How Disney recycled its classic cartoons

Recycling has only become fashionable in the past few decades but it seems that Disney has been doing it since the dark ages. Researchers have revealed that scenes from much-loved cartoons such as Robin Hood and Winnie The Pooh were copied from the studio's earlier hits.


Disney has 'recycled' some of its backgrounds and animation sequences over and over again.

Look familiar? Mowgli throws a stone in The Jungle Book (1967) and Christopher Robin in an identical scene in Winnie The Pooh ten years later

The technique is called rotoscoping and industry insiders say it is a legitimate method of cutting costs in movie-making. The process was invented in 1915 and involved humans acting out scenes for animators to trace in order to make the cartoons more realistic. Large parts of the 1973 film Robin Hood were taken from Snow White And The Seven Dwarfs (1937), The Jungle Book (1967) and The Aristocats (1970).

Doggy love: Arthur is kissed by a dog in The Sword In The Stone in 1963 (left) - as is Mowgli in The Jungle Book  in 1967

Clap in time: Snow White puts her hands together... as does Maid Marian 36 years later

Robin Hood's Maid Marian does the same dance that Snow White did for the dwarfs 36 years
earlier.Meanwhile, Mowgli receives the same kiss from a dog in The Jungle Book as Arthur does in 1963's The Sword In The Stone.

And in the 1977 hit Winnie The Pooh, Christopher Robin climbs the same tree that Mowgli did a decade before.

One fan said: ‘Disney made one movie and they’ve been tracing it ever since.’

Step in time: Maid Marian shows off her dance moves in Robin Hood...

...and Snow White dances for the seven dwarfs

Watch a video of Disney's recycled hits here: