Disney Movie Challenge: Winnie the Pooh (2011)

 Disney Movie Challenge

Winnie the Pooh (2011)

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 59 films. Starting with Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs in 1937 going to Raya and the Last Dragon in 2021. 

As we enter the 2010’s Disney is at the start of their “Revival Era”.  But they had one more traditional animated film ready to go that doesn’t really fit in with the rest of the films.  In 2011 Disney released Winnie the Pooh. As of 2021 it is the last traditionally animated film Disney has released. At 63 minutes it is also the shortest film in Disney Canon.  

Similar to The Manny of Adventures of Winnie the Pooh in 1977 Winnie the Pooh tells a collection of Pooh stories.  Unlike the earlier film this one tells it as one continuous story instead of using an anthology format. The three A.A. Milne stories the movie is based on are “In which Eeyore Loses a Tail and Pooh Finds One”, “In which Roo Meets a Heffalump”, and “In Which Rabbit Has a Busy Day and We Learn What Christopher Robin Does in the Mornings”.   We follow Pooh as he searches for honey, then finds out that Eeyore’s tail is missing. All the animals in Hundred Acre Wood get together to try to find a replacement.  But nothing seems to work.  Later Pooh goes to find Christopher Robin and finds a note that says he will be back soon. Owl misreads it as Backson and thinks that Christopher Robin was kidnapped by a monster and all the animals attempt to rescue Christopher Robin.  Tigger decides that Eeyore should have a spring for a tail and recruits him to be his sidekick in the hunt for the Backson.  Eventually everyone falls in a pit and Piglet needs to rescue them.  In the end Pooh finds Eeyore's tail and they have a big celebration with lots of honey.  

There isn’t much to say about the movie.  It’s what you would expect from a Winnie the Pooh movie.  Low stakes, not much drama, and very little action. Craig Ferguson’s Owl took a little getting used to, but the rest of the voice acting was pretty spot on.   The songs are catchy and fun. They were written by married couple Robert Lopez & Kristen Anderson-Lopez.  Disney leadership liked their work so much on this film that they asked them to write the music for Disney's next Princess Musical Frozen.

Overall: A movie good for little kids and Pooh fans. Not sure anyone else would get much out of it. It's not really boring but nothing happens. The music is the best part.

Random Facts

The Lopez's had a young daughter at the time and some of the songs were made after sleep deprived nights. In "The Backson song" there is a line that says the Backson will "wake up babies at one and three". Appropriately this line was sung by Kanga who was voiced by Kristen Anderson-Lopez.

While the Winnie the Pooh theme song is pretty similar to the original version except the lyrics were slightly changed to include Tigger.

The Backson doesn't appear in the film it does appear in an end credit scene.

As of 2021 the movie was the last G-Rated animated film to be released by Disney.

The movie did poorly at the box office despite mostly positive reviews. This is most likely due to the fact it opened up against the juggernaut that was Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2.

Random personal fact. The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh came out in 1977 the year I was born. Winnie the Pooh came out in 2011 the year my son was born.