Robin Hood
Blu-ray | DVD | Instant Video
Directed by Wolfgang Reitherman
Starring Brian Bedford, Monica Evans Phil Harris, Peter Ustinov, Terry-Thomas, Andy Devine, Roger Miller and Carole Shelley
Walt Disney Home Entertainment
Release Date: August 6, 2013

Robin Hood finally shoots its way onto Blu-ray, but sadly the titular character does not steal the screen in the best way. It’s no Disney classic, at least for those of us who did not grow up with Maid Marian and friends, but the 1973 movie deserves a viewing if you go into it with reasonable expectations.

Film

Fair warning. I did not have any sentimental feelings in watching Robin Hood, namely because I did not watch this film repeatedly during childhood. Thus I found it harder to connect with the oddball assortment of characters and collection of ideas that somehow never seem cohesive. The personalities are cute. The forceful underdog story moves even the most cynical. The humor recalls the tongue-in-cheek intelligence found in many of Disney’s finest. Yet Robin Hood appears to try too hard in representing something remarkable when at its core the film is straightforward minimalism.