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I’ve never quite figured it out, but Disney and A. A. Milne’s Winnie the Pooh stories merge together pretty wonderfully. There’s a quiet, gentle humor, a slower pace, and endearing characters, all great ingredients for a solid Disney film, and the studio never flounders when adapting this particular property.
This version of Winnie the Pooh is another solid, commendable adaptation, but there’s nothing here that we haven’t seen before. Some of it feels like a retread of parts of the prior The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh, yet it does all of it exceptionally well. It breezes along, perhaps too fast for my taste as the film is only a little over an hour.
You know, growing up I had only the slightest of interest in Milne’s world and characters. I watched a VHS about the gang celebrating Eeyore’s birthday quite a bit, but didn’t spend more time gathering up the various shorts, TV shows, toys, and games. In re-visiting and diving into the entirety of the Disney studio’s output, I’ve come to enjoy the Hundred Acre Woods and its various denizens.
Watching these films is a lot like wrapping yourself up in a comfortable and warm blanket. There’s a gentleness here that is quite pleasing. So many animated films have turned into frantic things which beat you over the head with needless celebrity stunt-casting, action scenes, and empty pop-culture references in place of humor. I suppose what attracts me to this film is its old-fashioned movie-making.
If I ever had a kid, either my own or as an uncle/godparent, this is the kind of film I would use to introduce them to the magic of the movies. Not only is a good indicator of what “all ages” fun can be, but it’s actually pretty pleasing and smart in the ways in which it dares to be different. Much like the 1977 original, this Winnie the Pooh interacts with the text of the children’s book, breaking the fourth wall to speak with the narrator (John Cleese, he’s wonderful), and two musical numbers which break away from the rest of the film.
“The Backson Song” is a moving series of chalkboard illustrations, filled with imaginative bursts as the ensemble decides what the creature is, what it wants, and how to catch it. I’d be lying if I said it didn’t immediately put a smile upon my face. The other is “Everything is Honey,” which sees Pooh’s hunger pangs turn into a fantasia of honey dripping everywhere, and objects turning into honey pots. It’s always a great moment whenever the animators were allowed off the leash and go crazy.
If the only major problem I can find with this film is a too brief running time and an over familiarity with the plot construction, I think we are on solid ground. It’s a classic storybook entertainment, and it feels displaced from an older era in the studio’s oeuvre. It’s a damn shame that this movie, much like The Princess and the Frog, didn’t find a larger audience at the box office. Something tells me that one-two punch caused the studio to rethink hand-drawn animation. I hope they return to the format one day.
