Robin Hood (1973)

[theradicalchild]

Thought I'd give this a rewatch since it recently celebrated its fiftieth anniversary. Essentially a retelling by Disney of the English folktale of Robin Hood with animals, introduced by minstrel narrator Alan-a-Dale as a rooster voiced by singer Roger Miller. English actor Brian Bedford voices the eponymous fox, and Disney voice-acting veteran Phil Harris voices Little John, with lion Prince John, obsessed with taxing everyone into poverty, serving as regent while his brother King Richard is off on the Crusades. Has some great, catchy music like Miller's "Whistle Stop" and "Oo-De-Lally", along with "The Phony King of England" as sung by Harris. There is some recycling of animation from prior Disney films such as Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (most visible in Harris's said musical number), The Aristocats, and The Jungle Book (where he voiced sloth bear Baloo, incidentally), and the voice performances in general date to the film to the 1970s (although I liked the mix of ethnic, non-ethnic, and American actors playing the characters, like the Southern-sounding Sheriff of Nottingham) but this is definitely one of my favorite tellings of Robin Hood and animated film from Disney.