---
title: "Robin Hood"
year: 1973
kind: "film"
canonical: "https://film.one/film/robin-hood"
fi1m_id: "robin-hood"
imdb_id: "tt0070608"
tmdb_id: 11886
wikidata_id: "Q19090"
fi1m_score: 70
critics_score: 67
critics_reviews: 6
published: "2026-09-24T01:50:15.041732+00:00"
updated: "2026-09-24T01:50:15.631579+00:00"
region: "CA"
licence: "© Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL."
---

# Robin Hood (1973)

Directed by Wolfgang Reitherman · 1h 23m · Animation, Family, Adventure

## Identity

Robin Hood

- **Canonical:** https://film.one/film/robin-hood
- **Type:** Film
- **Fi1m ID:** robin-hood
- **IMDb ID:** tt0070608
- **TMDB ID:** 11886
- **Wikidata ID:** Q19090
- **Same entity:** https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0070608/, https://www.themoviedb.org/movie/11886, https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q19090

**Fi1m score: 70** · Critics 67 from 6 reviews

*In a sentence:* Nottingham has a Deep South accent, the lion wants his mummy, and half the footage has been round the block before

> Disney’s animal Robin Hood is cheerfully made on a shoestring, and the shoestring shows. But Peter Ustinov’s thumb-sucking Prince John and Terry-Thomas’s oily Sir Hiss are among the funniest villains the studio ever drew, and Roger Miller’s songs are better than the film around them.

## Synopsis

Sherwood Forest, in the reign of the absent King Richard. Robin Hood, a fox (Brian Bedford), and Little John, a bear (Phil Harris), rob the rich to feed the poor of Nottingham, and the rich means Prince John, a lion (Peter Ustinov), who has taken the throne after his adviser Sir Hiss, a snake (Terry-Thomas), hypnotised the king into leaving for the Crusades. The prince’s caravan is held up by two fortune tellers who are not what they seem. In town, the Sheriff of Nottingham, a wolf (Pat Buttram), collects taxes from Friar Tuck’s church and from a rabbit family on a child’s birthday. Maid Marian, a vixen (Monica Evans), waits at the castle with Lady Kluck (Carole Shelley), and a rooster called Allan-a-Dale (Roger Miller) sings the whole business to us.

## Review

Wolfgang Reitherman, who directed [*The Jungle Book*](https://film.one/film/the-jungle-book) (1967) and *The Aristocats* (1970), takes the oldest outlaw story in England and gives it to a fox. Ken Anderson’s script and Larry Clemmons’s story turn Nottingham into a menagerie: the sheriff is a wolf, the prince a lion, the friar a badger, and the narrator a rooster with a guitar. It is a slight, friendly, patchily animated 83 minutes, and it gets by on its voices. If you want the legend, look elsewhere. If you want to laugh at a lion, this is the one.

The lion is the reason to stay. Peter Ustinov plays Prince John as a coward with a crown too big for him, and the film’s best running joke is that whenever he is thwarted he puts his thumb in his mouth and wails for his mother. Terry-Thomas’s Sir Hiss slides round him with a gap-toothed lisp and a pair of hypnotic eyes, flattering and correcting in the same breath, and every scene the two share is a small comic play about a bad king and the worse man who advises him. Pat Buttram gives the Sheriff a slow, sunny drawl that makes his cruelty to the poor sound like neighbourliness. We laughed out loud at the prince, which we had not expected to do at a cartoon we first saw as children, and it was the timing that did it: Ustinov lets the thumb go in a beat after the dignity has already gone.

The heroes are less interesting, as heroes in this story usually are. Brian Bedford’s Robin is light, likeable and rather empty; he is written as a charmer and given nothing to charm with except disguises. Monica Evans’s Marian is sweet and barely present. Phil Harris plays Little John exactly as he played Baloo in *The Jungle Book*, warm and slow and fond of a song, and since the animators have drawn him the same way too, it takes a while to remember which film we are in.

That is the film’s real weakness. The animation is xerographed, the rough pencil line left visible, which gives it a loose, sketched energy in the chase scenes. But whole passages have been lifted from earlier Disney pictures and redrawn with new heads on: the dance in the forest borrows its steps from [*Snow White*](https://film.one/film/snow-white) and *The Jungle Book*, and James Melton and Tom Acosta cut around the joins without quite hiding them. Anyone who knows the earlier films will see the ghosts, and once seen they are hard to unsee.

And yet the songs. Roger Miller wrote and sings three of them, and *Oo-De-Lally* over the opening, with Robin and Little John idling by the river, sets a tone the rest of the film never quite betrays. *Not in Nottingham* is the one that got us: the town in the rain, the rabbits and the badger in the stocks, the whole population of a cartoon fairy tale sitting still and miserable while a country singer tells them nothing will change. It is the one moment the film stops joking and it moved us more than a talking rooster has any business doing. George Bruns’s score around the songs is jaunty and unmemorable.

The story is a string of sketches rather than a plot: a robbery, a tax round, a birthday, an archery tournament that turns into a brawl with Lady Kluck charging the guards like a rugby forward. Clemmons and Anderson never make Robin want anything in particular beyond the next trick, so nothing builds. The setting is a curiosity too. Bedford, Ustinov, Terry-Thomas and Evans are British; nearly everyone else in Nottingham sounds like the American South, so the town ends up somewhere between Sherwood and Tennessee. Children will not care, and after a while neither did we.

Against the studio’s own record this is a modest entry, well below *The Jungle Book* for songs and animation and a good deal thinner than the fairy tales. Against most Robin Hoods it has one thing they lack, which is a villain worth watching when the hero is off screen. Put it on for the children on a wet afternoon and stay for Ustinov. At 83 minutes and a U certificate it asks for very little, and it gives back a lion crying for his mother, which is more than some films twice its length manage.

*Fi1m score 70, published 24 September 2026.*

## What the critics say

Most critics find Robin Hood a light, likeable entry in the Disney catalogue rather than one of its great ones, and five of the six reviews land on the positive side. The praise clusters almost entirely on the voice cast. Peter Ustinov’s Prince John is singled out again and again, and Terry-Thomas’s turn alongside him draws nearly as much affection. Reviews also pick out the set pieces, the archery contest that turns into a football match chief among them, as the moments where the animation and the jokes come together.

The reservations are consistent too. Critics note recycled animation, an episodic story and a shortage of memorable songs, and most agree it sits some way below the studio’s best. The spread is narrow, with one exception: Slant Magazine finds the film vapid and haphazard, and argues that Prince John lacks the force of Disney’s stronger villains, which puts it directly at odds with the majority view of Ustinov’s performance.

## Straight answers

**Is Robin Hood worth watching?**

*Robin Hood* (1973) is worth watching for families and for anyone who enjoys a good cartoon villain, and we scored it 70. Peter Ustinov's thumb-sucking Prince John and Roger Miller's songs are the reasons to stay; the hero is thin, the plot is a string of sketches, and much of the animation is reused from earlier Disney films.

**How long is Robin Hood, and what is it rated?**

*Robin Hood* runs 1h 23m. It is an animation and family film.

**Where can I watch Robin Hood in Canada?**

*Robin Hood* is streaming on Disney+ in Canada, and it is also available to rent from Amazon Prime Video from CA$4.99. Availability is checked daily; the links above go straight to each service.

**How does Robin Hood compare to The Adventures of Robin Hood?**

*Robin Hood* (1973) is the smaller, gentler film, and [*The Adventures of Robin Hood*](https://film.one/film/the-adventures-of-robin-hood) is the better one by some distance. Curtiz and Keighley's Technicolor swashbuckler gives the legend its full sweep and Errol Flynn a hero worth following; Disney's fox is slight, patchily animated and carried by its villains. Choose the cartoon for young children and a wet afternoon, and Flynn for the story itself.

**What should I watch after Robin Hood?**

After *Robin Hood*, try [*The Adventures of Robin Hood*](https://film.one/film/the-adventures-of-robin-hood) (1938, Fi1m 90): Errol Flynn in Technicolor tights; the version every other Robin Hood is quietly copying. Then [*The Jungle Book*](https://film.one/film/the-jungle-book) (1967, Fi1m 80): Reitherman and Phil Harris doing the same act with better songs and less borrowing; and [*Fantastic Mr Fox*](https://film.one/film/fantastic-mr-fox) (2009, Fi1m 84): Another fox robbing the rich, this time in stop-motion and corduroy.

### Reviews we read (6)

- **Radio Times**, Alan Jones (4/5): Jones finds the cartoon a pleasant, entertaining diversion, though it lacks the heart and memorable songs of Disney’s classics. He singles out Prince John and Sir Hiss for the funniest moments, and the archery contest turned football match as an action highlight. [Read](https://www.radiotimes.com/movie-guide/b-vkonw6/robin-hood/)
- **The Independent**, Ben Walsh (75/100, inferred): The critic finds the film dated but ultimately more than compensated for by its wit and energy. They single out Peter Ustinov and Terry-Thomas’s villainous voice performances for praise. [Read](https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/films/reviews/dvd-bluray-review-robin-hood-u-8812690.html)
- **Empire**, Ian Nathan (70/100, inferred): Nathan finds the film sprightly and funny, though not among Disney’s most dazzling animated features. He especially praises Peter Ustinov and Terry-Thomas’s comic voice performances as King John and the Sheriff. [Read](https://www.empireonline.com/movies/reviews/robin-hood-2-review/)
- **IndieWire**, Greg Ehrbar (70/100, inferred): Ehrbar finds the film an entertaining, effective home-video watch despite its recycled animation and episodic story. He praises its beautifully animated, funny set pieces, especially Peter Ustinov’s performance. [Read](https://www.indiewire.com/criticism/culture/blu-ray-review-disneys-sword-in-the-stone-robin-hood-and-oliver-122689/)
- **Time Out**, RP (70/100, inferred): The available description suggests a playful, positive take on Disney’s adaptation. It singles out the fun in the film’s Americanized treatment of Robin Hood. [Read](https://www.timeout.com/movies/robin-hood-2)
- **Slant Magazine**, Eric Henderson (1.5/4): Henderson finds the film largely vapid and haphazard, despite its flashes of charm. He praises the animation’s rough, lively look but laments that Prince John lacks the force of Disney’s stronger villains. [Read](https://www.slantmagazine.com/film/robin-hood/)

## Details

- **Director:** Wolfgang Reitherman
- **Director:** Wolfgang Reitherman
- **Writer:** Ken Anderson
- **Story:** Larry Clemmons
- **Editor:** Tom Acosta, James Melton
- **Music:** George Bruns
- **Producer:** Wolfgang Reitherman
- **Cast:** Brian Bedford as Robin Hood - A Fox (voice); Phil Harris as Little John - A Bear (voice); Andy Devine as Friar Tuck - A Badger (voice); Monica Evans as Maid Marian - A Vixen (voice); Peter Ustinov as Prince John - A Lion / King Richard (voice); Terry-Thomas as Sir Hiss - A Snake (voice); Pat Buttram as The Sheriff Of Nottingham - A Wolf (voice); Carole Shelley as Lady Kluck - A Chicken (voice)
- **Runtime:** 1h 23m
- **Release (Canada):** 25 December 1973
- **Genres:** Animation, Family, Adventure
- **Budget:** $5 million
- **Box office:** $33 million

## Where to watch in Canada

- Disney+: streaming, hd
- Amazon Prime Video: rent CA$4.99, hd
- Amazon Prime Video: buy CA$22.99, hd

*Checked 2026-09-24.*

Also available in: AR, AT, AU, BE, BG, BR, CA, CH, CL, CO, CZ, DE, DK, EC, EE, ES, FI, FR, GB, GR, HK, HR, HU, IE, IS, IT, JP, KR, LT, MX, NL, NO, NZ, PA, PE, PL, PT, RO, RS, SE, SG, SI, TR, US. Add `?region=XX` to this URL for another country.

## If you liked this

- *The Adventures of Robin Hood* (1938), Fi1m 90: Errol Flynn in Technicolor tights; the version every other Robin Hood is quietly copying — [Fi1m page](https://film.one/film/the-adventures-of-robin-hood.md)
- *The Jungle Book* (1967), Fi1m 80: Reitherman and Phil Harris doing the same act with better songs and less borrowing — [Fi1m page](https://film.one/film/the-jungle-book.md)
- *Robin and Marian* (1976): Connery and Hepburn as the outlaws grown old; the legend with its knees hurting
- *Fantastic Mr Fox* (2009), Fi1m 84: Another fox robbing the rich, this time in stop-motion and corduroy — [Fi1m page](https://film.one/film/fantastic-mr-fox.md)
- *Zootropolis* (2016), Fi1m 82: Disney’s animal city done with money, a plot, and a fox who is not the hero — [Fi1m page](https://film.one/film/zootopia.md)

---
© Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL. Canonical: https://film.one/film/robin-hood