What it’s about: A simple retelling of the legend with Disney’s first entirely-animal cast. The throne of England has been usurped by the childish Prince John (Ustinov) who, aided by his long-suffering assistant Sir Hiss (Terry-Thomas) and the bullying Sheriff of Nottingham (Buttram), is taxing the poor out of every last farthing. But Robin Hood (Bedford) and his pal Little John (Harris) are set about making impish headaches for the villains, plundering the prince and his minions to save the good folk. And when Robin’s childhood love Marian (Evans) appears back in town, he sets in motion a scheme to win her hand and foil the Prince once and for all.

Reflections: This was always one of my favorite of the Disney classics growing up. It was coolly-received at the time, and I do understand why. The humor is pitched somewhere around a variety-show skit–a gentle chuckle more than any real laughs. The action would be at home in a Scooby-Doo episode: hallway routines, pies in the face, that sort of thing. Everyone knows the Robin Hood story and there’s nothing really added onto it here. And the animation is… fine, with moments of beauty here and there (the caravan of rhinos marching through the trees at the beginning, say) but hardly the grand splendor of the studio’s best work.

But rewatching it for the first time in years, as an adult in my 40s, that’s all kind of the appeal of it. It has a low-stakes, shaggy charm and a cozy, folksy vibe, helped along in no small part by Roger Miller’s drawling contributions to the soundtrack (although it’s hard to hear “Oo-de-lally” without envisioning hamsters–if you were there, you know). There is a certain humor in hearing Sir Peter Ustinov sniveling and whining the way he does here, or a Shakespearian actor like Bedford imitate Buttram’s country-fried patois. But the draw is mostly the chill feel of it, the ever-so-slight winking edge, the laid back, early ’70s atmosphere. And speaking from the point of view of imprinting on a nascent, pre-adolescent sexuality, the foxes are kind of hot. It’s brought up enough among people around my age that it’s clearly a thing and it would be missing some of the legacy and impact of the film not to mention it.

Ultimately, it’s a Disney movie–it’s part of a larger series of work that has an undeniable foothold on the culture, for better or for worse; it doesn’t need a recommendation. Within that context, though, it is an odd one and it’s hard to gauge how much it might resonate with someone who didn’t grow up with this exact clamshell VHS on frequent rotation. But it’s a great movie for crashing out to at the end of the night, an easygoing time-capsule draped onto a familiar structure.