The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh

As the 22^nd Disney film, The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh is definitely the most well-known movie of Disney’s Bronze Age.  This movie, the first ever Winnie the Pooh film, was originally split into three shorts but, in the 1970’s, Disney chose to put all three of the shorts together into a full-length animated film.  Sadly, I can’t find a lot of information about the production of the movie but I do know that, while the movie didn’t seem to do to great financially, it did receive critical acclaim from film critics, earning one of the very few 100% film ratings on Rotten Tomatoes.  While I own a copy of the original Winnie the Pooh book, for some reason I’ve never read it, which seems strange considering the big Winnie the Pooh fan I am.  (Oh, well, it’s definitely on my “to read list” now!)  I hope everyone loves this movie as much as I do! Whatever your thoughts I’d love to hear from you!

The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh (based on the classic books) is about a bear who lives in the Hundred Acre Wood with his loveable friends, which include timid Piglet, energetic Tigger, high-strung Rabbit, gloomy but loveable Eeyore, and big-nosed Owl (but do Owls really have noses?!); and, of course, Christopher Robin too!  Together, this unique (in a good way) group of friends go on sweet/funny escapades together and learn important lessons about friendship.  This movie has touching messages about friendship.  One of these such messages is the relationship between Pooh and Piglet; they are very kind toward one another and don’t judge each other at all (they treat each other like true friends should!).  This movie is also geared toward a little bit of a younger audience, unlike other Disney films that are more geared toward the upper elementary age group (though some preschoolers can watch these “older” movies without flinching); so, I believe that it would be a good first Disney film for a lot of kids (I believe it was my first Disney movie as well) because, in my opinion, you can’t go wrong with Good Old Pooh!  However, there are a couple of scenes that could startle some kids (such as the Heffalumps and Woozles scene) but, with the exception of that scene, the scenes in this movie are not nearly as spooky in other movies.  There is also a scene that bothers me in the Winnie the Pooh and the Honey Tree segment.  Pooh goes over to Rabbit’s house for lunch, hoping to get a “smackerel” of honey.  Well, Pooh eats a fair amount of honey and, when going to leave, gets stuck in Rabbit’s “back burrow” and can’t get out.  So, Rabbit concludes that they have to wait for Pooh to lose weight before they can free him; and Rabbit then refuses Pooh food so that Pooh can get thinner.  Then, they all rejoice when he is thin enough to fit through the door.  I don’t mean to be a bother (in Pooh’s adorable words), as I’m a huge Winnie the Pooh fan, but I don’t like to use the “f word” (which for me is the word that rhymes with “hat”) and I never have.  And it appears that Rabbit was f-shaming Pooh, which definitely sends the wrong message to kids.  People should never make comments about someone’s physical appearance or try to get them to lose weight.  Thankfully, the other two segments are not like this so you could easily fast forward through this scene (or just watch it and have a conversation about it).  So, I would caution parents of young kids regarding the mild intense scenes and the disturbing comments about Pooh’s weight.  One of my favorite parts about this movie is the relationship between Tigger and Roo; Roo’s mom, Kanga, appears to be a single mother (at least we’ve never seen Roo’s father in any of the films), and Tigger basically becomes the father Roo has never had, even though sometimes he could use a little parenting advice himself.  He plays with Roo and has genuine heart to hearts with him, so I believe the overall message of this movie is the importance of friendship and that family isn’t always blood; with the exception of Kanga and Roo, the Hundred Acre Wood residents don’t seem to have relatives but they do have each other and they are there for each other no matter what.  That is family!

“Think, think, think.”  Winnie the Pooh