richard says this exact phrase while laughing about the marriage.
Little Bit Beastly: Friar Tuck is borderline, as he lacks the regular coloring of a badger, yet has humanoid ears.
Male Gaze: One of PJ's rhino soldiers wolf-whistles with a flutter of his ears at Little John in drag after checking out "her" butt, enlarged by smuggling solid gold hubcaps.
Misplaced Wildlife: Any raccoon that shows up in this movie fits this trope because raccoons are native only to the Americas. This may be a Funny Animal movie, but this movie takes place in Medieval England, and people in Europe back in the Middle Ages have not heard of raccoons, so this counts as Anachronism Stew as well.
Plus there's the fact that Friar Tuck is seemingly based on an American badger rather than a European badger. There's also all the crocodiles, vultures, rhinos, etc, but it's probably safe to assume the animators knew they weren't typical British wildlife. Oh, and the fireflies Little John uses to make the crystal ball glow near the beginning. (Wolves and bears aren't found in Britain now, but would've been at the time.)
No Gun Safety: The guards are dangerously reckless with their crossbows, one of which has a very unreliable trigger mechanism.
"Ol' Betsy" explicitly does have a safety, it just doesn't seem to work very well.
Not Even Bothering with the Accent: To the point of distraction. Some of the voice actors are real Brits, but some are Australians, and others are Americans best known for Westerns and rural Sit Coms whose accents aren't at all what you'd expect to hear in a film set in medieval England. It is worth noting that rural and Southern accents of American English are a lot more closely related to medieval English than we tend to think. Had to come from somewhere, after all. It is also interesting to note that the very well-spoken English Robin Hood for some reason adopts a Cockney (London) accent when disguised as a stork...from Devonshire! His lack of West Country burr should have blown his cover the moment he opened his beak!
To be fair, the studio was having finacial difficulties at the time, so it may be a case of "do the kids care enough to spend the time and money finding good voice actors with correct accents?"
Not So Harmless: Yes Prince John is a cowardly, childish mama's boy, but that doesn't stop him from being a cunning and ruthless tyrant who is a fan of lethal and amoral force.
Paper-Thin Disguise: Played with. Prince John figures it out while the sheriff said he could see through any disguise Robin could cook up. He was wrong (although, to be fair, the stork costume was rather good; from a distance, you'd never know). Earlier, Prince John and his guards failed to realize anything suspicious about the "gypsies" that come to visit while they're riding in a carriage full of gold. This made John perceptive enough to catch on to Robin the second time around.
None of the bad guys ever do see through Robin's blind-beggar disguise, although Trigger suspects something is up.
Please Spare Him, My Liege!: Marian to John after Robin is captured. It might have worked if Robin hadn't taken offense to being called a traitor to the crown.
Since Prince John was interrupted after saying "the traitors to the crown must die..." Robin would probably have been executed anyway, just not "suddenly, instantly, and immediately."
Revealing Skill: The "bandy-legged stork" is just a little too good at archery when a kiss from Marian is on the line.
Right Behind Me: The Sheriff and Sir Hiss are having a good laugh over the song "The Phony King of England" when Prince John enters the room. Hiss immediately starts singing lyrics praising PJ before the Sheriff corrects him ("... the sniveling, groveling —"). PJ throws a wine bottle at him.
Shout Out: Lady Kluck's attack on the guards bears a strong resemblance to a football player's charge. She even has her arm curled, as if holding a ball. Note also the angle and perspective of the rhinos who leap to catch her. The music played in this scene is in fact the University of Wisconsin Badgers fight song. Notice the pan to Friar Tuck.
Shur Fine Guns: Trigger's Ol' Betsy is notoriously unreliable.
Smug Snake: The Sheriff and, to a lesser extent, Prince John. Sir Hiss is also literally one of these.
The shots of marching rhino soldiers are the same shot each time.
More an example of Limited Animation than Stock Footage: After loading all the civilians onto the cart (although as it turns out, missing the baby rabbit), as Little John exclaims "Onward to Sherwood Forest", look at the people on the cart. None of them are moving, not even breathing.
Stout Strength: Little John, Friar Tuck, and the Sheriff of Nottingham are all grossly fat (though to be fair to John, he is a bear). They're also among the most physically powerful of the named characters in the film (although the Sheriff only really gets to show it in the climax).
Un Evil Laugh: Prince John has one of these (You can hear it at about 1:35 into the video, among other spots.)
The Unfavorite: "Mother always did like Richard best!" Doubly funny because there is historical evidence that she did.
Villainous BSOD: A mild form. Mention Prince John's mother around him, and he grabs his ear and begins to suck his thumb. Even while covered in mud:
"I've got a dirty thumb."
The Villain Sucks Song: "The Phony King of England". Unfortunately, once the "Phony King of England" himself hears the song, it leads to a...
Villainous Breakdown: With him screaming new decrees about tripling the taxes right at the scared-shitless Sheriff's face while strangling Sir Hiss.
Also, after Robin frees all his prisoners, steals all his gold, causes part of his mother's castle to be burned up and escapes with his life, John goes totally berserk and chases Sir Hiss around with a stick:
Sir Hiss: Help! He's gone stark raving MAAAAAAAD!!!
There are also literal church mice, who are, of course, poor as church-mice.
What Could Have Been: The alternate ending storyboard had a far darker chain of events involving Prince John and Hiss tracking a wounded Robin to the church courtesy of a bloody trail and pulling a knife on Maid Marian while Robin lay helpless. Of course, this is still Disney, so things work out...
Then, Robin and Marian would have been saved by a mysterious figure who turns out to be King Richard. In the final version, the narrator simply tells us that the King came back eventually, and we see Richard at the wedding making a joke about having an "outlaw for an in-law."
The ending listed under What Could Have Been implies Maid Marian had been hiding in the church.
Considering that it was more than obvious by that point that both of them were allied with Robin Hood, common sense would say anyway that they were in hiding.
Wouldn't Hurt a Child: During the melee that ensued after the archery tournament, seven-year-old rabbit Skippy shot an arrow at Prince John, which bounced off his rear end. Despite the result, he's guilty of assaulting royalty with a deadly weapon. Yet when he and his family are thrown in jail because they didn't pay their taxes, Skippy isn't singled out for punishment for that. Is it an example of this trope, the censors stepping in, or an oversight? You decide.
I don't think PJ had a chance to see who fired the arrow, due to being diverted by Lady Kluck.
0 reviews 