What's going on guys? I'm Tyler and in continuing my series of Disney movie reviews,
I'm here to let you know that the 2011 "Winnie the Pooh" is NoPerfectMovie!
And I'm willing to bet the majority of you watching this have
probably never even heard of the 2011 version-let alone seen it and there is
one very specific reason for that: Disney had the intelligent idea to put this
movie out the very same weekend as "Deathly Hallows Part 2... this movie only
needed $75 million in order to break even but it didn't accomplish that, the movie tanked
and to this day it's Walt Disney Animation Studios very last film to be
completely hand-drawn! As someone who loves seeing hand-drawn films-especially
by Disney, that alone is enough to make it disappointing, and while I can't say
this is anywhere on par with the original film in fact there are a couple sequels
that might be technically better than this one, this might actually be
the funniest Winnie the Pooh movie that I've seen in a really long time! It has all
the same slapstick you would expect from Pooh trying to find honey and being
chased by bees, or Tigger bouncing all over the place and that stuff's as good
as before, but there's more of an emphasis on wordplay and a different set
of 4th-wall jokes that were a genuine surprise! it's no real secret that
The Hundred Acre Wood is full of people who aren't exactly the brightest bunch and
it's easy for them to mix up certain word, but there are other characters
like Owl and Rabbit who know more (to an extent) and try to keep using those words
in a situation in order to make sense of everything. But the harder they try,
the more oblivious everyone else gets, and it made for some of the best moments and
some of the best comedic reactions in the entire movie! There's even some new
4th wall jokes where-before the characters start interrupting the narrator
(as you would expect from a Winnie the Pooh movie) they come across
certain pages and paragraphs and they're just sitting there wondering
"This doesn't really sound like me-I don't think this has any particular use"!
and then later on as the scene keeps going, the camera will cut to the
entire page and what they just spoken which it was completely on the spot and
improvised by the characters, was written down below there the entire time and
it just made for such a clever sight gag- I kind of wish there were a few more
jokes like that in other Winnie the Pooh movies too! And of course it doesn't hurt
that they got really good voice actors who-even when they're celebrities,
they fit the characters and their personalities perfectly, especially
Jim Cummings as both Pooh and Tigger; he's really good at bouncing back and forth from
how Tigger is so fast-paced and energetic, whereas Pooh was a lot more
calm and has a very comforting voice that makes him-even at his worst seem
completely lovable and innocent! And that is exactly what you would expect from
a Winnie the Pooh character: they can be self-centred sometimes, they can put
other people in harm's way but whenever they make a mistake, they realize it and
they decide to correct their behavior as time goes on! Those are the things that
you really want to see in most characters in general and because these
characters in particular are already so nice and sweet, it feels
very rewarding to see them learn a lesson but it's still funny to watch
them make a mistake! Craig Ferguson has this unique way of
having a superior-than-thou attitude when he's playing Owl but he
still comes across as being a compassionate person who really just
feels as if he's sharing his knowledge with people, not rubbing it in their faces.
Tom Kenny, the voice of SpongeBob-
that just sounds like a perfect replacement for Rabbit if I'm
being completely honest! And Bud Luckey (I hope I set that right): he is a
dearly-departed Disney animator who also voiced a couple characters in different movies.
As I was listening to him play Eeyore it reminded me just how morbid the
character's sense of humour was, but at the same time they always get really good
actors who understand the deadpan nature of Eeyore's misery that makes you feel
for his pain but at the same time laugh at it just because you really wish
this guy would just get a break! And I also thought that John Cleese was a pretty
good choice to be the narrator; he still has that deadpan humor to him whenever
he's arguing with the characters or they interrupt him but he still has a much
more restrained and soft-spoken charm whenever he's just narrating the scene
as they play out. I wasn't a big fan of the guy that got to play Piglet-I know
he's been playing him for years but I'm just noticing now that he has a higher
pitch than I remember. And because dude is a nervous wreck, when it comes to him
screaming and freaking out, it got a little annoying over the course of time.
And this is gonna sound like a really weird thing to complain about but
I wasn't a big fan of how they rewrote Kanga in this movie: they write her in a
way that makes her come across as just as naive and gullible as
the other characters and even if you've seen one Winnie the Pooh thing ever in your life...
You know that she's like miles above them-she's the wise mother figure
to everybody, and while there are a couple of good stupid jokes centering
around her, I still would have liked her to be the mother figure-that was the
thing that I always loved and appreciated about her! But keeping up
with the positives; the songs (mostly completely original songs) were so
charming and so whimsical-I loved listening to them over and over again
after I watched the movie and Zooey Deschanel (who they got to sing
the majority of them) also did a really good job! Two of my favourites in particular are:
"A Very Important Thing to Do"- I wish it was a little bit longer because it's not
even a minute but it was a nice little side song, and "Everything is Honey"
like most people who have seen it had pointed out, was easily the best song! It had
the best animation within that sequence and the sequence itself was so creative
and so fluid-it's miles above other Winnie the Pooh movies
in terms of animation as well! And it's weird thinking that the people who wrote
these songs also wrote "Everyone's a Little Bit Racist" and "Hasa Diga Ebowaii"...
If you know either one of those songs, you should feel proud of yourself. And
"The Backson Song" was good too but it reminded me a lot of the Heffalump song
from "Pooh's Heffalump Movie"-it pretty much is the same scenario where they're
exaggerating things about an imaginary creature. And that's the one thing about
this movie; it features a lot (a lot) of nods and callbacks to-not just the original movie
but just about every movie. There's like a component of every previous
theatrical Winnie the Pooh movie anyways (and a couple straight-to-dvd ones) that
are in this movie and serve as the central plot. For one, the plot of this movie
is awfully similar to "Pooh's Grand Adventure"-there's a misunderstanding
where they think that Christopher Robin has been abducted and they decide to
take action and go rescue him. In this movie it's played up mostly for laughs
and there are a lot of different scenarios that make it... not derivative.
There's a subplot where Tigger wants to find someone else to become a Tigger
alongside him just like "The Tigger Movie" and as I said before "The Backson Song"
is basically "Ferocious Hazardous Heffalumps"-I can't believe I'm saying this but yeah,
and it's clear as day that it's trying to pay homage to the other movies
as well as the original stories because if not for those stories we wouldn't have
these movies, and it has the same basic structure and the same messages and it's
not that it's done poorly, but even if you've only seen one Winnie the Pooh thing ever,
no matter how long ago it was you're gonna watch this and it's
not really gonna feel as fresh. And for some people that might not be a problem
because these movies are all about simplicity in regards to the story
and messages, but you can't really escape the feeling that it's been done before and
done a little bit better. It just made me wonder if there were stories that
haven't been adapted yet that I would have liked to have seen! so the
"Winnie the Pooh" of 2011 could have been at least 10 to 20 minutes longer and you
could have put in more original material to fill in that gap because I genuinely
believe they could have done it: It's still got the exact same charming
characters and very funny moments and really clever songs that don't
necessarily make it a great movie, but it is a good movie and for all those reasons
I'm gonna give the 2011 Winnie the Pooh 3.5/5
Guys, thanks as always for watching! If by any chance you have seen this one, do let me
know in the comments below what you thought of it! What's your favourite
Winnie the Pooh movie in general? it doesn't have to be theatrical-
it doesn't have to be straight to video, just let me know down below! Be sure to
stay tuned for more Disney reviews and be sure to like and subscribe!
Take care!