Disney Planning Live Action "animal" version of Robin Hood!

[gaastra]

And they will still be animals!

How strange is this going to look?

https://www.cbr.com/live-action-anthrop ... od-disney/

[EricJ]

At first I thought they were just going to do a regular Robin Hood, and we were just freaking out as usual.

But nope, they've hired the LA Lady & Tramp director, so...

[droosan]

I'd always thought it was kinda strange that neither Robin Hood nor The Great Mouse Detective had ever been exploited, during the 'cheapquel' years .. since they were (IMHO) the Disney animated features perhaps best-suited for ongoing stories.

I'm also kinda surprised to hear this is planned for a more 'realistic' treatment .. especially considering the general audience reaction to Cats .. kept expecting to read that this was a belated 'April Fools' article.

If a remake of RH must be done, I think a full-on cartoony 'CG' treatment -- in the vein of Zootopia -- would perhaps be better-accepted by audiences .. and more appropriate to the concept.

[Randall]

I really do not need this to happen. On the other hand, if it does, it won't ruin my day.

Now, a hand-drawn cartoon series based on their Robin Hood could be great...

[Ben]

I always felt The Rescuers was another one that could have been an awesome, older-skewing (well, in comparative terms!) television series...not even following Bernard and Bianca all the time but bringing in many more of the Rescue Aid Society animals as well. Likewise The Great Mouse Detective could have easily had more cases to crack, but I don’t think you can do more with Robin...there’s kind of a finite story told in the legend, as with more fairytales.

The idea of a new Robin Hood doesn’t freak me out; it’ll clearly be along the Jungle Book/Lion King/Lady And Tramp lines, crossed with Zootopia, which took its inspiration from...Robin Hood! Since that film was, arguably artistically, the low ebb of pre-tradigital animation at Disney's, basically anything is going to be something of an improvement. Now, don’t get me wrong...as one of the few tiles we had on VHS we ran the heck out of Robin Hood as kids, but really the film is built on the crazy idea of telling it with animals and the absolutely excellent vocal performances. Honestly, you can close your eyes and just listen to that film and it totally works as an aural experience, so good are the voices, as I remember doing with the vinyl soundtrack that included "actual dialogue from the movie"!

The next question is if this is a TV level D+ entry, or if they go full theatrical. My guess is the latter on this one, but it’ll be interesting to see...!

[ShyViolet]

Live-action Disney version! .


https://youtu.be/t0sHbBq9hsI

[Farerb]

It might be like Cats.

[Daniel]

There goes my record for these threads.

Aside from this looking creepy, I think there's potential. As always I'm intrigued.

[EricJ]

Live-action Disney version! .
https://youtu.be/t0sHbBq9hsI

They did look pretty awful, back then. (The characters, that is, not Eisner.)

Fortunately for them, Robin Hood & friends were the first new movie to open when the Florida park opened, and have an honorary "seniority" for park representation, even if kids don't remember the movie today.
Which means the characters now look a LITTLE better than they did in 1971: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vrZ_Aj6PGyY

(Rather than they did back in the early days of 70's Disneyland trainees: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B-qVwuBbMBM )

[Ben]

ALL the original character costumes can look pretty ropey, to be honest, when compared to the molding and materials used today, but they were always cool for the times and obviously the kids just saw the characters and not the manufacturing.

Robin Hood, by the way, is much more popular than you might think. I’m always surprised, but delighted, at how many younger people say they like that movie (and Oliver & Company gets a lot of love as well). It’s funny what can stick from kids that grew up on a slimmer diet of VHS and DVD...!

[EricJ]

It’s funny what can stick from kids that grew up on a slimmer diet of VHS and DVD...!

Nobody would even REMEMBER Robin Hood, if it hadn't been one of the Five Disney Orphans, during the early days of 80's VHS:
Disney didn't yet dare to put out their Classics, so the only films sent to TV and VHS were the five "least loved" Disney classics the studio still believed were "flops", and therefore didn't matter where the heck they were shown--Robin Hood, Alice in Wonderland, Dumbo (which was getting too much complaint about the Crows), Three Caballeros, and Sword in the Stone.
Might have been six, I'm blanking on the last one. Later, yes, Oliver & Company joined them, at least on TV distribution.

Thus, Robin Hood became a classic with a generation for the same reason Lion King did: It was the only thing little kids saw on tape/disk.
Apart, of course, from devoted-Furry parents hoping to raise a new generation in time for next Halloween's first costume...

[ShyViolet]

Live-action Disney version! .
https://youtu.be/t0sHbBq9hsI

They did look pretty awful, back then. (The characters, that is, not Eisner.)

True. The character costumes were definitely crude compared to later on. As you pointed out, that’s just how they looked in the Ron Miller era before everything became much slicker and streamlined under the new regime.

Also, the early voices were REALLY off! Lol. Here’s an example from the Parent Trap segment aired in 1987. Goofy doesn’t sound that bad, but Mickey definitely does not sound like Mickey! (I could be wrong, but I’m pretty sure Bill Farmer and Wayne Allwine hadn’t been hired yet.)

https://youtu.be/PCPS9XoU_WY


***********************************************


EDIT: Here’s one for the Flight of the Navigator intro that aired in 1988...that’s definitely Allwine.


https://youtu.be/R9gZNUPqLVs

Also funny how Eisner takes a handful of popcorn but never eats it. Lol.

[Ben]

Odd they wouldn’t use them, but Allwine and Farmer were well in place in the late 1970s/early 80s as Mickey and Goofy. My guess is that it’s just one guy filling in (hence why no Minnie) for two lines in a throwaway intro for a one-off segment never intended to be seen again. Maybe Allwine or Farmer were on vacation, promo tour or busy recording voices for another project and, likely the producer of the segment, jumped in under time pressure to get it ready for the Sunday night airing!

[Daniel]

Small update:

The interviewer asks again about Robin Hood and Carlos says:

“For now it doesn’t have a release date, we don’t have plans for it yet I hope one day we can continue with this project but for now I think they’re still figuring out some internal stuff”

[Dacey]

That means it's cancelled then?