Winnie the Pooh. Winnie the Pooh. Tubby little cubby all stuffed with fluff. He’s Winnie the Pooh. Winnie the Pooh. Willy nilly silly ‘ol bear! The theater is littered with sequels, remakes, reboots, etc. but Winnie the Pooh offers pure innocent nostalgia. At only 68 minutes and rated “G”, this is obviously targeted to the little ones but adults are not missing out when they bring their kids to it. While other films try to razzle dazzle you with mind blowing special effects, eye-popping 3D and crazy CGI, Winnie the Pooh goes back to simple hand drawn animation. The story is as complex as a three year old needs but still, quite enjoyable.
The movie begins with a live action shot reminding you that everything originates from a book and the imagination of Christopher Robin (voiced by Jack Boulter). Then you’re swept away to Hundred Acre Wood where you find Winnie The Pooh with his rumbling tummy and all the other characters with their typical roles. There are no surprises which makes the movie so welcoming to fans of the classic literary work and/or inspired cartoons over time. You join the gang for an adventure wrapped in misunderstanding as they learn a lesson and teach it to you.
Winnie the Pooh and gang
Directors Stephen Anderson and Don Hall made it a point to remind the audience that this was all a book by taking you out of the imaginary world and back on the pages of words. The characters interact with letters, words and sentences and even fly from one page to another…it’s quite delightful and educational at the same time. There’s narration from John Cleese which goes along with the story and easily transitions it from page to page. They threw in a couple different animation styles and musical number which were ok but I would’ve enjoyed a straight-forward and more simple telling better. If I hear “Honey” one more time…I can’t tell you what I’d do because this review is rated G but the song was worse than Jessica Alba’s Honey.
Honey.
The voices for the characters took a little getting used to since they’re not the same as the classic cartoon you may remember and reminisce about. However, the voice actors did their best to mimic the unique personalities. Jim Cummings voices both Winnie The Pooh, the cute cuddly bear always in search of Hunny, and Tigger, the always hyper Tiger who’s proud of his stripes. Bud Lukey voices Eeyore who was emo before emo was cool, the scheming Rabbit was voiced by Tom Kenny, Craig Ferguson does a terrific job as the pretentious Owl and Travis Oates is a great scared little Piglet. Don’t worry, Kanga (Kristen Anderson-Lopez) and Roo (Wyatt Dean Hall) are included too!
Owl!
By using the original works as a blueprint, Winnie the Pooh is a great addition to the already famed work. Adults are going to be able to enjoy their childhood characters again while exposing their kids to the stories and traditions they grew up with. Kids are going to love the crazy antics and scenarios that the group gets itself into as well as the pleasant jokes and lessons they teach. The movie is hilarious in the way that the characters are no smarter than the target audience but it doesn’t exploit that in a mean way…everyone can enjoy the misfortunes and resolutions of this heartwarming nostalgic piece of work. Oh, bother.
Let me start by saying: Wow. Every aspect of this movie was great – the story, the visuals, the music, the characters, the whole package. This is DreamWorks Animation’s best work yet. The title of this movie, How To Train Your Dragon, does not do it justice as there is so much more to the movie. You go in to the movie not knowing what to expect, which may be a good thing, because by the end, you’re blown away. It’s a story about a young Viking unlike all the rest of the Viking town since he’s not blood hungry for dragon slaying. Where he’s from, hunting and killing dragons is the way of life and everybody expects each other to do the same. To make things worse, his dad is the head honcho in town who is a bit embarrassed that his son hasn’t turned out like himself: all muscles with guts and glory on the side. Instead, Hiccup (yes, his name is Hiccup) is a small toothpick with a brain on his shoulders. He likes to tinker and make things; he’s an engineer at heart. He doesn’t fit in with everybody else but that’s all he wants – to be like everybody else, or at least that’s what he thinks.
