Despite being a household name, Robin Hood is one figure with whom I'm not all that familiar. Sure, I read the original Howard Pyle book...but that was all the way back when I was in elementary school. The only flicks I've seen before that relate to the legends are _Prince of Thieves_ (rather violent, in my opinion), _Men in Tights_ (hilarious, though I only saw the edited for TV version; I don't want to see the uncensored one), and the _Wonderful World of Disney_ telefilm _Princess of Thieves (starring Keira Knightley as the super-capable daughter of Robin; need I say more?). All those I saw well over a decade ago, so, this was a bit of a reintroduction to the characters and story.

So, how was the movie? It definitely had a lot of old-school charm going for it. Robin and Marian were likable, not to mention a cute couple. The villains were appropriately despicable. Though there was a lot of action--Robin was a thief, after all--the violence was completely free of blood or gore, and the fight sequences were spot-on. True to classic film style, this flick was completely free from profanity, and it also respectfully portrays the Christian elements of the legend.

The only annoyance I had with the movie was that, a few times, they tell you what happened via onscreen text instead of actually showing it. While I understand having words like that at the start--_Star Wars_, anyone?--to have it happen more than once is a bit annoying; why not just show us the events? Still, that's a minor complaint. Maybe I should check out more old-school flicks like this.