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With no 3D delights to dangle in front of audiences like a tempting carrot and no computer graphics to shock and dazzle kids either, Winnie the Pooh’s formula to its success rests in its willingness to explore its heart in a solely pen and ink expression. This is traditional animation all the way. Even the narrative is a bit of a throwback to the classic era of Walt Disney. Sweet without being syrupy and poignant without being pushy, the cuddly narrative about a bear without any honey tackles friendship in bold and imaginative ways. Winnie the Pooh is both a welcome addition to the classic Pooh stories told by A.A. Milne and a wonderful story on its own right.
Working with material found in three of Milne’s stories, Winnie the Pooh finds itself balancing between the oft-gloomy donkey Eeyore (voiced by Bud Luckey) search for his tail with Winnie the Pooh’s (Jim Cummings) undying hunger for honey. Joining in on the search for tail and honey is the rest of the Hundred Acre Wood inhabitants: Christopher Robin (Jack Boulter), Rabbit (Tom Kenny), Owl (Craig Ferguson), Tigger (Jim Cummings), Kanga (Kristen Anderson-Lopez) and her baby Roo (Wyatt Dean Hall), and Piglet (Travis Oates). While searching, the gang learns of a terrible monster named “Backson” who they believe has entrapped Christopher Robin and they set out on a storybook adventure (as the film is narrated by John Cleese) to return order, Eeyore’s tail, and honey in the Hundred Acre Wood.
With a new fabric that gently tugs at the original 60s cinematic Pooh adventures, Winnie the Pooh is simple and joyful. It’s a reminder that a strong focus on character and mood is really what matters most in the cinema and, with its stoic history of calming powers and Tao associations, the movie stands alongside Winnie the Pooh and the Honey Tree and its subsequent classic-era sequels. At several times throughout its brief running time, the movie’s narrative is as sleek and sly as the old pooh bear himself in his wily search for jars of lip-smacking honey.
To their credit, directors Stephen Anderson and Don Hall don’t try to reinvent the wheel with the source material; they merely sharpen it. Indeed, Winnie the Pooh outshines what went before by being reverent to what worked and refining it with great moments of camaraderie and witty dialogue. With music and tunes supplied by Avenue Q’s Robert Lopez, Zooey Daschanel and M. Ward, Winnie the Pooh finds its melodic heart to be as robust as what went before in the work of the Sherman Brothers.
The emotional artistry packed into this roll of honey dough is thick and beautiful and full of wonder. Moments of pure imagination and glee circle this film as the familiar characters scramble about to do their duty in a forest they all fear and “save” Christopher Robin from Backson. The comedy is more physical before and the songs are cheerier, but everything else is as familiar and as welcomed as ever.
The world needs Winnie the Pooh. Certainly, the charm of the stories is a timeless one which provides the meaning in Hundred Acre Wood’s reappearance every five years or so, yet – in an adventure that barely breaks one hour – the filmmakers get it right. Some of it might seem familiar (especially for hardcore “Pooh” bear fans) and maybe the writers played it too safe (an ironic statement, I know, for such a traditional story) with their story selections, yet the film still works as an engaging bit of animation happiness.
Disney animation might rely more on the glossy power of Pixar these days, but Winnie the Pooh reminds its viewers (as it expertly plays to a new breed of kids) that no one can deliver some old-school animation with heart and kid-friendly messages like Walt Disney. No one.
MPAA Rating: G for General Audiences.
