Stars: 5 out of 5
Pros: Cute story with lots of humor
Cons: Music and voice
cast changes, but both are minor
The Bottom Line:
Winnie the Pooh's back
Is surprisingly charming
For the kid in all
A Hunny of a Film
As big a Disney fan as I am, I've never been a huge fan of their Winnie the Pooh films. Heck, I haven't seen the last few they've done at all. So when they announced they were doing a new one, it wasn't on my list of films to see. But a friend really wanted to go, so I decided to go with her (after all, she's gone to several unusual movies for me). I'm glad she talked me into it because it was a delightful film.
Our story opens on a typical morning when Winnie the Pooh
(voiced by Jim Cummings) wakes up to a rumbly in the tumbly. Shocked to realized that he is out of honey
(or hunny as they spell it in these movies), Winnie the Pooh sets out into the
Hundred Acre Woods to visit his friends, hoping to get some breakfast. His first stop is Eeyore (Bud Luckey) who is
missing something - his tail. And so the
friends band together to try to come up with a suitable new one for him.
As the search goes on, Winnie the Pooh makes the discovery
that Christopher Robin (Jack Boulter) is missing. All they have is the note he left
behind. Owl (Craig Ferguson) reads it
and determines that Christopher Robin has been kidnapped by a Backson, a horrid
beast that wakes babies in the middle of the night and messes up your Christmas
lights. Can they trap it and get back
Christopher Robin? Will they ever find a
tail for Eeyore? And will Winnie the
Pooh ever get some honey?
One of my biggest issues with the old Winnie the Pooh movies
was the use of the book format for telling the story, including a narrator who
interacted with the characters and us going into and out of the pictures on the
pages. And yet, that was probably the
biggest thing I was glad to see they'd kept.
The movie even opens with a modern arrangement of the classic theme
song. They did leave Gopher (whose not
in the book, you know) out of things.
As for the plot, it was interesting because they started a
story, interrupted it with another, resolved that one, and then resolved the
first one. That makes for a different
structure than we're used to seeing, but they actually tied the elements from
these two stories together well enough that I think it works. What I find most interesting here is I
remember the story of the missing tail from the books, but I believe the
Backson is a complete invention for this movie.
Speaking of the Backson, I think very few children will have
trouble with him at all. The showing I
saw today was filled with young kids, and I didn't hear any of them crying
during those scenes. He's always played
for laughs even when some of the characters are scared of him.
The songs written for this movie are okay. I don't think they are the classic stuff that
the Sherman Brothers wrote for the originals, but they are entertaining and
progress the story. If the movie has one
weakness, this is probably it.
I also had some problems with the voice cast. I'm not talking about their acting because
they all did great jobs with that. But
some of the voices, Christopher Robin and Kanga especially, are different from
how I remember them. That was jarring at
first, but soon I got used to it. Again,
it's minor.
One thing I always admired about the originals was how
closely they captured the spirit of the illustrations from the book. They have recaptured that feeling. Granted, it's been years since I watched the
movie, but this seems to be an almost identical match for the style from almost
45 years ago. That includes some details
lines to the backgrounds that are beautiful.
It makes me want more hand drawn animation.
What surprised me was just how funny the movie was. My friend and I were laughing the entire way
through it. And it really is cute and
charming. This is a movie that you can
take your kids to and know they will enjoy.
Adults? Well, you've got to
remember the target audience, but if you can sit back and recapture your inner
child, you'll enjoy it, too. This isn't
great cinema, but it's not trying to be.
It's trying to be a movie that's a little over an hour of light, fun
entertainment.
Before the feature, there's a short that tells us "The
Ballad of Nessie," of Loch Ness fame.
Like the feature, it's cute.
You'll want to stay through the credits. Not only are there fun bits of animation with
the characters as the credits roll (and some great stuff with the stuffed
animals, too), but there's a scene after the credits play that is
hilarious. Trust me, you don't want to
miss it.
No comments:
Post a Comment
Thanks for stopping by. In order to combat spam, I moderate most comments. I'll get to your comment as soon as I can.