Title: Winnie the Pooh
Directors: Stephen J. Anderson & Don Hall
Starring the voices of: Jim Cummings, Craig Ferguson, John Cleese, Bud Luckey, Tom Kenny
A classic tale receives the classic animation treatment. “Winnie the Pooh” is honorably drawn back onto the screen in this 69 minute feature (about 10 of those minutes are closing credits).
Pulled from the pages of A.A. Milne – literally – the story follows Winnie the Pooh (voiced by Jim Cummings) trying to satisfy his active tummy’s urge for a jar of honey. As he strolls through Hundred Acre Wood, he comes across his moping donkey pal Eeyore (voiced by Bud Luckey) who has lost his tail. Owl (voiced by Craig Ferguson) also notices this and institutes a contest to replace Eeyore’s missing appendage. Under the supervision of their human friend, the young schoolboy Christopher Robin (voiced by Jack Boulter), Rabbit (voiced by Tom Kenny), Kanga (voiced by Kristen Anderson-Lopez), Roo (voiced by Wyatt Dean Hall), Piglet (voiced by Travis Oates) & the energetic Tigger (voiced by Jim Cummings), all try to find items (anchor, clock, balloon, etc.) to remedy Eeyore’s backside.
If there was ever a go-to definition of wholesome entertainment, this piece would be it. Instances where jars of honey get stuck on the characters head will register a laughing approval from children who have yet to embark on elementary school. There are even a few winks toward the older crowd that will instigate a few chuckles. Personally, it was interesting to see how moronic the title character is depicted; never realized how much of a dumbass Winnie the Pooh came across (think nice, helpful old drunk guy). And they’re laying it on fairly thick, which questions what kind of message are they trying to impress upon their target audience? Same can be said for Eeyore as the uber-depressed donkey. The character is constantly sulking; and although generations who grew up with this story may see the subtle humor in this, it’s a crapshoot what kind of affect it will have on that said target audience. Fortunately, the atmosphere is light and playful. And in all likelihood the kids will probably just want the toy collectible, since they all look like stuffed-animals.
This brief tale encompasses another story in trying to find out where Christopher Robin went after leaving a note on his tree house door. The intelligent Owl – who enjoys showing off his vast lexicon – takes pride in translating the grammatically-error laced note from young Christopher, leading all the characters to believe he was kidnapped by an evil creature called the Backson (Robin’s letter reads “back son”). That’s an example of the typical Pooh humor found throughout this more-or-less extended two episode cartoon. But if you’re going, you also get a 5 minutes animated short film about the Loch Ness Monster.
Another comedic angle is how the characters are aware of the narrator (John Cleese). As the pages turn (again, literally), the gentle shenanigans this eclectic crew gets into, all show a self-awareness. Whether it’d be Rabbit pulling his hair while looking at the audience over the stupidity of Pooh and Piglet; Owl realizing that he may have made mistakes and just letting them slide so his intelligence is not diminished; or Eeyore suggesting that he may have had better luck rolling with the rambunctious Tigger. All these elements can register with anyone in attendance as long they can remember that this is straight-forward, developed fun for the kiddies. The cleverness and pacing of the modern day animations with regards to humor never breaches this G-rated product.
Overall, “Winnie the Pooh” is a quaint telling that allows the audience to journey through traditional animation mechanics and intelligence. In truth (always), the way this is delivered may be too dull for today’s audience. It is nice to see how much you can still get out of simple pleasures though. Eventually, over-produced tactics will negate emotional entertainment.
Technical: A
Acting (voice): B+
Story: B
Overall: B+
Review by Joe Belcastro
