Disney Movie Challenge: The Many of Adventures of Winnie the Pooh (1977)

 Disney Movie Challenge

The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh (1977)

WHAT IS THE DISNEY MOVIE CHALLENGE: With Disney+ making available almost all of their films from the vault I thought it was a good time to watch all the theatrically released feature length Disney Studio Animated films. That’s a lot of qualifications so what does it all mean? It must be a film developed and released under the Walt Disney Animation Studios (so no PIXAR or Tim Burton stop motion films). Must have been released in theaters (no direct to video releases). And feature length (no shorts that played prior to the features). Currently there are 58 films. Starting with Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs in 1937 going to Frozen II in 2020. 

How this movie is considered  Disney Cannon baffles me.  Similar to the 1940’s Package films this one is made up of shorter films, but in this case they are all shorts that previously screened. Winnie the Pooh and the Honey Tree was released in 1966 as the pre-feature to The Ugly Dachshund.  Winnie the Pooh and the Blustery Day was released in 1968 as the pre-feature to The Horse in the Gray Flannel Suit.  The final short that makes up the film is  Winnie the Pooh and Tigger Too was released in 1974 as the pre-feature to The Island at the Top of the World.  Winnie the Pooh and the Blustery Day won the Oscar for Best Animated Short and Winnie the Pooh and Tigger Too was nominated but lost the Oscar.  

The three shorts are based on the books by A.A. Milne and follow Pooh and his friends Rabbit, Piglet, Eeyore, Owl, Kanga, Roo, and of course Tigger. To summarize  The Honey Tree has Pooh pretending to be a rain cloud to get honey. He also eats all of Rabbit's honey and gets stuck in Rabbit’s doorway.  The Blustery Day involves a windy day with  Piglet and Pooh being blown into Owl’s house.  It also introduces us to Tigger who is hiding out in Pooh’s house. He tells Pooh about the evil Heffalumps and Woozles.  This gives Pooh a bizarre nightmare. There is also a flood where Piglet gets washed down a river and Pooh ends up saving him. Winnie the Pooh and TIgger Too has rabbit trying to teach Tigger a lesson that backfires on Rabbit.  It also has a story of Tigger bouncing too high and getting stuck in a tree.  

There really isn’t much story going on in these shorts.  Mostly silly stuff with very low stakes.  But they do leave an impression.  I have never seen this movie but as I watched it I remember seeing bits and pieces of them as a kid. The strangest sequence in the film is Pooh’s nightmare during the “Hephalumps and Woozles” song. This trippy nightmare is reminiscent of the Pink Elephants scene in Dumbo. It has bizarre creatures changing shape and colors while trying to steal Pooh’s honey.  The scene stands out in a movie that is mostly gentle and soothing in it’s story telling. 

Even though the Sherman Brothers left Disney by this point since all of these were older shorts we got a few more songs from them. Including the Winnie the Pooh theme song, “The Wonderful thing about Tiggers”, and “Heffalumps and Woozles”. 

Overall:  The film is relaxing and strangely comforting.  It's a movie that is perfect for little kids.  Nothing too scary, no bad guy, and silly situations.  If you are looking for action or adventure you won’t find it here, but there is plenty of memorable scenes that stick with you.  While the movie is made up of previously released shorts they do a really good job of combining the films in a wraparound story that feels coherent.

Random Facts: 

In Winnie the Pooh and the Honey Tree there is a gopher that mentions he isn't in the books.  When it was first released they had used a gopher instead of Piglet.  This made many fans of the original books upset and Piglet was then added in the future shorts. 

Since each short was made in different years Christopher Robin was voiced by a different actor.   Jon Walmsley came in and re-recorded all of Christopher Robin's dialogue to keep it consistent.