Review: Winnie the Pooh

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Winnie the Pooh

"Oh, bother," said Pooh, "I hope my new film isn't just a cynical attempt to cash in on my beloved reputation."

Silly old bear -- you needn't have worried, for your latest adventure does you great justice. Winnie the Pooh is gentle and charming and funny and warm-fuzzily retro, a 2D (yea!), old school, hand-drawn Disney throwback that celebrates everything we've loved about Pooh and his friends for more than 80 years.

A melding of several familiar Pooh stories, Winnie the Pooh follows its titular character and his Hundred Acre Wood cohorts on a day that goes typically awry. Pooh (voiced by Jim Cummings, who's voiced the bear since the 1980s) awakens one morning to find he's out of honey (familiar story number one). While searching for a meal, he finds Eeyore (Bud Luckey), who's lost his tail (familiar story number two). Pooh's friends organize a contest to find Eeyore a suitable new tail, with the winner awarded a pot of honey. (Sadly, Pooh's attempt to replace Eeyore's tail with a cuckoo clock isn't terribly successful; a half-dozen other items are equally silly and no more suitable.)

And so it goes throughout the day. Most of the story involves a great misunderstanding: Pooh, Eeyore, Tigger (also Cummings), Rabbit (Tom Kenny), Piglet (Travis Oats), Owl (Craig Ferguson), Kanga (Kristen Anderson-Lopez) and Roo (Wyatt Dean Hall) misinterpret a note they find in Christopher Robin's (Jack Boulter) room. They misread "back soon" (yes, familiar story number three) and assume their human friend has been captured by a horrible monster named Backson (Huell Howser). Their clumsy attempts to capture Backson and rescue Christopher Robin -- while a grumbly-tummied Pooh also searches for his honey -- make for a funny and frenetic tale perfectly suited for the movie's target audience.

Winnie the Pooh is notable for what it isn't. There are innumerable ways in which this delightful little film could have gone off the rails; knowing the wicked ways of the Hollywood-industrial complex, Winnie the Pooh could have been unbearable. (Sorry -- I simply had to go there.) We could have been subjected to gratuitous 3D effects, lamely naughty adult in-jokes about gay marriage, The Sopranos and Viagra, and a menagerie of focus-grouped new characters designed to sell toys. But Winnie the Pooh will have none of that, thank you. The folks at Disney had the good sense to leave everything in Pooh's world well enough alone, and the resulting movie is refreshingly free of modern family film clichés.

Now that I've described what Winnie the Pooh isn't, I'll tell you what it is: a movie your kids deserve to see, because it does right by its venerable source material. Like A.A. Milne's original stories, Winnie the Pooh is simple but not dumb. It's cute -- we're dealing with stuffed animals, after all -- but not cutesy. And in fine Pooh tradition, it teaches a gentle moral lesson or two without preaching. The film respects both its heritage and the intelligence of its young audience.

Winnie the Pooh's story is simple enough for preschoolers, but its presentation is sufficiently clever and sophisticated to hold the interest of a jaded parent. As John Cleese narrates in British grandfatherly tones, the action seamlessly slips between standard animated backdrops and the pages of a Winnie the Pooh book, the characters wandering in and out of illustrations and walking and climbing on Milne's famous words. In effect, the words are a visual scaffolding for the action, helping soon-to-be-readers to connect the words and story.

While the animation isn't fancy, there are some interesting variations, including a slightly trippy rendering of Pooh's ultimate fantasy -- a world made entirely of honey. Another great touch is the live-action opening scene of stuffed animals in Christopher Robin's bedroom. How nostalgic is this scene? As the camera panned the room and I heard the "Winnie the Pooh" theme song, I distinctly remembered experiencing the same thing when I was four or so, and life was good and no more complicated than a children's story. (Cue the warm fuzziness.)

As it's a critic's duty to complain about something in most every film, I must tell you that Winnie the Pooh isn't perfect. The familiar plot probably is a wise choice, but its downside is that the film isn't really fresh or memorable. The movie's new songs are rather fluffy, too short and unecessary; I wasn't expecting Leonard Cohen, but Winnie the Pooh would be a better movie if the soundtrack were a bit less trite. (Note to the producers: Zooey Deschanel can't sing. Really -- she can't sing. I don't know why humanity won't admit this and be done with her musical career.) Also, at a scant 69 minutes, Winnie the Pooh might not be worth the price of a family outing to the multiplex. It will work just as well on video, so a DVD or download might be a better choice.

But don't let my minor criticisms deter you and your little ones from seeing this charming film, for Winnie the Pooh is a great way to introduce the Hundred Acre Wood's magic to a new generation. Milne would be pleased to know that his timeless creations remain in good hands.

Excellent review

Excellent review, Mr. Clinchy. I probably shall not attend this film, simply because I so love Milne's books...