Wonderful Works of Walt

I said it before, but the only way to describe Robin Hood is “fun”. The characters are fun, the plot is fun, the whole thing. No wonder child-me liked it so much! 

Things I love about Disney’s version of Robin Hood: just about everything. This movie is just as much fun as I remember it. Who cares about the “real” Robin Hood? He’s a fox, accuracy goes out the window. Ignoring all of the source material (as you should in this case), this movie is a lot of fun. A lot of the films I’ve watched during this project, I frequently paused and came back to later, or found things to do while the movie was on. This one took me two or three days to watch, but it was because more important things came up, not because I needed a break. Every time I expected to have time to finish it, I was excited to hit the play button. And that’s just what Disney does best!

Another comment on The Jungle Book: EVERYBODY LIVES. Even the villain! 

Things to say about The Jungle Book…

WHY has this movie never been on my Disney rotation? It’s great! Not so much when you put it in the context of the original Rudyard Kipling stories, but on its own, I loved it! The characters have great interactions, the songs are super fun, the villains are grade-A… everything. 

The two most famous songs from the movie - Bear Necessities and I Wanna Be Like You - got that famous for a reason. Because they’re awesome! I can’t figure out why I have such little memory of this movie.

The Sword in the Stone is far from Disney’s best, but it’s certainly not the worst. It continues the same animation style used in 101 Dalmatians, the sketchy lines that defined Disney through the 60’s and 70’s, and it incorporates some of the elements from earlier fairy tale movies - the storybook opening, the background art styles, etc. 

So what’s missing? Well, the plot for one is a bit mismatched. If you watch the first third of the film, you’d think the movie was about Merlin wanting to giving Arthur an education. Then that’s basically forgotten for a while so that he can show off his magic. After the halfway point, there’s a big diversion by throwing Madam Mim into the mix (seriously, what purpose does she serve? Other that to get a few really awesome transformation sequences). Finally the movie concludes with the famous part of the story, the part we’ve been waiting for since the title card - the sword in the stone. And how does it end? By having Arthur sitting on the throne and… and that’s it. 

Don’t get me wrong, I do like this movie. I can also understand all of the complaints about it. But overall it doesn’t bother me. Merlin’s kind of goofy, Arthur’s decent enough, and the art is pretty. So no, it’s not the best, but you won’t find me arguing against it.