just watch it!

There are moments in this movie where the great movie it could've been peek out... They're fleeting, here, but they're worth savoring, and they happen often enough to make it worth your while.

Excellent and certainly provocative... If nothing else, the film is a real conversation starter.

Great movie. Not sure what people expected but I found it highly entertaining.

There have been so many treatments of the Robin Hood legend. In this animated one, we are serenaded by the wonderful Roger Miller (who died way too soon). He plays a singing rooster. The plot is the old Sheriff of Nottingham going after the poacher and thief, Robin Hood. Robin wins the big archery tournament and hooks up with Maid Marion (they are both foxes or there would be some issues here). Of course, Prince John and the Sheriff will stop at nothing to get their man and use the threatened hanging of Friar Tuck to draw our amazing archer into the open. There's no question how this ends. The animation is truly striking and it's a nice story. You will recognize some of the voices though we must go back some time.

I rent this movie for my children in 1993 and end up with them watching this cartoon for first time,once more now on DVD l revisited this Disney's version of tale of Robin Hood this plot is the same but oriented by children's taste bringing a good thief who steal of the rich to give to the poor...and the love with lady Marian and help the people against the phony King John...marvelously conceived by Disney this amazing cartoon not for children only!!!

The legend of Robin Hood's exploits may have occurred in the 13th century (i.e. 1200's) and the earliest known written account is from the 14th century via "Piers Ploughman" by William Langland. So essentially it is a very medieval story/legend. Disney's animated take on the legend is a fairly enjoyable family experience. It does have one glaring shortcoming which I'll relate later in my review.In typical Disney fashion, the characters are all anthropomorphized animals, i.e. animals which are human-like. Robin Hood is a fox, Little John is a bear, Friar Tuck is a badger, Maid Marion is a vixen, King John is a lion, etc. The story is told by Alan-a-Dale a rooster-minstrel play by Phil Harris. The characters are generally true to those of the original legend, and to give it credit. The friendship between Robin and Little John is legendary and of course the love affair between him and Maid Marion. Friar Tuck provides the voice of morality to the story, very similar to Friar Laurence of "Romeo and Juliet". And it does include the famous archery contest which is missing in many screen renditions of the story. Although most kids have heard of Robin Hood, American kids generally don't know when the Middle Ages occurred let alone it's cultural heritage. When I saw this film, I knew of Robin Hood but I don't believe I quite understand that the story was supposed to take place in the 1200's.While I can buy into the anthropomorphized take on the characters, "Disney's Robin Hood" is weak in one glaring respect. The filmmakers opted for songs by American songwriters, particularly Phil Harris and Roger Miller, known for country-western pop tunes such as "King of the Road". When I saw this Disney's offering of the medieval legend as a kid, I didn't know anything about medieval secular music. Not until I was in college I found out there are quite a number of secular tunes which survive from the late Middle Ages. I think Disney missed out on a golden opportunity to use medieval music rather than late 20th century country-style tunes. Phil Harris tells the story in a gruff American country voice with an acoustic guitar. The guitar wouldn't be invented for another 500 years from around the time of the events. In other words, medieval minstrels wouldn't use guitars. So sadly, the music style fails to bring us into the 13th century. (Roger Miller would a decade later write the score for a Broadway production of "Huckleberry Finn" called "Big River" which was a much more appropriate use of his talents. He would win awards for the music.) Still, all things considered, Disney's "Robin Hood" stays truer to the story than many other offerings. The later "Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves" is not as well written as the Disney animated film, in particular they cut out the archery contest. The best in recent years is probably "Robin Hood" starring Russell Crowe and directed by Ridley Scott. However, even that offering is only about half the story as he doesn't become "Robin Hood" until the very end.

Despite my profile picture, I have a relative dislike towards Robin Hood, in the same just barely watchable realm as One Hundred and One Dalmatians. While I do admit that the characters and the songs are enjoyable and get deserved credit (despite some that have little purpose and need more), there are major historical inaccuracies that affect not the characters themselves (like in Pocahontas), but what they do. Robin Hood is set in 1192 (at least the ending is, when King Richard returned from the Third Crusades), but the movie features Happy Birthday, balloons, farthing coins, badminton, arrow shooters that are reminiscent of rifles (Trigger's bow and arrow is automatic, includes safety, and is called "Old Betsy", as if Trigger's successors would go on to invent firearms) and football player-esque guards (including a fight song during the "beautiful brawl" in Little John's words). The climax is also virtually nonexistent, leading from a castle escape to the cliché of a character faking death to fool the enemy, and then cutting straight to a wedding with nothing else. Did I mention that some of the animation is more obviously recycled than in other Disney movies?There is actually still hope for Robin Hood, as the Most Wanted Edition (and later the 40th Anniversary Edition) features deleted scenes including an Alternate Ending (you don't have to buy it to see these scenes, they're on YouTube). When I saw the Alternate Ending for the first time, I was baffled at how much better it is compared to the anticlimactic normal ending. Not only is there more climax and suspense overall, but there are some dark tones which contrast the rest of the film very well, and Maid Marian and King Richard get more screen time. The Sheriff of Nottingham isn't incarcerated in this ending (possibly because he acted only as an enforcer to John's laws, rather than acting of his liberated will), and even though there isn't Allan-A-Dale, I found more satisfaction with the Alternate Ending, so thank goodness it wasn't forgotten by Disney.Overall, I would give this a 5 for the normal ending and a 7 for the Alternate Ending, averaging to a 6. It isn't terrible, but it's the kind of film I'd expect to have a 6.7 instead of a 7.6.