Robin Hood Makes Good

Three squirrels are reading a book, and then decide to play about Robin Hood. The littlest one wants to be Robin Hood, then the second largest, and finally the largest is selected to be Robin Hood. The little one is the villain by default, meaning the other two outvote him. They give him a bag of pretend gold, a pot for a helmet and a wooden sword. Then they turn him loose in the woods. Then the other two pretend to be Robin Hood and Little John and begin chasing the little guy. Meanwhile, the fox steals their book and formulates a plan. From his reading, he can tell the real Robin Hood had a sweetheart named Maid Marion. So he calls "help" and pretends to be Maid Marion through the use of his voice. The two larger squirrels follow the sound of the fox's voice through the woods until he lures them into an abandoned log cabin. He closes the back door, then sneaks around to the front and locks them inside the cabin. He hangs the two squirrels on the wall and begins preparation for a squirrel stew meal. Meantime, the little squirrel finds a fox hunter's horn in the woods and uses it to begin a noise campaign at the front door. He blows the horn, he bangs on the door, he yells, and the fox panics. Believing a troop of hunters is at the door, he beats on the back door furiously. He becomes so scared, his pelt turns yellow. Finally the back door breaks open and, pushing the door in front of his beating fists, the last we see of the fox is his hurried departure down a forest lane. Once again free, the two big squirrels go outside the front door where they find a jubilant little squirrel who says, "Now who gets to play Robin Hood?"

"Robin Hood Makes Good" is a very nice looking color cartoon from Looney Tunes. That being said, there isn't much positive I can say about this one. The story is a bit sappy and there is a voice from one of the squirrels that is so cloying and sweet it really turned me off on the film.

The story begins with some squirrel children reading and acting out the story of Robin Hood (no doubt this was inspired by Warner Brothers' "Robin Hood" which came out the previous year). But an evil fox sees them and plans on making the young squirrels his dinner.

The story has very, very few laughs, is too cute and has a cloying voice for the youngest squirrel. A huge misfire for me.

Don't get me wrong, I really liked this. The animation is outstanding, with excellent character movements and very nice colours. The music is absolutely beautiful, lyrical and bouncy, and I thought I even heard a snippet of Schubert's Unfinished symphony, great stuff that. And there seemed to be a sort of variation on the Midsommer Night's Dream Overture by Mendelssohn. Also the voice work from Mel Blanc and Bernice Hanson is truly excellent. And I liked the story, and the characters; the squirrels are sweet and the fox crafty. However, the cartoon is a little too cutesy for me, especially the song about the Robin Hood fighting. Also whereas there are cartoons that are loaded to the brim with gags, this is merely one joke. No problem with that strictly speaking, but the cartoon could've done with more humour and less of the whimsical feeling. All in all, too cute for me but nice to watch. 7/10 Bethany Cox

Robin Hood Makes Good (1939)

** 1/2 (out of 4)

Three squirrels are in the woods reading about Robin Hood and then decide to act is out. The smallest squirrel is forced to be the bad guy, although he wants to be Robin Hood. Soon a fox sees them playing a decides to fool the bigger two so that he can eat them.

ROBIN HOOD MAKES GOOD certainly isn't a classic by any stretch of the imagination but it's entertaining enough to make it worth watching. Obviously the big moments are going to come towards the end when the smaller squirrel has to rise to the occasion and battle the fox. The final few minutes are certainly the highlight of the picture as it's quite funny how everything plays out. The animation itself was extremely good but the characters really aren't all that strong, which keeps the film from being better.

This animated short is unusually cutesy for a Warner Brothers short. It tells the story of 3 squirrels who do battle with a wolf while playing Robin Hood. It's a one joke short, of interest mainly becauase it was directed by Chuck Jones. However, the voice work by Bernice Hansen and Mel Blanc is excellent.