YMMV / Robin Hood (1973)

• Accidental Aesop:
  • The build up to the final climax—in which Prince John reigns down on the civilians for mocking him over his humiliation via Robin and Little John, and later when Friar Tuck is overpowered and arrested for trying to punish the Sheriff himself—seems to lampshade the important difference between showing defiance to adversity and recklessly goading their wrath down on you, especially when you owe your previous triumphs over them to someone far more experienced with the situation.
  • Additionally it is not Robin's ego, but Little John's that unwittingly spearheads the whole thing. Despite chiding Robin earlier on for showboating, he becomes cocksure himself after getting away with intimidating the Prince, and starts "The Villain Sucks" Song that ends up the Rage Breaking Point for the latter. As noted below, while Little John isn't outright shown assessing these repercussions (though he is taking things much more seriously in scenes after), it can be interpreted that it is far harder to practice than it is to preach and to remember your own lessons even when you hit a good stride of luck yourself.
• Accidental Innuendo: "Love", the song that plays over the Falling-in-Love Montage, contains the lyric "Now you're all grown up / Inside of me", This can make the next line ("Oh, how fast / those moments flee") come off as Robin being a Speed Sex master. ^note The line actually refers to happy moments during one's life.
  • "Robin Hood's gonna have kids, so somebody's gotta keep their eye on things."
• Alternative Character Interpretation: Was Sir Hiss's reaction to the idea of hanging Friar Tuck a case of Even Evil Has Standards, or a case of Pragmatic Villainy, considering how the Church would react to a noble executing a priest? (Or both?)
  • Speaking of Sir Hiss, does his seemingly delighted reaction to Robin Hood surviving show he’s secretly rooting for the outlaw? Or is he just happy that the chase for Robin will continue since he finds it exciting? (Or is he possibly just losing his mind—though not as badly as Prince John—at the repeated failures?)
  • Why does Prince John react with horror and pathetic thumb-sucking every time he accidentally destroys a possession of his mother's? Is it just remorse because Even Bad Men Love Their Mamas? Or since, despite her lack of an onscreen appearance, Queen Eleanor was alive and well at the time the movie takes place, is he afraid of how she'll react when she finds out?
• Aluminum Christmas Trees: While Prince John's lack of a mane is obviously meant to emphasize his lack of manliness and physical frailness compared to his big brother, it is not unheard of (if rare) for full-grown male lions in real life to have an underdeveloped to borderline nonexistent mane (a famous example are the Tsavo man-eaters), and in a few parts of Africa, they aren't even an uncommon sight.
• Angst? What Angst?: You'd figure Little John would feel at least somewhat guilty about creating a song that would rile Prince John up so much that all of Nottingham would suffer his wrath. If he does, it's never shown.
• Awesome Music: Some truly memorable songs, like "Whistle Stop", "Oo-De-Lally", "Not in Nottingham", and "Love". "Love" received a nomination for Best Original Song at the 46th Academy Awards.
• Base-Breaking Character: Prince John's whiny and childish behavior either makes him one of the funniest or lamest Disney villains depending on who you ask.
• Common Knowledge: Even on this very wiki, Marian is referred to as a Plantagenet simply because Richard is identified as her uncle. However, the film never establishes Marian as a Plantagenet and taking into account factors such as her being depicted as a completely different species and that some past portrayals have had her as Richard's ward, thus he her guardian, it becomes clear Marian is not depicted as a Plantagenet and that Richard is simply an Honorary Uncle (or, as the main page speculates, possibly an uncle by marriage).
• Critical Dissonance: It's very polarizing among critics and historians (and the Disney animators themselves), but nonetheless it was a big financial hit and has been loved by generations of Disney fans. It's also one of the higher-rated films of the post-Walt/pre-Renaissance era on IMDb, at 7.5/10 (for further comparison, Frozen is also at 7.5, though the latter came out during the digital era and as such was hit by a ton of It's Popular, Now It Sucks!).
• Crosses the Line Twice:
  • The increasingly despicable ways the Sheriff collects taxes and has no concern for the welfare of the people from whom he's collecting.
    • First we see him hit up Otto, the blacksmith, who has a broken leg - and he even pounds on the bandaged foot to make coins fall out of their hiding place.
    • Next, he crashes Skippy Rabbit's birthday party to confiscate his present, which is one entire farthing.^note To really drive home how despicable this one is, a farthing was literally worth one-fourth of a penny. And in the words of Skippy's mother, the whole family "scrimped and saved to give it to him," which should tell you just how dirt poor they really were.
    • At the same party, he steals the coins which had been collected by an elderly blind beggar (who is actually Robin in disguise, but the Sheriff doesn't know it).
    • Finally, we see him take the single coin from the church's poor box, despite the Church being exempt from taxation. His Faux Affably Evil behavior while doing all this is the only thing which makes it more hilarious than horrifying.
  • Also, when the Sheriff and the vultures build scaffolding to hang Friar Tuck, Nutsy decides to test out the trapdoor while the Sheriff is standing on it. The Sheriff's impatient expression really sells the scene.
• Cult Classic: The film is considered by many to be average at best, but it does have its fans. It helps that it became the second of the Disney Animated Canon's '70s entries to hit VHS and laserdisc^note The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh became the first, but went out of print for quite a few years, in favor of Disney giving each short its own VHS., and came back to VHS quite a few times afterwards. Robin Hood himself got a Expy in Zootopia's Nick Wilde. It notably has a large Periphery Demographic in the Furry Fandom for obvious reasons.
• Ensemble Dark Horse: Captain Crocodile is a menacing and highly competent character in a mostly light and humorous film, which makes him stand out, despite having less screentime than most characters.
• Fanon:
  • Due to the movie's Ambiguously Gay portrayal of him, it's common for fans to assume that Prince John is either gay or bisexual. Kinda funny since, historically speaking, Richard is the one whose sexuality is up for debate.
  • Some fans theorize that Robin Hood previously had a relationship with Mother Rabbit and that Skippy is his biological son, which is the reason for his closeness with both characters.
• Fan-Preferred Cut Content: The original unused ending features Robin Hood getting wounded during the climatic escape from Nottingham Castle and dragged to a church by Little John to recover by Maid Marian. After which, Little John leaves to get help, and Prince John arrives while Robin Hood is still knocked out, and is prepared to stab Maid Marian to get to Robin Hood, while she is prepared to stand in front of Robin to defend him. Both are saved by the timely arrival of good King Richard. Needless to say, many fans of the movie prefer this ending over the one that was used, since it shows Robin Hood as a more vulnerable hero, gives Maid Marian more to do than just having her be a Neutral Female, and shows Prince John as a more threatening villain.
• Fetish Fuel: In recent years, Robin being hogtied at the end of the archery tournament has amounted somewhat as this.
• Genius Bonus:
  • The Running Gag that John is The Un-Favourite is historically accurate; their mother, Queen Eleanor, always pushed Richard's interests over John's (possibly because Richard resembled his dead father more, although it's more likely because John was his father's favorite and was always more loyal to Henry than Eleanor), to the point of attempting to raise an army against John during one of Richard's absences. That bit got left out.
  • Also, John and Richard being lions. Aside from the obvious symbolism (lions are the kings of beasts) and Richard's historical nickname (the Lionhearted), the two kings were of The House of Plantagenet, whose banner was three lions.
  • When Friar Tuck comments on the empty poor box, the sexton's wife gives him their last farthing. "It's not much, but please take it for the poor." He tells her that "no one can give more than that!". This is a very subtle reference to the lesson of the Widow's Mite, as taught by Jesus in Mark 12 and Luke 21 of The Bible.
  • John being a Dirty Coward and terrible fighter who runs the moment someone tries to strike back at him is arguably similar to the human King John's lack of military prowess. King John was a disastrous military commander, losing numerous continental territories to the Kingdom of France and earning the derisive nicknames "Softsword" and "John Lackland" for his utter failures. John's military defeats and his barons' anger at seeing so much blood and treasure wasted in those conflicts were one of the factors that led to the barons' rebellion and establishment of the Magna Carta.
• Hilarious in Hindsight:
  • Robin's hat is too big for Skippy, and King Richard's crown is too big for Prince John. If you look closely, one of Skippy's animators is Don Bluth, who went on to use similar imagery in An American Tail. (Also doubles as a Genius Bonus because the same metaphor is used in Shakespeare.)
  • A Disney movie with a lion who is a king... You don't think?
    • A noble lion king who tolerates his resentful, smaller, weaker brother to be close to him, only to then be deposed by way of said brother's treacherous scheming. Are we talking about King Richard and Prince John, or about Mufasa and Scar?
    • A scrawny lion who is jealous of his stronger brother, has tons of Mommy Issues, and creates a serious problem with fire... are we referring to Prince John or Nuka?
  • Sir Hiss recognizing Robin's disguise by looking up his ass. The Mega Man (Ruby-Spears) series had a similar occurrence with Mega Man recognizing Guts Man when Rush tore off a part of his disguise, revealing his butt. This spawned the Guts Man's ass meme that ended up as one of the most widespread Mega Man memes out there.
  • Delphox's (Fennekin's final form) Shiny coloration is pink and purple (regular Delphox are red and yellow), and resembles Maid Marian from this movie.
• Ho Yay:
  • Sir Hiss cheers up Prince John by using his tongue to tickle Prince John's ear, and when Little John in disguise befriends Prince John, Sir Hiss behaves in an extremely jealous manner. Hiss doesn't do the tickling thing intentionally (he is a snake, after all), and while it does tickle PJ, he finds it annoying. On the other hand, the fact that Hiss sleeps in John's bedroom with him, for no discernible reason, is a bit... questionable. (He trusts him that much?)
    • And he identifies Robin Hood at the tournament by looking up into his disguise. From the rear. (That angle would have shown him Robin's tail, thereby proving that he was a fox and not a stork, but it's still pretty hilarious.)
  • The film's Ambiguously Gay portrayal of Prince John is kind of funny, considering that historically speaking, Richard's the one whose sexuality is up for debate. John, by comparison, fathered a number of children, both legitimate and illegitimate.
• Love to Hate: Prince John and the Sheriff. Both are comical villains who enjoy their evil so much that their being thwarted by the hero is part of the comedy.
• Memetic Mutation:
  • Believe it or not, the original "Hamster Dance" song is actually a sped-up portion of "Whistle Stop", the opening song to Robin Hood, looped endlessly. The "full" version of the song uses a near-identical rerecording sung by Rob DeBoer, however, due to Disney refusing to allow the original sample to be used in the single.
  • "Seize the Fat One!"
  • "One whole farthing!"^ExplanationThe scene where the Sheriff of Nottingham steals Skippy's money at his birthday party has become a popular scene for edits where a more privileged person steals easy pickings from a person less well-off. One of the most popular edits involves Baby Boomers stealing money from Millennials.
  • Friar Tuck's GET OUT OF MY CHURCH!!!
• Moe:
  • All of the kid characters. Skippy, Toby, and the former's youngest sister, in particular are seen as especially huggable. The fandom takes Skippy's moe and runs with it.
  • Maid Marian is a lovely vixen with an equally lovely demeanor. She's soft-spoken, loving, ladylike, and warm towards children.
• Moral Event Horizon: While Prince John is mostly Laughably Evil, when he decides to hang Friar Tuck to lure Robin out, even Sir Hiss is shocked.
  • Given that the Church was an independent political entity that would object to this simply for the affront of a noble executing a priest on his own authority, rather than attempting to have him punished via church law, there are reasons other than morality to be shocked by such an order. It could also be seen as an affront to God Himself.
  • Interesting historical context: John and Richard's father, Henry II, allegedly ordered the Archbishop of Canterbury, Thomas Becket, assassinated. Certainly not an excuse (especially since in reality, Henry II simply misspoke out of annoyance at the wrong time), but it may possibly be a reason why Prince John would even consider it. The political uproar Becket's death caused might also be a good reason why Prince John should know better.
    • One could argue John crossed it sooner when, in response to hearing how popular his "The Villain Sucks" Song was, he ordered the taxes raised so high that the citizens of Nottingham could no longer pay them, then had everyone who couldn't pay the taxes arrested.
  • The Sheriff crossed it himself by taking money (one farthing, to be exact) from the church's poor box (during a time period when Churches were tax-exempt), and then arrests Friar Tuck for "high treason to the crown" when the good priest, having finally lost his patience, goes at him and fights him.
    Friar Tuck: You want taxes? I'll give you taxes!
• Most Wonderful Sound: Maid Marian’s voice. In fact, she's regarded as having one of the most beautiful speaking voices in the entire Disney animated canon.
• Narm:
  • The constant recycling of animation, due to the comparatively low budget, doesn't do the movie any favors. Coupled with pacing issues and continuity problems, it makes some scenes almost farcical.
  • The fight/riot at the end of the Archery Tournament falls into this category. One moment, Robin and Marian are running alongside everyone else in a Scooby-Dooby Doors sequence. The next, it cuts to Robin fighting the guards. Thanks to the haphazard use of animation, the villagers go from running for their lives to cheering Kluck on as if there's no danger.
  • The young actress that played Mother Rabbit's young daughter (the one that's always carrying around a stuffed doll) has a bad case of Dull Surprise.
• Narm Charm:
  • Friar Tuck's sudden outburst of "GET OUTTA MY CHURCH!" is Narm for some. For others, it's a Moment of Awesome. Given that this was Andy Devine doing his voice, it's bound to have either reaction.
  • While the movie's use of xerography makes for a number of Special Effect Failures like other Disney movies at the time, the rough sketching of the characters also complements both the film's storybook aesthetic and medieval timeframe, as it gives it a more antiquated overall look.
• Older Than They Think: There are two lion brothers. One's the king, and his lankier brother, resentful of him, manages to get him out of the throne, so he can claim it himself. After he does, things go downhill, making everyone hate him. Sound familiar? Amusingly, this may be more coincidence (or a result of historical, literary, and iconographical references) than a deliberate echo — Robin Hood is based on English history, The Lion King is based on Hamlet which is an English play, and England (particularly its kings) has long been associated with lions, both in symbolism and heraldry.
• Popular with Furries: For many people who grew up with the movie, either in theaters or on home video, this movie was the gateway drug into the Furry Fandom. It's not at all uncommon for furries born in the later half of the 20th century to say that this was their earliest memory of what they would later know as furries, and thanks to the internet becoming more ubiquitous when millennials were growing up with this movie on VHS, it was easier for them to connect over their shared love for it. Though other films like The Lion King (1994), Kung Fu Panda, or Zootopia get name-dropped more often among younger generations, Robin Hood remains a major influence, with Robin and Maid Marian remaining the subject of a lot of fanart. During Zootopia's lead-up, it wasn't uncommon to see art putting Nick Wilde together with Robin (which is fitting, as the creators of that film flat-out admitted that Nick was based on Robin).
• Sampled Up: "Whistle Stop" would find a new life in the late 90s/early 2000s when a sped-up sample of it was used as the background music for the infamous "Hamster Dance" GeoCities site and, later, the hit novelty song it spawned. Appropriately enough, said novelty song became most popular though repeated plays on Radio Disney (after, ironically enough, Disney refused to license the sample, forcing the creators to re-record it for the single). Also a case of Older Than They Think, since a number of younger internet users are more familiar with the "Hamster Dance" than they are with "Whistle Stop."
• Ship Mates: Robin Hood/Maid Marian and (to a lesser extent) Robin Hood/Little John shippers also like to ship Prince John with Sir Hiss.
• So Okay, It's Average: The critics' reaction to the film at the time it premiered is that it is nothing special or unique and can even appear as cobbled together from previous Disney films.
• Special Effect Failure:
  • The opening credits ends with the heroes being chased by Prince John's guards, with Captain Crocodile, holding an axe aloft, chasing the elderly owl couple. They run offscreen, and then come back the other way, as if the owls are now chasing Captain Crocodile. A funny gag, but ruined by the fact that Captain Crocodile's animation is completely the same, still holding his axe. The animators reversed the cels as opposed to changing the animation.
  • The development process for Robin Hood ended up forcing the animators to recycle animation from other movies to make up for the bare-bones budget they were given... and boy does it show. Notice how in the last shot of "Phony King of England," Maid Marian's frame rate is different from the rest? Compare it with Snow White dancing with the dwarfs - it's the exact same animation.
  • When Little John and Friar Tuck are escaping with a wagon carrying all the freed prisoners, they're clearly using the same cel during the whole shot, as the wagon's occupants are all perfectly still.
• Squick: If the Sheriff had won the archery tournament, he could've forcibly kissed Maid Marian.
• They Wasted a Perfectly Good Character: During the jailbreak sequence, it would have be welcome to see Marian and Kluck helping in some fashion; but they are instead left in Sherwood and not seen again until the end of the film. It's handwaved in the movie that Robin Hood and Little John improvise a jailbreak as soon as they get wind of Friar Tuck's execution (meaning that there's no time to get back to Sherwood and involve the women), but the point still stands, especially since there was a scene in the alternate ending where they take care of an injured Robin Hood.
• The Woobie: Sir Hiss. He may be one of the villains, but he's not malicious enough to be a Jerkass Woobie; it could be argued that he's really just a Punch-Clock Villain. You just can't help but feel bad when you see all the abuse he takes from Prince John, especially as there are at least two points in the film where John's rude comments seem to really hurt his feelings. That sad little flute music that plays during these moments doesn't help, and neither does the fact that in the end, he gets the same punishment as the other villains, although he is given the Throw the Dog a Bone treatment, as when Prince John accidentally hammers his own foot, Sir Hiss just laughs, without any fear of punishment this time.

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