The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh (1997)
The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh is a big pot of golden joy; so sweet it’s impossible not to smile. Even for adults, it offers many laughs, the kind of clever gags that children probably won’t understand. It’s quotable and memorable, the kind of movie you’d be delighted to call the first you ever saw.
Technically, the film isn’t entirely new. It combines three previously-released shorts, all based on the works of A. A. Milne. The first is Winnie the Pooh and the Honey Tree (1966), in which Pooh (Larry Clemons) runs out of honey and decides, with the help of Christopher Robin, to disguise himself as a rain cloud, float up to a bee’s nest and steal their honey. In the second story, Winnie the Pooh and the Blustery Day (1968), the inhabitants of the Hundred Acre Woods search for a new home for Owl (Hal Smith). In the third story, Winnie the Pooh and Tigger Too (1974), Pooh meets Tigger (Paul Winchell) a tiger obsessed with bouncing.
I have no points to deduct but a few noteworthy observations. For example, the voice acting changes from one story to the next (Christopher Robin is voiced by Bruce Reitherman, later Jon Walmsley and Timothy Turner). You will also notice slight changes in the designs (notably Piglett, voiced by John Fiedler). That’s it.
The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh feels like a warm childhood memory you’re revisiting. There’s something about the simple charms of these sweet characters whose every conflict come from how well they get along that’s so endearing. There are no villains and even if there are disagreements, they can be solved with frank conversations, which makes them universal.
That, and it’s clever the whole way through. What you probably don’t remember is that Pooh, Eeyore, Tigger, Rabbit, Kanga, Roo and everyone else know they’re stuffed animals brought to life by imagination and live within the confines of a book. This means they’ll speak to the narrator and literally jump from one page to the next to advance through the story at their own pace. There’s a level of sophistication in the writing that you probably didn’t grasp if you only saw The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh when you were little, but you will now. Pooh’s insatiable hunger may have been hilarious then, it’s even better now when you realize just how dumb – but endearing – he and his friends are. As an adult, you better understand its charms and the quality of the visuals. Check out that Pooh's nightmare of Heffalumps and Woozles, for example. Wow! These escapades are so original, so memorable they stick with you long after they’re done. The excellent songs by the Sherman Brothers aid in making The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh an instant favorite, if it wasn’t already. (On Blu-ray, May 17, 2018)
