Voices of Jim Cummings, Travis Oates, Bud Luckey, and Craig Ferguson
Directed by Stephan Anderson and Don Hall
Music and Lyrics by Robert and Kristen Anderson-Lopez
Pooh was hardly idle in the 90's. In addition to the hit TV show The New Adventures of Winnie the Pooh, the citizens of the Hundred Acre Woods appeared in four holiday specials, three theatrical films, and five direct-to-home-media features made around those holiday specials. Anderson and Hall opted to go back to basics for this one, in more than one way. It was their first traditionally-animated movie since The Princess and the Frog in 2009, and the first to use the actual Pooh stories since The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh. How well did they do with the tale of Pooh and his search for honey, Eeyore's tail, and Christopher Robin, in that order? To find out, we start with Pooh in his home, as the narrator (John Cleese) wakes him up to a busy day...
The Story: Pooh (Cummings) is disconcerted to discover there's no honey in his home, so he goes out in search of some. On his way, he learns that Eeyore (Luckey) has lost his tail. Christopher Robin (Jack Boulter) holds a contest to find Eeyore a new one, with a pot of honey as the prize. Pooh tries, but his idea doesn't work out. Kanga (Kristen Anderson-Lopez) is the ultimate winner...but even her idea isn't quite right.
Pooh, meanwhile, still has honey on the brain. He goes to Christopher Robin for help, only to find the boy missing and a note at his door. Owl (Ferguson) interprets the note to mean that the boy's been kidnapped by a horrible "Backson." The others set out to trap the Backson and rescue their beloved friend.
The Animation: Intentionally made to look like the sketchy animation of the original shorts and Many Adventures, but the characters move more fluidly, and there's some original touches. The pastel chalk drawings come to life on "The Backson Song" and Pooh's Busby Berkeley-inspired honey hallucination are especially creative.
The Song and Dance: I love how this movie makes better use of Pooh being a part of a book than any other media featuring the characters. Pooh and the others trip over letters, ask about paragraphs and parts of a sentence, and even use them to escape the Backson pit near the end. It's also adorable how they all treat the red balloon that floats around throughout the movie like it's as much of a character as they are...and it does end up being a "hero" in the end. I also appreciate the book fidelity. They adapted three stories more-or-less straight from the original anthologies, with no additional characters as in other Disney Pooh stories.
(Don't forget to stick around for the end credits! They're the best part. The first half recreates key scenes from the film with actual stuffed animals and toys, as the real Christopher Robin would have. The characters dance, run, trip, and swim around the words on the screen in the second half. There's also a final scene after the credits that's absolutely hilarious.)
Favorite Number: Pooh sings "The Tummy Song" when his is growling in the opening and he badly wants to fill it with honey. Zooey Deschanel croons about how finding Eeyore's tail is "A Very Important Thing to Do" as the citizens of the Hundred Acres Woods searches everywhere for his lost appendage, or something like it. "The Backson Song" uses Owl's scratchy chalk drawings to describe how terrible (and silly) the Backson is. "Everything Is Honey" to Pooh when he's so desperately hungry, he starts hallucinating that everything is honey. His imagination conjures up Busby Berkeley routines and bees swimming through sticky yellow stuff.
Trivia: The film was originally supposed to feature five unused A.A Milne stories, but it was eventually cut to three.
Rabbits friends and relatives, who were often spoken of in the books, were supposed to be in the film, but their scene was cut.
What I Don't Like: Short and sweet...maybe a little too short. I wish they'd stuck with their plan and adapted five stories. It might have fleshed things out a little and given everyone more to do. At just a little over an hour, this is one of the shortest Disney "canon" animated films. It also has a lot in common with the lesser-known direct-to-home-media movie Pooh's Grand Adventure, including the idea of rescuing Christopher Robin from a monster. Grand Adventure not only does more with the premise, it digs deeper into the relationship between Pooh and his human and is a lot more thoughtful and touching.
The Big Finale: That said, this version is much lighter and just as much fun. If you have very young Pooh fans, or younger kids who are ready for Disney movies, start them on this or Many Adventures.
Home Media: Easy to find in all formats, including on Disney Plus with a subscription.
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