Prince John (Disney)

Disney character
bgcolor=#000
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name=Prince John


age=Unknown
appears=Robin Hood
Mickey's House of Villains (cameo)
gender=Male
designer=Ollie Johnston
performer=Peter Ustinov

Prince John is a character in the Disney animated feature "Robin Hood", voiced by Peter Ustinov and animated by Ollie Johnston. He is a highly fictionalized version of King John of England, being based on the latter's depictions in various versions of the Robin Hood legend. Like all characters in the movie he was turned into an anthropomorphic animal, in his case a lion.

Personality

Prince John is shown as a greedy, bad tempered, cowardly crybaby. Every time he hears his mother mentioned he starts sucking his thumb loudly, much to his henchmen's annoyance. It also seems that he is an immature lion because of the lack of mane and infantile tendencies.

Part in the movie

Early in the movie it is revealed that Prince John had his brother, King Richard hypnotised to go on a "crazy crusade". Then he steals the crown (which is so big on him that he has to support it with his ears), claims himself as a king and doubles the taxes.

First encounter with Robin Hood

On his way to Nottingham, getting the taxes from its inhabitants, Robin Hood and Little John appear, disguised as fortune tellers. Prince John, ignoring his sidekick, Sir Hiss's warnings, wants his future revealed, and doesn't realise that the jewels in his rings have all been stolen and eventually everything both inside and outside John's wagon has been stolen, including John's clothes which he replaces them with a white union suit, the solid gold hubcaps, and most importantly, the taxes. When John finally notices this, Robin Hood and Little John are running away, and soon realizes that he has been robbed. He then orders his henchmen to go after them, but since the hubcaps were gone, the wheels pop off and begin draging in the mud, Prince John soon flies out of the back window hanging on to the back curtain of the wagon. The curtain soon tears and both Prince John and Sir Hiss fall in a huge mud puddle and get left behind. When Prince John starts to get annoyed by Sir Hiss, he grabs the mirror, slams it on his head, and Sir Hiss makes him realize that he has broken his mother's mirror. He then hears his mother mentioned and he starts sucking his thumb loudly which becomes dirty when he takes it out.

Rematch

Hungry for revenge on Robin Hood, Prince John sets a trap on the bow tournament. He gives a kiss from Maid Marian, whom he knows Robin Hood is in love with, as a reward for the winner. At the tournament he sends Sir Hiss to look for Robin Hood, while he has fun with his new friend, Sir Reginald, "Duke of Chutney" (who is actually Little John in disguise). Sir Hiss find Robin Hood among the contestants, disguised as a stork, but Friar Tuck and his friend Allan-a-Dale captured and locked him inside a barrel of wine. Prince John can't be fooled by Robin's disguise, though and has him arrested. Prince John almost has Robin beheaded, but when Sir Reginald also known as Little John has a knife in his back, he quickly tells the soldiers to release the prisoner. The Sheriff of Nottingham gets suspicious about this and notices the knife Sir Reginald AKA Little John is holding and removes it. As soon as the knife is gone, Prince John tells the soldiers again to kill the prisoner. It comes to a great fight, but in the end Robin Hood escapes, along with Little John and Maid Marian.

Endgame

After being humiliated twice by Robin Hood, Prince John triples the taxes and arrests almost everyone in Nottingham, but Robin Hood is never to be found. Hoping to lure Robin Hood to the prison, Prince John attempts to hang Friar Tuck, who is friends with Robin Hood. Robin Hood and Little John arrive at night to free the prisoners and steal the gold. They almost succeed, but Sir Hiss notices them and Prince John alerts every guards in the castle. The prisoners manage to escape, but Robin Hood ends up trapped in the castle gates. The Sheriff chases him everywhere and tries to burn him with a torch, but ends up burning the castle instead (starting with the curtain). Robin Hood escapes eventually, so Prince John gets nothing out of this except a burned castle, then Sir Hiss mentions his mother's name ("...and now look what you've done to your mother's castle!"), he then starts sucking his thumb and starts hitting Sir Hiss with a stick and calling him names, and then Sir Hiss says that "He's gone stark-raving mad!" which echoes, while chasing Hiss into the inferno.Shortly after this King Richard returns and puts Prince John in jail, along with Sir Hiss and the sheriff.

Trivia

*Though a male lion, Prince John does not have much of a mane.
*Peter Ustinov also supplied the voice of King Richard.

External links

Prince John in the [http://disney.go.com/vault/archives/villains/johnhiss/johnhiss.html Disney Archives-Villains]