Robin Hood - My review

Hello everyone,
I was surprised that this film only has 55% on rottentomatoes. Its one of my favorite Disney films. I guess critics didn't understand how great this animated film is. Here is my review.

Here comes Robin Hood from Sherwood!

I read somewhere that this film was one of small budget Disney films. But I loved the film. For a small budget film, I must say that they put lots of great effort into it.

One of the interesting things I liked about Robin Hood is the way the story was constructed. For Example, the first half focuses a lot on the romantic relationship of Robin Hood and Maid Marian. As audience, we see Maid Marian's true love and true concern for Robin Hood especially when he gets caught after the archery contest. We also explore into the extreme fear of Maid Marian, because Robin Hood is in danger. After that, we see the fight turning into hilarious moments and first half ends happily especially with romantic music between Robin hood and Maid Marian.

Now when the second half starts, the story becomes very serious. The interesting thing is the second half makes the audience feel very concerned about the safety of Robin Hood. This starts especially when Robin hood runs back to save the young rabbit who was "accidentally" left behind. That's when the danger begins to increase into a higher level. From this point, the audience can "connect" themselves to Maid Marian and her feeling of fear when robin hood was in danger after the archery contest. We didn't have this fear in the first half, because we know that Little John (in disguise) is sitting right next to Prince John. But Maid Marian doesn't know that.

But in the second half, Little John and others are helpless, because they are on the other side of the gate. Although we (the audience) are relieved that Robin Hood was able to give the young rabbit to Little John safely, still we are concerned about the life of Robin Hood due to lack of help. The tension gets to it's highest point when Robin Hood is on top of the tower with fire. But this tension continues up to the moment where we (the audience) find out that Robin Hood is safe after all.

I personally think the use of Suspense is done brilliantly in this animated film.

While talking about Suspense, Alfred Hitchcock pointed out that the audience gets worked up during the suspense. And they need to be relieved at the end of the suspense. I think Robin hood is a great example for "everyone" who is interested in the subject of Suspense, because the audience gets relieved at the end by finding out that Robin Hood is safe after all. Through the second half, we (the audience) also get "connected" to a character (Maid Marian) and her feelings in the film. This shows how much "involved" we can be when we are watching a film.

I also thought everyone did a great job playing their roles. But I want to point out Peter Ustinov's "great" portrayal of Prince John. The way Peter Ustinov played Prince John makes me like Prince John and despise his actions at the same time. I thought his sidekick "Hiss" was hilarious too.

I also like the way the script also focused on other characters like Little John, Sheriff of Nottingham, Friar Tuck, Mother Rabbit & her family, Blacksmith Otto (the dog with broken leg), Toby Turtle, Alan-a- Dale (rooster), Lady Kluck (chicken) etc.

I want to write more. But its already a long post. I highly recommend this film. I rate this film 10 out of 10.