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.

Disney Movie Challenge Bonus: Christopher Robin (2018)

 Disney Movie Challenge Bonus

Christopher Robin (2018)

Adding to the ever increasing list of live action remakes of animated films Christopher Robin came out in 2018 to mostly positive reviews but never really seemed to make an impact with audiences.  Maybe it was it’s August release date and action movies were dominating the box office, maybe it just seemed like a knockoff of Hook, or people just thought Disney was trying to cash in on the Paddington craze.   Whatever the reason I feel like the movie went under the radar, which is unfortunate.  

In Christopher Robin we have the titular character who after he went to school slowly forgot about Pooh and his friends in Hundred Acre Wood.  We find Christopher as a grown man, married with a daughter. His job is putting a lot of stress on him and he has to miss a vacation away with his family to do business.  But as he is nearing his lowest point Winnie the Pooh suddenly appears and forces him to revisit his childhood.  He returns to Hundred Acre Wood and the cynical side slowly fades away.  But when he leaves to go back to London for work he forgets his papers and Pooh and gang team up with Christopher’s daughter to get the papers back to him before his meeting.  

The Hook comparison is fair.  Both films deal with a character that lived in a fantasy world who grew up and forgot how to have fun.  While I can see this feeling like a retread I think this one stands on its own.  It’s not overly complicated and you can see where it is going from the start. You know Pooh is going to teach Christopher how to recapture his imagination, that family is important, and help him figure out how to save the company he is working for.  But the journey is a satisfying one. It manages to capture the essence of Pooh and what Pooh means to so many people.  It’s charming and funny.  Ewan McGregor as Christopher Robin is spot on.  The guy does not get enough credit for the range he is able to play.  In this film you see him as a downtrodden man who slowly discovers the fun in life again.  Marc Forster who also directed the story of Peter Pan’s author J.M. Barrie in Finding Neverland once again creates a world where fairy tales come to life.  While this movie has more stakes than a typical Pooh movie it still doesn’t get real dark and keeps things light.  Seeing Pooh, Tigger, Piglet, and Eeyore in London creates a lot of opportunities for fun shenanigans, the score does a great job setting the mood, and the CGI looks great.  

Overall: I really enjoyed this movie.  My kid watched most of it with me and he usually hates the live action remakes.  The most surprising thing for me was how funny it really was.  Pooh has some great one liners and watching Ewan McGregor react to them is really a lot of fun.  Again the stakes are low but it’s a great movie for family night when you want something light and fun to watch. 

Random Facts:

Jim Cummings did the voice of Pooh and Tigger he has been doing the voices since the 80’s and is a spot on for the original voice actors from the animated films of the 60’s.  Chris O’Dowd was originally hired for the voice of Tigger but test audiences didn’t like the way his voice sounded so Cummings returned to voice Tigger.  

Some of the Sherman Brothers original songs were used in the film.  Richard Sherman returned to write 3 new songs for the film.  

Jóhann Jóhannsson (one of my favorite composers)  was hired to do the score but died shortly after he was hired.  Would have love to see what he would have done but the new composers did a great job. The movie is dedicated to Jóhannsson.  

Found out that in the original story Owl and Rabbit are the only two real animals in the books and the rest are stuffed animals.  The movie continued that tradition.  

  

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.