The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh

Voices of: Sterling Holloway, Paul Winchell, Sebastian Cabot, Junius Matthews, Barbara Luddy, Howard Morris, John Fiedler, Ralph Wright, Hal Smith, Clint Howard
Directed by: John Lounsbery, Wolfgang Reitherman
Rating: G
Genre: Animation, Adventure, Comedy
1977

Times Seen:
Tim: 2

Summary: Winnie the Pooh and his friends in the Hundred Acre Wood have a series of adventures.

Review:

Tim: I have to admit I've never been the biggest Winnie the Pooh fan. The characters are memorable, but the movies and television series always felt too slow, too simplified for me. That was true when I was a child and it's still true today. The first Winnie the Pooh movie, The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh is a fairly good movie, though.

The film gets some criticism for really just being a compilation of three previously released animated shorts. For some viewers, they would have already seen 80% of the movie before it was released. Additional footage was added to connect the stories and to wrap them up, but you have to take into consideration that this is a film based on three disconnected short movies. That doesn't speak to the movie's quality.

What does help is that each of the shorts is fairly good. It actually makes logical sense to tie them together under the title of "The Many Adventures". This approach made me less bothered by the movie recycling previous material. It also helps that these short films tied together actually serve as a great primer for Pooh and his friends.

I really enjoyed how the film approached the stories as actual books. The scenes where Pooh or Piglet are jumping from page-to-page is quite clever. I loved the little ways they brought this into the stories- the blustery day wind blows letters off the page, etc. It's a clever technique that pays tribute to the books of A.A. Milne while giving this film a different flavor. It was one of the better aspects of the film. It would have been nice if some of the scenes of them turning multiple pages didn't have the same words on multiple pages, but I understand the desire to save money. As a whole, it really does work.

As much as I never loved these characters, I admit they are memorable. Pooh isn't intelligent, but he's kind and relatable. Tigger is always a fan favorite because of his silly energy. Eeyore may be the most complex character and I loved how his emotions and demeanor define his character. It's a nice change of pace to see a down-in-the-dumps character like him. Piglet is cute and occasionally funny. Owl, Kanga and Roo were never my favorites, but they help round out the cast of characters. I like Christopher Robin and it's good that he's there as an audience surrogate. My five year-old son enjoyed the movie. He's probably at the right age to connect with these characters. I'm glad we watched this movie now, before he gets much older and is looking for something with a quicker pace.

You have to applaud the movie for some memorable songs. "Winnie the Pooh" is such a classic, I could still sing it even though it'd been decades since I last heard it. "The Wonderful Thing About Tiggers" is a fantastic song as well. That's truly a highlight.

While I never loved Pooh, The Many of Adventures of Winnie the Pooh is an effective movie. The different stories really help connect audiences with these characters. It was fun to watch this movie with my kids (my son enjoyed the movie a lot and my 22 month-old daughter watched, too ("What's happening?" is her most frequent question). This film is well worth checking out.

Rating 1-10
Tim's Rating- 7



If You Enjoyed This Movie, We Recommend: Winnie the Pooh