D52–Winnie the Pooh

Coming out 34 years after the studio’s last theatrical Pooh feature (not including the theatrically released features produced by the Disney television division), Winnie the Pooh was a return to it’s traditional style, both in art form and storytelling, for Disney. Like the previous Pooh films, it was produced as 2D hand animation and told a simple, entertaining story. Despite strong reviews, the film failed to get much box office attention, only managing to bring in a meager $32 million.

From a technical perspective, the film is fantastic. Even though it barely runs more than an hour, the pacing is perfect, never feeling rushed nor dragging. The animation is pristine, perfectly capturing the characters and complementing the excellent voice work. The real high point here, though, is the plot, adapted from three A.A. Milne stories. The filmmakers wisely resisted the temptation to try to modernize Pooh or inject any mature humour into the world, instead telling a simple story with genuinely funny jokes which are appealing to all. The result is a film which feels as though it could have been made in the same time period as the original, and should have the same staying power.

I really love this film. I had low expectations for it when I went to see it in theatres, given the relatively poor quality of the recent Pooh films done by the TV unit, but was completely blown away. This is a truly charming gem of a film which was sadly overlooked by most. Whether the poor box office was a result of audience fatigue cause by low quality Pooh films, the fact that it released the same day as the final Harry Potter film, the poor marketing campaign, or some other factor, it really is a shame that more people didn’t go to see it. That tragedy is now compounded by the fact that its performance was likely a key contributor to the decision to shut down the 2D animation unit at Disney. Lasseter managed to revive it temporarily when he joined the company, but after the weak performance of The Princess and the Frog and the abysmal performance of Winnie the Pooh, Disney decided to shutter it, and there was likely nothing for Lasseter to use as a defense. It is unfortunate that this is likely the last 2D film we’ll see from Disney for a long time, but it is definitely a worthy film to go out on, certainly much better than the last time this happened, ending with Home On The Range. If you haven’t seen Winnie the Pooh, you owe it to yourself to check it out. It is an excellent film.

Original theatrical trailer

Up next: Wreck-It Ralph (2012)