Winnie the Pooh

Well everyone, I think I’m going to look at another Winnie the Pooh movie, “Winnie the Pooh,” released in 2011. This is a sweet and innocuous children’s movie based on the long-term tale of the events in Hundred Acre Wood, if you remember when I did the first Pooh movie. Even though it’s obvious the targeted audience is for Elementary school students and below, it might be loved by adults who grew up reading the A.A. Milne books and the drawings by E.H. Shepard that are so closely recognized with it. This is that rare book that can hardly be thought of aside from the illustrations.

In a time of the high 3D animation and special effects, the way the film looks is gentle and pleasing. Roger Ebert even admitted, “It was hand-animated, I'm told, and the backgrounds use a subtle and reassuring watercolor style. It's a nightmare-proof experience for even the youngest viewers.”

You probably already know the story. Pooh Bear wants honey, and a handful of adventures are the product of that. A critical subplot has Eeyore the Donkey, voiced by Bud Luckey, who lost his tail. One of the clues can be found in the pin that is stuck where his tail was. Do you think it was pinned on all the time? Because of his loss, Eeyore is sadder and lethargic than he normally is, and definitely in an adult movie, we would speculate clinical depression.

This version, directed by Stephen J. Anderson and Don Hall, has a particularly stylistic touch: The movie combines the letters and page design of the book (or an admiration of it) with the animation, so the words do appear on the screen and seem to be as real as the characters, sometimes even appearing in the pile at the bottom of the screen.

Here’s what Ebert said about the songs: “There are some jolly songs, performed fetchingly by Zooey Deschanel, Kristen Anderson-Lopez and Robert Lopez, one of them involving a not really very scary monster named Backson, who I confess I do not remember from the books, although I have forgotten a great deal since I was 6. (I do, come to think of it, remember Milne's poetry volume Now We Are Six.)”

There is one surprise with the voice cast, Craig Ferguson is Owl. Also, Jim Cummings is voicing Pooh and Tigger (who I think is related to Tony the Tiger). John Cleese is narrating. The voice talents otherwise seem to have been picked for their voices and not their popularity. Don’t worry, there’s no Angelina Jolie, Jack Black, or Johnny Depp. (When you see an animated movie that says Johnny Depp is one of the voices, what does that say to people?)

The film runs by really quick at 69 minutes. It is led by an animated short about Nessie, the Loch Ness Monster, who we find out was misplaced from her beloved lake by evil men building a golf course. Never has Nessie been so gentle. The whole movie could make a nice introduction to moviegoing for small children.

I took my nephews and niece to see this movie when it came out, and we all really liked it. I highly suggest everyone go out and see this movie on DVD because it’s a great family film. If you liked any of the Pooh movies, that you will love this one, I promise you. Watch out for more excitement in “Disney Month” tomorrow.