|
Winnie the Pooh
| Released |
15 April 2011 |
| Director |
Stephen J. Anderson, Don Hall |
Starring
|
Jim Cummings, Craig Ferguson, Tom Kenny, Bud Luckey, Travis Oates, Jack Boulter, Kristen Anderson-Lopez |
| Narrated by |
John Cleese |
| Writer(s) |
Burny Mattinson |
Producer(s)
|
Peter Del Vecho, Clark Spencer |
| Origin |
United States |
| Running Time |
73 minutes |
| Genre |
Animation |
| Rating |
G |
|
|
Perfectly charming.
Pooh bear is back! A.A. Milne’s much-loved children’s books have been brought to the screen several times before but when the news broke that Disney were about to ‘reboot’ the series, it might have worried some of the traditional fans. Would they attempt to modernise the series with some unnecessary gimmicks? Would Tigger and Piglet break into a gangsta rap number? Would Owl and Rabbit develop a same sex relationship? Instead of being addicted to honey, would Winnie develop a taste for crack cocaine?
The presence on the credits of John Lassiter as executive producer calms the nerves though. The head of Pixar is smart enough to know not to fix something that isn’t broken and this is a faithful adaptation. The action begins with Winnie (Jim Cummings) starting his day in a traditionally lazy fashion. When finally roused from his slumber by the impatient narrator (John Cleese) his rumbling tummy reminds him of his need for honey. Finding his own honey jar empty he sets out to borrow some from one of his friends.
However he finds his friend Eeyore (Bud Luckey) is in even more morose humour than normal as he’s lost his tail. Christopher Robbin (Jack Boulter) organises a competition between his friends to find a replacement for Eeyore’s tail. So, Owl (Craig Ferguson), Tigger (Cummings again), Rabbit (Tom Kenny) and Piglet (Travis Oates) all try to come up with something but the results are fairly mixed. Then in a secondary story, the gang become convinced that a mysterious creature called a ‘backsun’ has kidnapped Christopher Robin and they set off to fight the creature and bring Christopher back.
This is pretty much it in terms of plot but it’s all told at a pretty amiable pace with a couple of decent songs thrown in. This is very gentle-humoured stuff so older children might not have too much patience with it, but younger kids should lap it up. It is all very charming though and the feature itself is quite short, so it shouldn’t be too wearing for adults. The hand drawn animation by Burny Mattinson is beautifully done, of course.
Two shorts at the beginning pad the package out. There’s The Ballad of Nessie, a sweet little film about how the Loch Ness monster found her home, narrated by Billy Connolly. There’s also some god-awful Disney kids Pirates thing that shows how bad children’s entertainment can be when it’s bland, generic and condescending.
At the press screening, which was also attended by a class of school children, one of the characters in it addressed the audience and asked the boys and girls if they wanted to go on a pirate adventure with them. “No!!!!” was the near unanimous reply.
There’s hope for this country yet!
- Jim O’Connor |
