Over the weekend, when I was back in my home town, I watched "Winnie the Pooh" with my family -- more specifically with my 22 month old niece (her first movie, yay!). It was a great experience to see a character from my childhood on the big screen in a brand new (if very familiar) adventure!

PRE-FILM SHORT:Before the film starts we're treated with an animated short, "The Ballad of Nessie." Nessie wasn’t the greatest short ever but I think most importantly to the parents in the movie theater it gave them a buffer to work out the best arrangement for viewing vs food accessibility with their kids before the movie started... I’m not kidding. Kids talked a little and rearranged themselves and giggled a bit at the duck but weren't really paying attention. From an effectiveness standpoint on it’s inclusion as the predecessor to a preschool movie it worked just fine.

I know it’s not a review of the short but there’s not much to be said really. The narration from Billy Connolly was excellent and the direction by the team of Stevie Wermers-Skelton and Kevin Deters (who were also the team behind the, in my opinion, much better How To Hook Up Your Home Theater) were excellent but the story itself was just not anything that had that "wow" factor. The animation, of course was great, but I'm a bit perplexed as to the message which seems to be something along the lines of if you cry enough you'll get what you want.
STORY:OK, back to Pooh-bear! The story wasn't too complicated, which is to be expected of an animated Disney film aimed at preschoolers. I’ll first start off by saying that it held my niece's attention for the first 25 minutes (which is saying a lot if you’ve ever been around a two year old). For me, the first 25 were the slowest and least interesting -- it was once they got to trying to trap the Backson and dropped into the hole that the movie really clicked. There's all sorts of gags and wordplay to be found in those scenes as well as a great musical number I'll get to later. I have to say that I legitimately laughed pretty hard during the “Who’s On First”-esque segment in the hole about if Piglet “can tie a knot”, to which Piglet replied “I cannot.” And Owl (?) returned “Oh so you CAN knot!” … that went on for another 30 seconds or so and was good fun for all the adults in the room.

I found that every time Owl was on screen I was intrigued... he's really the only one that progresses the plot. There were a couple points that made Owl, as well as Pooh, seem more self-involved than I remember from other "Pooh" movies. In the end, of course, Pooh had his redemptive moment; Owl did not. The movie also has a small but fascinating Tigger/Eeyore relationship. I really wish they would've done more with that but it was fun while it was on screen.
MUSIC:It was a little strange at first to hear the 2011 rendition of the "Winnie the Pooh" theme sung by Zooey Deschanel, but her vibrato-less lounge-style singing is a perfect match for a "Winnie the Pooh" movie in 2011. That sentence might not make much sense until you see the movie but trust me... it works. The song that really steals the show, however, is the "Backson" song which reminded me a lot of the "Heffalumps and Woozles" song in the 1968 "Winnie the Pooh and the Blustery Day."

VOICE ACTING:Jim Cummings did a RIDICULOUSLY good job with the voices of Pooh and Tigger! His Pooh was an impressive likeness to Sterling Holloway and Tigger’s every syllable was an absolute joy to hear. Another standout was Craig Ferguson who was amazing as Owl! He has the perfect combination of elitist confidence and witless delivery that makes a pre-written script that truly makes it sound like his lines are stream-of-consciousness. Tom Kenny was very good as Rabbit and Travis Oates does an amazingly good job voicing Piglet considering he looks like he does (see image below, lifted from Andreas Deja's blog):

ANIMATION:There was a lot of movement in Tigger (animation lead, Andreas Deja) but it wasn’t as dizzying or seemingly unnecessary as, say, Rabbit’s (animation lead, Eric Goldberg). Piglet’s (animation lead, Bruce Smith) was excellent too and the favorite of my Mother-in-Law who was in town from Cyprus. She speaks English quite well but in movies, especially animated ones, gets a feeling for the character by what they do and how they do it rather than what they say so, to me, the fact she was giggling everytime Piglet was trying to rise to an occasion was a big win for the character (and, of course, Bruce Smith).

BOTTOM LINE:“Winnie the Pooh” is not going to make your jaw drop on the floor, but it’s a solid movie and fits perfectly in the “Winnie the Pooh” animated series of movies and another great outing in Disney's traditional animation. Let's hope they can keep the momentum going!

3 1/2 Onions

What did YOU think?