Winnie the Pooh (2011)

Let me preface this by saying that I didn't grow up with Pooh and friends. Before I had kids, I had watched the original "The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh" perhaps twice. Then I had kids and wanted a 'gentle' movie for toddlers. Remembering the "Many Adventures" movie, I bought it and was fairly impressed. More importantly, my two year old LOVED it. So I looked and lo and behold, there are more Pooh movies! This was the highest rated of the bunch, so this is what I bought.And it's not a bad sequel. Pooh (and friends) are generally light- hearted and likable. The conflicts are few and not terribly intense. The (toys? animals?) feel comfortably in-character and their reasoning seems hilariously realistic recreations of how a young child might think. The humor in this film is hit or miss for me as a parent, but there were several points where I genuinely did laugh aloud. The animation is clear and feels similar enough to the original to make it comfortable. Pretty much every familiar character gets some screen time, which is nice and made it feel balanced. Finally, Pooh Bear ends up making a heroic choice that actually feels like he made a sacrifice for a friend and that made for a very satisfactory ending.If I hadn't been watching the original "Many Adventures" film (over and over and over), I might have rated this sequel higher, but comparatively, I think this one is weaker. Except the re-done opening song ("Deep in the Hundred Acre wood..."), which is a fine rendition, the songs have a much more rapid beat - probably because they are from a more modern genre - and it doesn't lend itself well to the slower pace of the rest of the film (or at least, the slower pace I feel like it should have had). There is a song with Tigger and Eeyore that was honestly pretty bad (both the music and the concept didn't work for me, although the way Eeyore spoke to Tigger later was very sweet). Almost none of the characters sound like their original actors (Pooh himself is probably the best). Christopher Robin's character design is very different from the original and I didn't like it as much (although this may just be a case of 'different is different' rather than it being bad).Sadly, even after seeing it several times over the past few weeks, my two-year old isn't as enamored with it as I'd hoped. Overall, I'd say it is a pretty decent movie in Disney's catalog. Better than many, but not top tier where the original rests.

I was really excited when I heard this movie was going to be released, but on the day my mother took me to see it, all my hope for this movie was thrown out the window. "Winnie the Pooh" is absolute garbage from start to finish. The only positives I have about this film are the animation and the "Everything is Honey" sequence. That's it. The rest of it is trash.First of all, most of the characters, with the exceptions of Pooh, Tigger, Eeyore, Piglet and Christopher Robin, are completely unlikable and out of character; Especially Kanga and Roo. Rabbit and Owl switch roles and act very annoying. Piglet and Eeyore are abused throughout almost the entire movie because seeing characters getting tortured is funny.The voice acting, except Jim Cummings as Pooh and Tigger, is beyond lazy. Tom Kenny does a pathetic attempt as Rabbit. He's basically SpongeBob SquarePants in a rabbit costume. Most of the songs are terribly written and horribly sung as well. Like I said, the only song that had at least SOME effort put into it was "Everything is Honey." The story is all over the place and at some points, they shove it off to the side to either make Eeyore and Piglet miserable or tell jokes that aren't even remotely funny.Ever since my young childhood, I grew up with Disney's adaptation of "Winnie the Pooh." This version of it spits on the legacy of these beloved characters and puts them into a movie that absolutely butchers them. I cannot believe how many positive reviews this film has gotten. Disney didn't even try or care to make it good. They just recycled plot elements from previous movies and made it as sloppy as possible.If you have a young kid who loves "Winnie the Pooh," I recommend "Piglet's Big Movie" or any of the others starring the character. They are so much better than this.

To this day this is the last traditionally animated Disney canon film. And as far as swan songs go, they could done a lot worse. It's definitely better than House on the Range, which held the same title for some years.In this film we return to the Hundred Acre Wood and its inhabitants. The whole films is a huge love letter to the original The Many Adventures of Winnie The Pooh and the whole world first imagined and created by A. A. Milne. And I like the homage a lot. The opening is spot on similar to the original, perfectly setting the tone, while the story telling is still very meta in that they speak to the narrator constantly and are perfectly aware that they're in a storybook. The book in question even works as a plot point as a literal object to be interacted with by the characters within, just like before. The art style is also eerily similar, which is impressive keeping in mind that the first film was made using the very cheap Xerox method, which resulted in a lot of scratchy lines and simple character designs, which in that case worked for the film's advantage. This time I suspect they had to work hard to achieve that same "bad" effect.However, it's not a perfect film. The stories, while pretty good and perfectly keeping in with the spirit of the characters and the original stories, are rather few in numbers and just don't have that same feel the originals had. This is mostly due to the fact that they had to replace pretty much all of the voice actors and some of them were radically different, which resulted in characters that don't feel familiar at all. Owl most noticeably. This new Owl is a maniac, a twitchy mess that always has to be right and is the driving force behind most of the plot. And... it just isn't right, simply said.It's not a bad film. But the original film is one of my all-time favourites among Disney classics. It's simple, heart-warming and utterly charming yet wise and thoughtful beyond its years. This has most of the charm and a good amount of the warmth, but it lacks the wisdom and even some of the simplicity.

This is the 51st full-length animated feature film from Disney, featuring Winnie-the-Pooh, Piglet, Rabbit, Tigger, Kanga, Roo, Eeyore, Owl and Christopher Robin - all characters from novelist A.A. Milne's books based on the stuffed animals that belonged to his son, Christopher Robin Milne.Like the original 1977 Winnie the Pooh movie, this film opens with a look into what appears to be the room of Christopher Robin, with his stuffed animals laying around, instantly giving you the impression of a peaceful and innocent aspect of a child's life. It then takes you into the animated world of the Hundred Acre Wood, where the honey-loving Winnie the Pooh, depressed Eeyore, the garden-loving Rabbit, the chatterbox Owl, the gentle and concerned Piglet, the motherly Kanga, the inquisitive Roo and the hyperactive Tigger live.John Cleese did a nice job narrating the film through a storybook illustration, as did Jim Cummings voicing Winnie The Pooh, giving him that distinct voice that everybody is familiar with. SpongeBob voice actor Tom Kenny did a good job voicing Rabbit (makes it kind of interesting you're hearing SpongeBob's voice coming out of a rabbit). The rest of the voice cast was OK, but I thought the actor who voiced Christopher Robin over did it on the British accent.The hand-drawn animation was pretty good, instantly reminding you of the old classic Disney movies and is a welcome departure from the more recent CGI animated ones. The story, on the other hand, is very juvenile and silly with a very basic plot and limited suspense. The characters were portrayed as very dimwitted, even if they are cartoon creatures. The original Winnie The Pooh movie is indeed whimsical and has silly moments, but it at least contains adventures, light-hearted humor, catchy songs and depiction of giving and friendship. This movie does not elaborate much on any of those elements, which made the film dull in my humble opinion.This movie is almost treated like just another episode of a cartoon series. The ending result is that this movie is best suited for a kids only audience, which is a bit disappointing since Disney's full-length animated features are usually suitable for both children and adults. But, this movie does have that carefree and innocent feel that is best for young children to watch.Grade D+