Winnie the Pooh

Winnie the Pooh was an important part of my childhood. I liked the first three theatrical shorts and the Saturday morning cartoon “The New Adventures of Winnie the Pooh”. Because of this TV show, I got to familiarize myself with many of the original voice actors of this franchise such as John Fielder, Hal Smith and of course Paul Winchell. They are all gone now and since that show, Disney continued to make theatrical features and other TV shows staring these beloved characters. With “Winnie the Pooh” however, they employed many of the studios legendary artists from the Disney Renaissance and even Burny Mattinson from “Winnie the Pooh and Tigger Too”. The goal here was not just to make money but to entertain a whole family. Even though I see this film as more entertaining for young children, adults who take their children to it will not be bored. I can feel much of the charm and innocence of the original featurettes. The characters and art seen in this movie are well handled.

The opening song just doesn’t sound the same but I did like Tigger’s moment where he sings his theme song, despite the fact that it is shorter than ever. Children will be attracted to the characters and animation of this film but many of the jokes that are in “Winnie the Pooh” are to give the parents and adults a chuckle. There is a funny gag where Owl flies out of the pit to encourage Piglet to save them and then he flies back down into the pit to await rescue. All the other characters in the pit then stare at Owl as if they suddenly remembered that Owl can fly and they can’t believe that he forgot as well. It turns out actually that they were just highly impressed at his motivational speech to Piglet. The film has many humorous lines such as those when the characters must approach the pit to rescue Christopher Robin. Kanga won’t go near the pit because “I’m with child.” Then comes Roo’s line, “Send the pig.” The montage of our characters preparing the Backson trap is fun, especially the animation of Rabbit. I also like that jokes that arise from Piglet being unable to save his friends. Eeyore is quite funny in this movie because of contrast. The stuff he goes through in the movie is usually fast paced or sudden and this differs from his slow & pessimistic attitude. However, Owl to me is not supposed to be a humorous character to the extent that he was in “Winnie the Pooh”. I wasn’t offended by the change but it just isn’t the same as what I am used to. “The Backson Song” sequence is noteworthy in terms of the animation. The whole film has a very cozy feeling to it as the Hundred Acre Wood has lots of greens and browns. There is a genuine storybook appearance to the forest.

I wish to point out the names of those who created this film so as to better express my opinion of it. We have many animators working on “Winnie the Pooh” who contributed a lot during the Disney Renaissance such as Mark Henn who handled Pooh. Andreas Deja was a great choice to animate Tigger as was Eric Goldberg who animated Rabbit. It was great to see Bruce W. Smith’s name also. The cast did a good job overall. Jim Cummings’ Pooh is spot on as is Tom Kenny’s Rabbit. Bud Lucky was the near-perfect person already associated with Disney to play Eeyore but I am still partial to Peter Cullen. John Cleese was great as the narrator although his comedy persona was hard to keep out of my mind throughout the entire movie as I watched it. Craig Ferguson’s voice lacks the low vocal quality needed for Owl as does Cummings’ voice as Tigger. John Fielder was the voice of Piglet up until his death of cancer in 2005, where as other members of the original Pooh vocal cast either retired before passing away or experienced the voice changes that come with growing up. Because Fielder was the voice of Piglet for so long, I can’t imagine any other actor being able to duplicate his work but Travis Oates did okay. I sort of wish Gopher had been in the movie. I am just being picky obviously because the attention that was given to these characters was so extensive that it causes me to analyze them a little more closely.

Executive producer John Lasseter wanted to create a film that would “transcend generations”. There is a good chance that he succeeded. “Winnie the Pooh” has some genuine humor so that adults won’t be completely bored as their kids watch the movie. The movie looks great and the characters are much the same as they have always been. The filmmakers knew that they were creating a film in a much beloved franchise and you can feel the heart and care that they put into “Winnie the Pooh”. The movie is truly a feature film and not made for television.

4 Stars