Day 22: The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh

The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh (1977)

Starring: Sterling Holloway, John Fiedler, Junius Matthews, Paul Winchell, Howard Morris, Bruce Reitherman, John Walmsley, Timothy Turner, Ralph Wright, Hal Smith, Clint Howard, Dori Whittaker, Barbara Luddy, Sebastian Cabot

Songs: "Winnie the Pooh," "Up, Down Touch the Ground," "Rumbly in my Tumbly," "Little Black Rain Cloud," "Mind Over Matter," "A Rather Blustery Day," "The Wonderful Thing About Tiggers," "Heffalumps and Woozles," "When the Rain Rain Rain Comes Down," "Hip Hip Pooh-Ray!"

The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh is the twenty-second Disney animated feature, based on the Pooh stories by A.A. Milne.  Because these books were not as popular in the US as they were in England, Walt Disney felt that instead of making a feature film right away, it would be better to produce shorts that would familiarize an American audience with the characters.  Because of that, I'm going to split this post up and talk about each segment, like I did with the package films in the early days of this blog.

• In Winnie the Pooh and the Honey Tree, Pooh goes in search of honey -- first by rolling in mud and disguising himself as a little black rain cloud and then by dropping in on Rabbit unannounced for lunch.  He eats so much honey at Rabbit's house that he ends up getting stuck in the doorway.  This featurette was released theatrically in 1966, shown before The Ugly Dachshund.
• In Winnie the Pooh and the Blustery Day, the Hundred Acre Woods has a storm.  This leads to Pooh meeting a bouncing tiger named Tigger and hallucinating about "heffalumps and woozles" in a scene reminiscent of Dumbo's Pink Elephants on Parade.  Later, Piglet is washed out of his home and Pooh ends up being declared a hero.  This segment was theatrically released in 1968, shown before The Horse in the Gray Flannel Suit.  It won the Academy Award that year for best animated short.
• In Winnie the Pooh and Tigger Too, Tigger's constant bouncing gets everyone in trouble when Rabbit decides to teach Tigger a lesson.  Later, in the winter, Tigger and Roo bounce into a tree, and Rabbit sees another opportunity to teach him a lesson.  This segment was released theatrically in 1974 and shown as a part of a double feature with The Island as the Top of the World.

These featurettes were collected, and a shorter fourth segment and some wrap-around material were added to form the feature film, which was released in 1977 and became a big success financially.  Though Walt Disney had been gone for over a decade, his instincts were proven to be right once more.

Again, I feel like there's not really a lot to say about this movie.  It's charming, fun, funny and it feels good to look at and listen to.  The songs are very kid friendly.  The animation is clean and pretty, and the character designs are very warm and cuddly and inviting.  Everything adds up here to make a great movie.  This is one I loved a lot as a kid and I still love it a lot now.

What I Liked: Roo, who is the cutest child.  Also the Gopher character saying, "I'm not in the book!" when he comes on the screen, which is a great joke since that character isn't in Milne's book.  But mostly Rabbit sticking a picture frame around Pooh's butt and trying to use it as a decoration in his house.

What I Disliked: Nope.  I didn't dislike any of it.

Favorite Segment:  While I love them all, I think the best is Winnie the Pooh and the Honey Tree.

Least Favorite Segment:  I didn't have one.  They're all fun!

Should You Watch This Movie: Definitely.