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