Bill Gibron is a veteran film critic from Tampa, Florida.There is a significant difference between straight animation and cartoons. The former strives for some manner of artistic statement. The latter is typically loud, colorful, and calculated to appeal to all audiences. Disney always loved to explore both sides of this pen and ink situation, using their features for more ambitious projects while their short subjects (and then TV output) were geared more toward the mainstream. The new update on the studio's seminal Winnie the Pooh character clearly lies somewhere within the realm of traditional animated fare. It is a sweet, subtle expression of friendship and imagination easily comparable to the company's previous Oscar winning ways with A. A. Milne material. Adapting material found in both The House on Pooh Corner and Winnie the Pooh, our story centers on gloomy donkey Eeyore (voiced by Bud Luckey) who has, once again, lost his tail. Hoping to locate the beloved item, human boy Christopher Robin (Jack Boulter) and the rest of the 100 Acre Wood citizenry -- Rabbit (Tom Kenny), Owl (Craig Ferguson), Tigger (Jim Cummings), Kanga (Kristen Anderson-Lopez) and her baby Roo (Wyatt Dean Hall), Piglet (Travis Oates), and Winnie the Pooh (Cummings) -- create a contest, awarding a prize to the one who finds it. During the hunt, they learn of a legendary monster known as a "Backson" and prepare a trap to capture it. Finally, Pooh's love of honey keeps getting in the way of any progress.
Utilizing the sly, inventive style closely connected with the silly willy nilly old bear, this new Winnie the Pooh has all the fabric earmarks of the originals, down to the sound-alike voice work and the endearing narration of Sebastian Cabot substitute John Cleese. Borrowing some from recent television incarnations but never forgetting what made the series so popular in the first place, directors Stephen Anderson and Don Hall focus on character, camaraderie, and the calm, contemplative mood that made Pooh's previous adventures so memorable. Everything here -- except for one unnecessary element -- is absolutely perfect. The story is told in simplistic yet engaging snippets, the jokes unforced and filtered through the wonder of a child's cheerful smile.
But there is one issue here that really needs to be addressed. One of the best facets of the original Winnie the Pooh series was the sensational music of the Sherman Brothers. Two of Disney's most accomplished longstanding in-house composers, they were responsible for Mary Poppins, The Jungle Book, and Bedknobs and Broomsticks. Their songs for the initial Pooh films -- "Little Black Rain Cloud," "Up Down, Touch the Ground," and "Rumbly in My Tumbly" among others -- were integral to the series' special nature. Now, those tunes have been replaced by selections from Avenue Q's Robert Lopez, with additional input from indie icon Zooey Daschanel and bandmate M. Ward. While nice enough, they just can't compare, and definitely won't linger in the memory like the Shermans' sensational contributions did.
All misguided melodies aside, Winnie the Pooh is a quiet, gentle delight. It's a throwback in the best sense of the term -- a movie that reminds one of the past while playing expertly to the viewer of today. It's warm and witty, delivering its kid-friendly messages with cleverness and kindness. As an added bonus, the House of Mouse includes a wonderful little nursery rhyme style cartoon about the Loch Ness monster and its search for a home. "The Ballad of Nessie," like the scant hour long feature that accompanies it, reminds us that, when done right, nothing is better than old school animation -- and, again, no one does it like Disney.
