Winnie the Pooh

I have always been a fan of AA Milne's charming and whimsical stories since an early age. The 1977 movie The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh epitomised the childhood innocence that made the stories so wonderful, as did the TV series The New Adventures of Winnie the Pooh. I also liked a vast majority of the various film and TV incarnations that were made between then and now.

Ever since hearing of this movie I knew I wanted to see it. Part of me knew it would work, and for me when I saw it last night it did. My only complaint of Winnie the Pooh is the length, at barely an hour(exluding the credits and the short) the film is too short. Otherwise it is a wonderful movie that like the 1977 movie and TV series captures perfectly the childhood innocence that I know and love. Not only that, it is also a welcome return to the traditional animation style as seen with the original movie.

Speaking of the animation it is great. I always felt The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh along with The Rescuers was the best looking of the 1970s Disney movies, it had an elegant and warm feeling to it. Winnie the Pooh maintains that elegant and warm feeling with colourful backgrounds, cutely drawn characters and ravishing colours. The songs and music heard in the movie aren't quite classic status perhaps, but they are very memorable in the melodies and sweet in the lyrics.

The dialogue is delightfully droll, with a lot for children and adults to enjoy. The story is structurally thin somewhat, but it is never dull thanks to the bright and breezy pace and the familiar yet absolutely delightful story lines including Pooh hunting for honey, Eeyore hunting for his tail and the search for the creature that Owl thinks has carried off Christopher Robin. The characters are engaging and wonderfully whimsical, Pooh is still endearing, Tigger is very funny and Piglet is cute.

The voice acting is terrific really. These are not the original voice actors, and most of the voice actors(excepting Jim Cummings) in the likes of Tigger Movie, Pooh's Heffalump Movie and Piglet's Big Movie don't return, but the new voice actors do make an effort to not sound too different. Jim Cummings still does a wonderful job as Pooh and Tigger, and John Cleese for me is the most thoughtful narrator of any Winnie the Pooh film since Sebastian Cabot. I wasn't so sure though about Tom Kenny at first as Rabbit, but he being a very talented voice actor is also good.

Overall, delightful, charming and a lovely nostalgic trip down memory lane, if only it wasn't so short. 9/10 Bethany Cox

I cannot even begin to tell you how excited I was to see this movie. Winnie the Pooh has by far been the most important animated character in my whole life. As a kid, I had a Winnie the Pooh chair that I would sit in and I've had countless Winnie the Pooh pajamas and stuffed animals. I saw the preview and started tearing up because it looked so cute and it reminded me that I'm growing up.

The movie was incredible. The animation, the voices, the story, and the good old Winnie the Pooh feeling, all mixed with the great songs and hilarious dialogue made this movie truly special. I walked out of the theater feeling sticky sweet like the "huny" Pooh loves so dearly. Truly my favorite Pooh movie.

MUST SEE!!!!

Winnie the Pooh is a marvelous and innocent adventure that has been anticipated by me since its trailer debut. Every time I see the trailer, equipped with the wonderful song "Somewhere Only We Know," I break down. There is not a thing sad in the trailer, but just the soft melody of the song, combined with warm and vibrant characters from my younger years just puts me in tears. It's cute, innocent, and just the way I wanted it.

I am beyond grateful that this didn't support the 3D epidemic sweeping our nation these past years. Winnie the Pooh is made up of hand-drawn animation that gives itself a water-color sort of look. It's truly a throwback, and is a nice break from all the CGI animation that, while nice to look at, can't match the feel of classic animation. I couldn't imagine Winnie the Pooh in CGI anyway.

Before the movie, we get a short called The Ballad of Nessie, a kind and gentle Loch Ness Monster who lives with her rubber-ducky. Her pond gets taken over by a golf company and she is forced to move out and find a way home. The short is sad, and well crafted simultaneously. Combined with gentle narration.

On with the film, the story starts out as Pooh (Cummings) trying to find some "hunny." Then, much to the surprise of everyone, Eeyore's (Luckey) tale has gone missing. Christopher Robin (Boulter) holds a contest with all his friends to find a new tale for Eeyore. Whoever finds a good enough tale will win a jar of honey.

The next day, the gang still tries to find the tale when they find a note from Christopher Robin saying "Gon out back soon C.R." Owl (Ferguson) convinces the gang that the "back soon" means "The Backson," a vicious monster who does so many unexplainable things which they make up on their own. So now it's up to everyone to go into the woods and find The Backson and get their friend back.

There is a lot of singing in the film. Lots of well composed songs are in here, my favorite being "The Backson Song." I wasn't under the impression this was a musical, but the more I thought about it the more it made sense. The target audience for this is most likely between 4-8. So to put in a lot of soft and melodic songs in it was a good idea.

Winnie the Pooh is perhaps the most gentle film I can remember. Even the "scariest" scenes won't freak out the little ones, and everything is so calm, so tender, and so unobtrusive it's wonderful. Growing up with Winnie the Pooh, this film was everything I wanted it to be. I wanted it to be nostalgic, warm, and inspiring.

During moments of this film, my eyes watered. I can't answer if someone asked me "Why?" I think it was because the film was so joyful and very sweet. Plus, these are characters that I've known since my childhood. I was grateful they didn't play the song "Somewhere Only We Know" from the trailer. I would've broke down in front of everyone.

The voice acting is beautiful. The film doesn't market its actors either. There is no grade-A "Brad Pitt," "Ellen DeGeneres," "Johnny Depp" marketing scheme here. The actors who voice the characters were chosen because they were fit to voice whoever they were able to. They weren't picked because their names look good on a poster.

This is probably the best Disney film in years. It goes back to everything that made Disney so great when they started off. Hand-drawn animation, a lovely story line, and a positive feel. Even at an incredibly short sixty-nine minutes, (minus, maybe, five from the beginning short) Winnie the Pooh is lovely, crafty, and limitless.

Voiced by: Jim Cummings, Tom Kenny, Craig Ferguson, Travis Oates, Bud Luckey, and Jack Boulter. Narrated by: John Cleese. Directed by: Stephen Anderson and Don Hall.

Winnie the Pooh is out of honey. Eeyore has lost his tail. Owl is writing his memoirs and suggests a reward for a replacement tail. Christopher Robin takes Pooh's suggestion of a honey pot for the reward. After many attempts, Kanga knits Eeyore a tail which later unravels. Pooh finds Christopher missing and a note at his doorstep. Owl misreads the note leading the group to think that Christopher has been captured by a monster called Backson.

This movie maintains the sense of play from the Pooh franchise. It is the stuff of childhood. It's fully connected to its book origins with the familiar style. It is traditional and what great traditions they are. Disney is not reinventing the wheel as much as giving it a good wash. It's adorable. The animation is old fashion but a little crisper than the older versions. It recreates what makes the old stories so beloved.

Going to see this movie was like stepping back into childhood. I had the 1977 movie on VHS when I was young and I wore that tape out with countless viewings. I was also a big fan of the cartoon show than ran during the nineties and the many direct-to-video films that came out around that time too. So I already walk into this movie with nostalgia on my mind - knowing roughly what to expect, and the film delivers pretty much what you've seen before.

It follows the structure of the 1977 movie mostly, telling three different stories over the length of the film. Which may have worked in 1977, but today if you cut the film apart into these three sections you could just release them as specials on the Disney channel.

The voice work is as good as it needs to be. Jim Cummings is enigmatic as always and Bud Luckey is a nice addition as Eeyore. It's not Disney's best dubbing job but far from their worst.

The film is far too short, there was definitely time for another story should there have been one. 70 minutes shouldn't really be acceptable for a cinema release, under any circumstances.

All qualms I have with the movie are overshadowed by its innocence and joy. Children who go to see this movie may love it, but adults may love it more.