Review of Winnie the Pooh (2011) by Chip M — 25 Oct 2011

THIS REVIEW CONTAINS SOME SPOILERS.

As a huge fan of classic Disney, it's only natural that I love Winnie the Pooh. I love the original featurettes that make up The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh; heck, I even love the old 80s/90s TV show for nostalgic value. When this movie was announced a few years back, I was very excited, especially because the filmmakers wanted to do it in the style of the old shorts. It was to be hand drawn (big applause to Disney there) and feel similar in style to the old shorts. Unfortunately, the Harry Potter fan in me prevented me from seeing this in theaters, and it wasn't long before this was out of most. However, thanks to my eagerness to see it, as well as the great reviews, I planned on buying it when it came out, so I picked it up after work last night.

As expected, I LOVED this movie. I had a blast! It really took me right back to being 5, 6, 7 years old again, took me back to a time where I was wide-eyed about almost everything. The film starts with a short called The Ballad of Nessie, which is also hand drawn (yay again) and entertaining, with a great message behind it). Anyway, the story of this movie is very simple, as it should be. Winnie the Pooh is starving for honey (or hunny), as he's all out of it, and Eeyore's lost his tale. Everything else goes from there, and the storylines are concluded at the end of the film.

The animation, of course, was wonderful. Everything moved fluidly, the colors were vibrant and beautiful. The art design was great, again harking back to the old shorts. I loved the watercolor backgrounds and sketches; they were really old-school and really well done. On a side note, the film starts in a live action version of Christopher Robin's room, like the older film did, which was wonderful.

I actually loved all of the songs. Others have said that they weren't memorable, but I've found myself humming to a few like "The Backson Song", the Tummy Song, the Honey song, and of course, the classic "Winnie the Pooh", which brings me to mention Zooey Deschanel. Zooey sings most of the songs, most notably the opening, and I honestly thought she was great for this film. Her voice has a very nostalgic flavor that suits Winnie the Pooh very well, and I like the choir effect that is used for some of the songs.

The script was actually fantastic. The humor isn't quite like Pixar humor or Dream Works humor. What I mean is, there isn't any humor that will go right over kids' heads. Kids will understand the humor and laugh, but the great thing is that adults will laugh, too, because of how charming it is. There are many witty, hilarious scenes (my favorite scene is the movie is when the characters are stuck in a pit trying to figure out how to get out). The humor manages to appeal to both ages and is never too childish or juvenile. Also, John Cleese is excellent as the narrator.

Perhaps my favorite part of Winnie the Pooh is the characters. I really love the characters (though Owl can be annoying because of his arrogance, but that's what makes him funny). But I love this cast of characters, my favorites being Eeyore, Tigger, and Pooh. The voice cast does a great job, despite the changes to most. Usually, I'm not a fan of voice changes, but seeing as this is a fresh new film and some of the older actors have passed on, the replacements are fine. They do a great job capturing te spirit of the characters. Of course, Jim Cummings is great as Pooh and Tigger.

The movie is only about 62 minutes long (without the short). While I certainly would have loved more, I was completely satisfied with the movie as it was. Even though it was short, it told a complete story, simple like it needed to be. And it has a good message at the end, too.

The greatest thing about this movie as a whole is that while it is a tribute to the classic featurettes, it's not a clone. It introduces humpr and stories that we've never seen in a Winnie the Pooh film before, so it can actually stand on it's own as a classic Pooh film. The best way to describe this movie is a classic Winnie the Pooh film released in 2011, and I honestly think it's on the same level as The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh; I really love them both, and they're both great for what they are. This film is a great way to introduce today's kids to Winnie the Pooh. I really enjoyed The Princess and the Frog and Tangled, both films that I feel have been helping Disney get back to top form. Winnie the Pooh is definitely my favorite of them all. I was smiling from start to finish. I recommend it for all ages; definitely pick it up.