Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #2831 in DVD
• Released on: 2006-07-01
• Rating: Parental Guidance
• Aspect ratio: 1.85:1
• Number of discs: 2
• Formats: Anamorphic, Box set, PAL, Special Edition, Widescreen
• Original language: English
• Subtitled in: English
• Number of discs: 2
• Running time: 148 minutes

Amazon.co.uk Review
Kevin Costner's lousy English accent is a small obstacle in this often exciting version of the Robin Hood fable. That aside, it's refreshing to have a preface to the old story in which we meet the robber hero of Sherwood Forest as a soldier in King Richard's Crusades, coming home to find his people under siege from the cruelties of the Sheriff of Nottingham (Alan Rickman). After Robin and his community of outcasts and fighters take to the trees, director Kevin Reynolds (Fandango, 187) is on more familiar narrative ground, and he goes for the gusto with lots of original action (Robin shoots two arrows simultaneously from his bow in two directions). Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio, as Marion, makes a convincing damsel in distress and Morgan Freeman brings dignity to his role as Robin's Moor friend. Alan Rickman, however, gets the most attention for his scene-chewing role as the rotten sheriff, an almost campy performance that is highly entertaining but perhaps a little out of sorts with the rest of the film. --Tom Keogh

Amazon.co.uk Review
Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves reinvented the legend for contemporary cinema audiences, and in doing so far outstripped at the box office even Kevin Costner's own infinitely superior Dances with Wolves to become the biggest hit of 1991. It's an entertaining enough family adventure film, but plays like a big-budget TV movie with no distinctive flair for action or romance. (Director Kevin Reynolds would reunite with Costner four years later for the equally stodgy Waterworld). If the accents are all over the place, at least Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio makes a Maid Marion of ravishing Pre-Raphaelite beauty. Morgan Freeman is fine as Robin's Moorish sidekick, though, other than to expand the demographic, his character has no business being in the story. Realising that the whole enterprise has the credibility of a pantomime, Alan Rickman outrageously camps up his Sheriff of Nottingham, stealing the film in the process. Costner makes an acceptable hero, though he will never replace Errol Flynn in the definitive The Adventures of Robin Hood.

If you can accept explosives in 13th-century England, that the approach to Sherwood Forest is a modern conifer plantation and that the 170 miles from Dover to Nottingham is a matter of a few hours ride via Northumberland, then you may find much to enjoy here. Otherwise an already overlong film has been extended to an excessive 148 minutes in this special edition, making far too much of a not very good thing.

On the DVD: Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves is presented as a two-disc set, with a 1.78:1 anamorphic transfer that is generally good looking but with an occasionally soft picture and some evidence of dirt and minor print damage. The Dolby Digital 5.1 remix of the original stereo soundtrack is atmospheric and powerful and shows off Michael Kamen's score to its best. Though presented with 12 minutes of footage not seen in the cinema version, the film still suffers most of the cuts (amounting to 28 seconds) imposed by the BBFC over the years.

The main extras are a pair of commentaries: Costner and Reynolds discuss the film in frank and enthusiastic detail, while on a second track Freeman, Slater, writer/producer Pen Densham and cowriter/producer John Watson offer a great deal of insight plus a fair bit of stating the obvious, backslapping and critic bashing. Robin Hood: The Myth, the Man, the Movie (31 mins) is a cut version of a 45-minute TV special originally broadcast in America the night before the premiere, and offers an interesting if brief look at the Robin Hood story plus some routine making-of material. Finally, there is a video of Bryan Adams performing "Everything I Do, I Do It for You" live at Slane Castle and 18 minutes worth of bland electronic presskit-style archive interviews with Costner, Freeman, Mastrantonio, Slater and Alan Rickman, plus the original American trailer, a stills gallery and cast and crew list. --Gary S Dalkin

DVD Description
It was a time of tyrants: the only way to uphold the truth was to break the law. He fought for the good of all men and for the love of just one woman. Kevin Costner brings the epic hero Robin Hood to life in a film filled with pageantry, intrigue, action and romance. With an outstanding cast including Morgan Freeman, Alan Rickman, Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio and Christian Slater, record-breaking theme song and film production on a sweeping scale, Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves has become a legend in its own right.

Customer Reviews

Entertaining stuff
Let's be honest, modern adaptations of old folk tales in Hollywood equal ugly twists. However, this movie was surprisingly funny, clever and just plain entertaining! The twists means that our Robin (Costner) is actually an international prisoner before he rushes back to England to be in tights. His stint doesn't go down well with him and he ends up picking up a Moor (Freeman)along the way. They waddle back to England only to find Robin's land seized by the Sherriff (Rickman) due to serious religious accusations. Now with a fresh aim in mind (to get back land & win Marian's love/support somehow) the Moor and Robin set out the Merry Men. And boy do they find them! There is much fun, laughter, and merry making particularly on the part of the Moor (played brilliantly by Freeman) who enjoys himself especially when his new friends have never seen technology such as the telescope or gunpowder. But be beware of taking sides in this movie! It's a close call Robin and the Sherriff play dirty as each other. Now that's saying something particularly if the Sherriff's is upto his eyes in lust, hag & cousin troubles.

Hollywood, not Sherwood
It's Hollywood, not Sherwood, with Kevin Costner's Robin Hood, Prince of Thieves fighting injustice in his quest to make England free for those who can't actually speak the language, armed only with his trusty longbow, a dubious accent ("This is English courage" gets a big laugh every time), a fluctuating waistline and an unerringly bad sense of direction. "Come, by nightfall we will dine at my father's castle," he says to his Muslim sidekick Azem (Morgan Freeman). Not when you land in Dover you won't. And Hadrian's Wall is NOT "but five miles" from Nottingham. Sorry, Kev.

You have to look a long way down the credits to find an English actor, unless you count the villains, with Alan Rickman's Sheriff so far over the top that he's back again, leaving you with the impression that Costner's controversial decision to cut many of his scenes had more to do with restraint than pique. With Christian I-Want-to-be-Jack-Nicholson-when-I-grow-up Slater in the cast, you can forgiven for fearing the film will turn into Surf Saxons Must Die, and British writers Pen Densham and John Watson do display a healthy contempt for their heritage and history. No-one actually says it, but you know they're thinking "screw history, let's blow something up," and, indeed, the script manages to pull of the twin feat of giving a logical reason for Robin having a black sidekick and getting lots of explosions into a medieval adventure, although they don't quite manage to convince you that their Robin truly is modelled after the Tim Holt character in The Magnificent Ambersons.

Neither Errol Flynn's definitive adventure nor Sean Connery and Richard Lester's brilliantly melancholy interpretation have anything to worry about, with the film falling between the two stools and offering political correctness instead of revisionism and opting for pure adventure with the trimmings of gritty historical realism brushed aside whenever it threatens to get in the way.

The biggest problem is that the scars of a messy and acrimonious production (seven credited producers, no less) are all too visible. Kevin Reynolds' direction lacks the punch of his earlier and unfairly overlooked The Beast of War or even his bonkers Rapa Nui, with some uncomfortable medium shots and the unsteadiest Steadicam work in cinema history, while subplots such as the black magic element are thrown away after the early scenes. On the plus side, Michael Kamen's score is his most enjoyable and exciting, John Bloomfield's costumes are terrific, Doug Milsome's photography almost camouflages the bad weather and some of the action scenes are well handled, although it's hard to imagine anyone here giving Basil Rathbone or even Robert Shaw too much trouble in a swordfight.

While the 2-disc edition has some okay but fairly low-calorie extras, the film itself - aswith all previous editions - is cut by the BBFC: in this case some 26 seconds of censor cuts.

Unexpectedly Enjoyable
Im not really a fan of Robin Hood at all. In fact, I didn't ever plan to watch this film as it seemed far too boring and outdated for me. However, this film is thoroughly enjoyable; well acted, with a good plot and a great soundtrack (Bryan Adams hit - Everything I Do, which has the longest ever record at number 1 in the English charts).
Kevin Costner plays the part of Robin Hood well, and i think the character suits him. The bad accent is not that much of a let down, and to be honest, with all the Hollwood actors and actresses these days with Amerian accents in every film i didn't really notice.
Morgan Freeman is a great support actor in this film, like as always (e.g. The Shawshank Redemption) and his performance here is fantastic, despite the fact that his level of action in the film is pretty low, especially compared to Costner.
But, the real reason this movie is so so good is because of one fact. two words. Alan Rickman. I haven't really see him in many films but this has to be one of his best performances. This one of my favourite characters ever a film, just think of Johnny Depp in Pirates Of The Carribean, except Alan plays the villianous Sheriff Of Nottingham, and its played with less "campness" and more dry witt. He truly steals the show.


If you should watch this film, which i think you should, if you're into action packed films that can be watched by the whole family and that includes some romance as well, the biggest reason for watching it would be for Alan Rickman.

Well Done Alan