The Story of Robin Hood // Movie Review

 

I never know how to begin reviews so I guess I'll just start by giving you the plot summary from the back of the old VHS tape.  (After that prepare for a conglomeration of random thoughts and pictures.)

 

Brimming with gallantry, romance and adventure, this classic tale of England's most celebrated outlaw-patriot ranks as one of the finest examples of Disney storytelling magic.

    

While the noble King Richard the Lionhearted is away, the evil Prince John and Wicked Sherriff of Nottingham try to seize the throne.  Only the quick-witted young Robin Hood and his band of Merrie Men can fight off their attempts, save the fair Maid Marian from harm, and preserve the throne for the rightful king!

    

Join Robin, Little John, Friar Tuck and all the Merrie Men as they rob from the rich to give to the poor and provide rousing good entertainment!

 

*****

 

Right.  Sounds like a pretty typical retelling of the traditional Robin Hood tale, doesn't it? But trust me there's a lot more to this movie than the synopsis might lead you to believe.  It's classic Disney adventure.  Lively, fun, exciting and hilarious. 

 

In this particular version Robin Fitzooth (later known as Robin Hood) and Maid Marian have been friends since they were children, and they continue to have a fun and playful sort of relationship even into their adult years.  That is until Maid Marian moves away, becoming a ward of the Queen while her father is on the crusades with King Richard.  In her absence Robin finds himself quickly at odds with the new governing authorities and in fact forced to live as an outlaw with a group of other unlucky fellows.

Naturally, Marian is confused when she first hears this news of Robin.  She doesn't believe he would ever do anything worthy of being outlawed and sets out to prove it...but on the way finds herself in a situation which causes even her to doubt Robin's good faith. 

Then of course there's all the business with that nasty Sheriff of Nottingham.  (He's always in it, isn't he?)  And he's a real nuisance you know.  But of course Robin and his men manage to take care of him rather nicely, on more than one occasion.  Which is raaather satisfying.  (Though I won't say you'll never feel sorry for the sheriff because you just might.  Especially in that last scene when...no.  We won't talk about that.)

 

All in all this is a super fun film.  Totally family friendly.  And it has the perfect kind of ending.  A happy one.  (Like Robin Hood and Maid Marian don't die in this version, because someone had the decency and heart to end the film before any such nonsense could be suggested.  Haha.)

 

 

//The cast//

 

(Because I just happened to find this picture and so I thought, why not use it?)

 

//Favorite scenes//

 

1)  When Marian messes up Robin's target practice and he chases her down in the woods.  And then her maid comes up and oops...

 

 

They had not intended to be caught behaving in such a childish fashion.

 

(Apparently Disney made a comic-style book of the whole movie.  With dialogue taken straight from the film!)

 

Which is cool.

 

 

2)  When Robin Hood and Little John have their epic quarterstaff fight on the bridge.  (Who do you think wins?)

3)  Alan-A-Dale's awkwardness when he runs into the "man he sings about."  And Robin's and Scarlet's and Little John's response to his attempt at a complimentary song.  Haha.  Such a hilarious moment!  (The three outlaws' expressions though!  *Three blank, withering stares directed straight at Alan-A-Dale*  Poor Alan-A-Dale.)

4)  Robin Hood spying on Friar Tuck as he sings to his imaginary lady.  (Heehee.)  And then the whole crossing the stream fiasco!  My oh my oh my!  Way too much fun!

My oldest brother used to be quite famous for his impersonation of Friar Tuck in this scene.  (Ask him about it, Crista.  ;))

Friar Tuck's just awesome.  Okay?  Okay.

Honestly, there are so many great scenes in this movie!  But of course I can't list them of all.  That would be giving everything away and I wouldn't want to do that.  Oh dear no.  So this is where we'll end.  (Writing this post totally worked up my enthusiasm for this movie.  I seriously need to watch it again.)  (And you need to watch it, too.) 

I don't know.  Somehow this just doesn't seem quite like a proper movie review.  Unfortunately it's the best I can do at the moment.  I hope at least you enjoyed it.  (I know I enjoyed putting it together.)  I shall leave you now with a couple "behind-the-scenes" photos. 

Because I can.

Richard Todd, Walt Disney, and Joan Rice

Robin Hood and Maid Marian (because that's just such a cute picture.  Don't you think?)

This review was written as a contribution for Olivia's Robin Hood Week.  The party's still going on so head on over there and join the fun!!  :D


Robin Hood Week Tag

Good afternoon everyone!  Olivia is hosting a Robin Hood Week over at her blog and I'm here today to give my answers to the tag.  Fun no?  If you're a fan of Robin Hood (or even if you're not) do head over to Olivia's blog and join in!  

 

 

Because everyday...

 

is a good day...

 

for a PARTY!! 

(Now isn't that right?)

 

 ***** 

 

What was your first exposure to Robin Hood?

 

Oh dear.  It's been such a long time, it's hard to say, but I reckon the Disney cartoon would be a safe bet.  At any rate I have a lot of fond memories of watching this with my siblings when we were quite young.

On a scale of 1 to 10, how big a fan are you?

 

Well, actually.  I don't know that I'd refer to myself as a fan at all.  I mean I like the story but it's not something I rave over or anything.  Let's just go with a 5.  (A nice decisive answer, right in the middle.  I like that.)

 

How many versions and spin-offs of the legend have you experienced?

Thinking...thinking...

 

Okay.  As to movies I've seen both Disney versions (the cartoon and the live action), the 1938 film starring Errol Flynn, and a few episodes of an old black and white TV show.  As to books, I know my dad read us at least one re-telling of the story when I was a kid.  That's all I can think of at the moment.  (Of course Robin Hood comes into Ivanhoe, too, but I won't count that since the story isn't technically about him.)

What is your favorite version of Robin Hood (can be book, movie, TV series, anything)?

 

Disney's 1952 film starring Richard Todd and Joan Rice.

 

Because really.  What's not to like?

Are you one of the lads? (Meaning, have you watched/are you a fan of the BBC show?)

 

Nope.  I've never actually seen it.

Who is your favorite Merry Man?

 

In the versions I've seen you don't really get to know the Merry Men all that well (at least in my opinion).  Little John is probably the one you see the most of.  So I guess I'll go with him.  (But Robin Hood is my absolute favorite character.  Just sayin'.)

Do you have a favorite portrayal of Lady Marian?

 

Joan Rice's portrayal in the 1952 Disney film. 

Do you have any interest in or aptitude at archery?

 

No not really.  No very serious interest at any rate.  And definitely no aptitude.  I'm sure it could be fun to try sometime though.  (Or perhaps frustrating as I'm sure I'd be terrible at it.  Haha.)

Fact or fiction -- which do you think?

 

Heh.  I don't know.  I wouldn't be surprised if it was based on some sort of fact, but no doubt the story has changed drastically over the years so how we know it now might be almost unrecognizable from the original.  I'll go with the assumption that it is based loosely on fact. 

Do you think Robin Hood has been "done to death," or are there still new twists that can be found?

 

It hasn't been "done to death" in my opinion, but then I haven't seen/read all the different versions out there so this is coming from a rather limited point of view.  It's a really good story though, so I'm sure there are a lot of fun twists yet to be discovered.

 

*****

Well.  That was fun!  Thanks for the tag, Olivia!  And for hosting the party!

 

And now I must be off.  



Toodle-oo!



(P.S.  Don't forget to check out Olivia's blog for more Robin Hood delights.  :))

 

In which I tell you some very exciting news!!

 

Wait for it.  Exciting announcements like this must be led up to gradually. 

 

*thoughtful pause*

What if I told you that since being old enough to appreciate real friendship, I've never had my own particular friend.  I mean a close friend.  The kind of friend you can discuss just about anything with and who would--I don't know--invite you to stay at her house for a week or something like that...

 

What if I told you that I've never in all my life been away from home overnight without at least one of my siblings being with me...

 

What if I told you that I've never been on a plane.  Let alone while it was flying.   Let alone by myself...

 

What if I told you that I'm not an adventurous or daring person.  That doing new things, and going new places, is not my cup of tea...

 

That in plain simple language, I'm a big old scaredy-cat.

 

What if I told you all this?  Would you believe me?  And then would you believe me still further if I were to say...

IT'S ALL HAPPENING THIS JUNE! 

This June, people.  (Which happens to be next month according to the calendar.  Who'd have thought?)

 

I'm being adventurous!  

Me. 

I've been invited to visit a very dear friend (a very dear friend!) for a solid week and a half!

And I'm going.

By myself.  

I'm flying on a plane.  

By myself.  (Well, there will be other passengers, too.  Of course.  But they don't count). 

In less than three weeks times I shall be flying through the air, to an unfamiliar place, staying for a significant length of time, and...

I'm not even scared!!  (Well, okay, maybe I'm a little scared.  Getting on that plane is, I have to admit, a bit frightening but, well...we'll worry about that more when it gets closer.)

The truth of the matter is, I'm going.  Scared or not.  And whether you believe me or whether you don't.  It's still true.  

And now that I've rambled on in a attempt to build suspense...you all must be wondering who that certain dear friend is.  Well...

Some of you may just happen to know her.  She's a blogger, too.  In fact, I met her through blogging, and she's become one of my very closest friends, and this will be the first time we've ever met in person.   And her name is...

*suspenseful pause*

*suspenseful pause continued*

(Certain ones of you are no doubt grinning to yourselves at this point because you're pretty sure you know the answer to this riddle and you're feeling mighty smart right about now.)

(As to the rest of you--who haven't a clue who I'm talking about--well, you're probably starting to feel annoyed because I'm not getting to the point quick enough and the suspense is killing you.  Actually no, you've probably already scanned down and seen the name so you're not really in suspense and you're not really dying but you're still annoyed because you're trying to be polite and read this whole thing but it's starting to sound like a pointless, run-on sentence which it may well be but I'll never admit to that and while I'm still gabbing you finally throw up your hands in surrender and jump down to the next line so you don't have to keep reading this pointless narration which really isn't important but now that I've started I can't seem to stop and...)  (A person has to run out of breath sooner or later.  'Hem.)

*drum roll*

The friend in question is...

 

NATALIE!

I'M GOING TO VISIT NATALIE, PEOPLE!!  That dear sweet girl who blogs at Raindrops on Roses and Whiskers on Kittens. 

I'm not kidding.  This is really happening!! And it's less than a month away!  We've been planning this since January and it's hard to believe we're coming down to the home stretch now. 

Honestly, trying to fully convey my excitement in writing is impossible.  So I won't even try.  Suffice it to say we are both extremely excited, and we have loads of fun things planned to do together.  Not the least of which is staying up till all hours of the night talking our heads off (because emails, you know, they do well enough in a pinch, but being able to actually TALK is going to be awesome)!  Also we may or may not have a list of movies we're planning on watching which has grown to nearly a mile long.  Ha.  (Taking a hint from the pictures in this post, can you guess what one of those movies is?  ;))  It's going to be amazing!!

And well, I guess that's all I have to say for now.  WASN'T THAT EXCITING THOUGH?  (I'm so glad you think so.  ;)) 

(And now I just have to ask.  Were any of you suspicious that something like this was afoot?  Because Natalie and I have been making subtle references to our visit quite frequently in our comments to each other and are rather curious to know if we really were as "subtle" as we thought we were.  ;))

EIGHTEEN MORE DAYS!!

*goes off grinning*

P.S. *edit*  Natalie wrote  a post about this, too.  Do check it out!  (And if it doesn't make you want to dance and sing well, all I can say is, "Odd that.")

Life's been crazy. Care to hear about it?

 

(No?  Well, that's a shame.  Because that's exactly what I was intending to talk about.  Sorry to break it to you.)

 

Ahem.

 

I don't know if any of you have noticed but I've been rather absent lately.  Usually I try to post at least once a week, but here we are two and half weeks since my last post!   To say I'm feeling a little behind in my duties as a blogger is a statement not to be laughed at.  It doesn't help either that during the past couple weeks I've been tagged by about a hundred people  (okay, maybe five or six) and am beginning to wonder whether I shall ever be caught up on everything.  (Don't get me wrong.  I love being tagged.  It's just that after awhile...whew.  Answering questions can be exhausting.)  (And I still have two more Ask Me Anything posts to complete! ...Ugh.  We're not talking about this.  Who brought this subject up?)

 

Ahem and ahem. 

 

To get back to the original point of this post.  Did I say life's been crazy?  Well, it has.  And it all has to do with work.  Jobs.  Employment.  You know what I mean.

 

In fact, another title for this post might well be "How to land yourself a job - Miss March fashion."  (You'll want to stick around for this.  This is going to be very educational.)

 

First off, let me explain to you what my job situation was as of two weeks ago.  Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday mornings found me working as a Teacher's Aide at a local preschool.  And Saturdays found me a happy (and not so happy sometimes) employee at a farmer's market, selling produce to costumers from 6:00 in the morning to 4:00 in the afternoon.  Due to the school-year being near it's end, my preschool job was just about over.  And due to my love/hate relationship with the market job, I was ready and willing to find something entirely different to replace both those jobs.  However...due to my appalling lack of confidence and sorry lack of spirit in trying new things, that was easier said than done.

 

You mean I have to walk in there, by myself, and apply for a job?  Do you realize what that might do to me?

 

Here you are. 

 

10 easy steps for how to land yourself a job and drive yourself crazy - Miss March style

 

*****

 

1. When driving through a nearby town with your sister, your sister sees a Now Hiring sign outside a small restaurant/coffee shop.  She suggests you apply.  You don't say much because you're thinking.  (Something which takes a powerful lot of concentration on your part, haha.)

 

2.  You finally decide you will apply at the coffee shop.  So you drive past it multiple times in the next week or so intending each time to stop but...circumstances you know.   Circumstances beyond your control.  (Like, uh, plain straightforward cowardice.)

 

3. At last you put your foot down.  YOU ARE GOING TO DO THIS.  You stop.  You walk up and take a closer look at the sign.  "Apply within or send your resume through email."  Send your resume through email?!   What luck!  You're back in the car and heading home.  And your resume is sent off that very afternoon.  (You may feel like an undersized chicken at this point but it is possible to ignore that feeling.  I speak from experience.)

 

4. You get no reply to your application.  Weeks past.  Either they didn't like your resume or they never got it (and it's probably the first option because that would be just your sort of luck).  At last you decide that this coming Friday, after you drop your siblings off at school, you're going to stop again and this time you're going to go in and ask for an application.  (Daring, I know.)

 

5. First comes Thursday evening though, when your mom spots an ad in the advertiser for another job opportunity.  A front desk representative position at a Christian camp/retreat center.  Mom thinks it would be worth looking into.  You think it's way out of your comfort zone.  But the chips are down.  You're already feeling terrible about your status as a coward and decide it's time to do something brave.  So you email the retreat center that evening with more specific questions about the job.  Done.

 

6. Enter Friday morning.  You stop at the coffee shop.  You walk in.  You ask for an application.  (And wonder of wonders, it wasn't even that scary!  Who would have thought?)  You take the application home.   You start freaking out because what is one supposed to write on an application anyway?  This is too hard!  You check your email.  You have a response from the retreat center with very kind answers to all your questions, plus a a ton of information about the job in general which immediately sends you into overload mode.  You cry buckets of tears.  Mom saves the day.  Helps you fill out the application and talks you through the immense amount of information about the retreat job.  You're feeling much better, and head back to the coffee shop in the afternoon to drop off your application.  I said, drop off.  However the "drop off" suddenly turns into an interview with the boss who hires you on the spot, and because you always have your wits about you and are such a very clear thinker, you accept the job right then and there and find yourself scheduled to work on Tuesday afternoon right after your work at the preschool.  

 

Now you're really freaking out because "I just got a job!  I just signed my life away!!"

 

7.  To complicate matters, you realize the job at the retreat center actually sounds rather intriguing.  Now it's time to cross bridges before you get to them and worry about how you're going to work up the courage to give notice at the coffee shop so soon after being hired, (that is, if you did happen to get hired at the other place).  *Heart palpitations* 

 

8.  You calm down a bit over the weekend.  Things are not as bad as they seem.  You decide you will apply at the retreat center.  You'll fill out the application on Monday and take things as they come.  But first you'll have an emotional breakdown when Monday comes along because now you have an application to fill out and beginning paperwork for your new job and YOU HATE PAPERWORK!!  (So...let's cry some more tears, shall we?  Such a fun thing to do.)  And then...and then!  You get a phone call.  From that other place you applied at weeks ago.  They want to set up a phone interview for Friday!  THEY WANT TO WHAT??!  How is this happening?  Three different job opportunities in one week!!   This is too much!  (Here's where you faint dead away.)

 

9.  All the paperwork is finally finished.  You're beginning to breath again.  Then comes Tuesday.  Preschool in the morning, new job in the afternoon (which is a dishwashing job by the way.  Forgot to mention that), and then preschool in the evening again because someone invented ending programs.  You're exhausted by the end of the day which works itself into a regular fit of depressed spirits.  The week is beginning to stretch before you like a dark, foreboding shadow.  Wednesday will be another day with preschool in the morning and dishwashing in the afternoon.  Thursday the same.  You can't do this.  You suddenly realize the dishwashing job is not what you had envisioned and not what you care to be doing right now.  For one thing your hands have a horrible tendency to grow red and cracked when in contact with too much water.  For another, though you love washing dishes, you had hoped for a job that would include a little more people interaction, and this job doesn't have it.  So, all things considered, you go in the second day and give your notice.  (Yes, horrible isn't it?)  You're surprised at yourself but, what else could you do?  You were desperate.  Thankfully your new boss is very understanding.  You finish out the week and breath a sigh of relief that it's over.

 

10. So you gain a job and lose a job in the space of a week.  But it's not such a horrible situation because you've still got those other two jobs pending, right?  You have your phone interview on Friday.  You bomb it.  (At least you're pretty sure you do.)  Things begin to look a little shaky.  You hear nothing from the retreat center.  You begin to worry.  But then!  Tuesday the 16th of May comes around!  And you get a phone call setting up an onsite interview at the Camp for Friday!  Things are beginning to look up.  Mayhap there is a job in store for you yet.  We shall have to wait and see.

 

And so...

 

That's that.  Crazy right?  Oh, the trials and tribulations of being Miss March!  *profound sigh*

 

I'm not really sure why I felt the need to write this all down.  Like who cares about such details anyway?  But there it is, and it would be a waste of my time and energy not to publish it after working on it for so long so despite it's being a lame excuse for a post I'm going to send it forth into the world just the same.

 

And while we're on the subject of jobs and crazy schedules and all that...

 

How are you all doing?  Got any fun plans for the summer?  Do you freak out whenever you go to apply for a job, or do such things not phase you?  (If the second, please tell me your secret.  ;))  What would be your dream job?  And what is one thing you're very much looking forward to doing in the next few months?

 

Enough questions?  Enough questions.

 

T.T.F.N.  Ta ta for now!