The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh

The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh
DVD Cover 25th Anniversary
Directed by	Wolfgang Reitherman John Lounsbery
Produced by	Wolfgang Reitherman
Written by	Story: Larry Clemmons Ralph Wright Vance Gerry Xavier Atencio Ken Anderson Julius Svendsen Ted Berman Eric Cleworth Story Supervisor: Winston Hibler Books: A. A. Milne
Narrated by	Sebastian Cabot
Starring	Sterling Holloway John Fiedler Junius Matthews Paul Winchell
Music by	Buddy Baker Richard M. Sherman Robert B. Sherman
Editing by	Tom Acosta James Melton
Distributed by	Buena Vista Distribution
Release date(s)	March 11, 1977
Running time	75 minutes
Language	English

The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh is the 22nd full-length animated film produced by Walt Disney Productions and released on March 11, 1977.

The film is actually composed of material from four released animated featurettes based upon the Winnie-the-Pooh books by A. A. Milne: Winnie the Pooh and the Honey Tree (February 4, 1966), Winnie the Pooh and the Blustery Day (December 20, 1968), Winnie the Pooh and Tigger Too! (December 20, 1974), and Winnie the Pooh and a Day for Eeyore (March 11, 1983). Because of this, it is seen by some as the last of the Disney "package films" (movies consisting of two or more short segments), the bulk of which were produced by the studio to keep costs down during World War II. Pooh was produced for similar economic reasons. This is also the last film in the Disney canon in which Walt Disney had personal involvement, since one of the shorts (Winnie the Pooh and the Honey Tree) was released during his lifetime, and he was involved in the production of Blustery Day. Winnie the Pooh and a Day for Eeyore (March 11, 1983), was released as the fourth and final featurette based on the original books, and is included as a bonus feature on the VHS and DVD release of the feature film.

Its characters have spawned an industry of sequels, television programs, clothing, books, and toys. The film differs from the three individual shorts by having newly-created linking material, and an ending to give closure to the stories (based on the final chapter of The House at Pooh Corner). It was always Walt Disney's intention to create a feature film, but he decided to make shorts instead — after production had begun — to familiarize US audiences with the characters. When producing the first film, the studio favored this approach; they thought the story "too juvenile" for a full-length feature.^[1] All three shorts as well as future feature films boast classic songs by the Sherman Brothers including "Winnie The Pooh" and "The Wonderful Thing About Tiggers".

The film also inspired an attraction of the same name at Disneyland, Walt Disney World, and Hong Kong Disneyland. A much more elaborate attraction, also based on the film, opened in Tokyo Disneyland as "Pooh's Hunny Hunt".

Voice cast

• Winnie-the-Pooh, voiced by Sterling Holloway
• Piglet, voiced by John Fiedler
• Tigger, voiced by Paul Winchell
• Rabbit, voiced by Junius Matthews
• Christopher Robin, voiced by Bruce Reitherman, Jon Walmsley, and Timothy Turner
• Eeyore, voiced by Ralph Wright
• Owl, voiced by Hal Smith
• Roo, voiced by Clint Howard and Dori Whitaker
• Kanga, voiced by Barbara Luddy
• Gopher, voiced by Howard Morris
• Narrated by Sebastian Cabot

Production

For the character Piglet, hand gestures and other movements were used by the animators to create expressiveness, since he (and Pooh) had the appearance of dolls or stuffed animals with relatively simple button eyes.^[2] The scene where Rabbit deals with Pooh's being part of the "decor of his home" was not in the original book, but was reportedly contemplated by Disney when he read the book as a young teenager.^[3] The film Americanizes Milne in some cases;^[4] for example, the character of Gopher was added by the studio to appeal to U.S. audiences.^[1]

Reception

Film critic Leonard Maltin called the original Pooh featurettes "gems"; he also noted that the artwork resembles the book illustrations, and that the particular length of these featurettes meant that the filmmakers didn't have to "compress or protract their script."^[5]

Ruth Hill Viguers, however, in A Critical History of Children’s Literature, mentioned Disney’s Winnie the Pooh along with several other Disney adaptations as having “destroyed the integrity of the original books”.^[6]

Home video

The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh was first released on VHS, Betamax, CED videorecord, and laserdisc in the early 1980s. In 1996, it was re-released on VHS as part of the Masterpiece Collection and included video footage of the making which was shown before the movie starts. It was released on DVD for the first time in 2002 as a 25th Anniversary Edition, with digitally restored picture and sound. The individual shorts had also been released on their own on VHS in the 1990s.

The 25th anniversary edition DVD includes, among other bonus features, "The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh: The Story Behind the Masterpiece", which documents the history of the books and their initial film adaptations. It also features interviews with animators Ollie Johnston, Frank Thomas, and Burny Mattinson, as well as the Sherman brothers, Paul Winchell, and others. Digital Media FX reviewer Shannon Muir stated that the audio and video quality of the film on this DVD was very high.^[7]

The "Friendship Edition" DVD was re-released on June 19, 2007. All of the special features from the previous "25th Anniversary Edition" DVD were recycled; the only new addition being an episode of Playhouse Disney's computer-animated series My Friends Tigger & Pooh. The DVD re-release coincides with the 30th anniversary of the release of the film. [1]

Songs

• "Winnie the Pooh"
• "Up, Down and Touch the Ground"
• "Rumbly in My Tumbly"
• "Little Black Rain Cloud"
• "Mind Over Matter"
• "A Rather Blustery Day"
• "The Wonderful Things About Tiggers"
• "Heffalumps and Woozles"
• "The Rain Rain Rain Came Down Down Down"
• "Hip Hip Pooh-Ray!"

Differences between the book and the film

• Most of the stories are out of order. For instance, the introduction of Tigger does not happen before the flood.
• Gopher is not present in any of the original stories, which is alluded to by his frequent line (in context meaning his mining company's phone number is unlisted) of "I'm not in the book you know."
• In the original stories, Heffalumps and Woozles are not associated with each other.
• Some stories are omitted, such as The Search for Small, Making a Trap for Heffalumps, etc.
• In the original stories, Pooh only wears his trademark shirt in winter time.
• Rabbit's friends and relations are not in the movie at all, although they are seen at the beginning of the film near Christopher Robin's house. This is a reference to the original books, as they are seen on the map at the beginning of the book.
• The part where Roo and Tigger jump out of a tree took place in summer in the original stories and not in winter as in the movie.
• In the original stories, Piglet's sweater is green, while it is magenta in the movie.

References

External links

• The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh at the Big Cartoon DataBase
• The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh at the Internet Movie Database

v • d • e Winnie-the-Pooh Books When We Were Very Young (1924) · Winnie-the-Pooh (1926) · Now We Are Six (1927) · The House at Pooh Corner (1928) · Return to the Hundred Acre Wood (2009) Characters Eeyore · Gopher · Heffalump · Kanga · Kessie · Lottie  · Lumpy · Owl · Piglet · Rabbit · Christopher Robin · Roo · Tigger · Winnie-the-Pooh · Woozle · List Storybook classicial stories Winnie the Pooh and the Honey Tree (1966) · Winnie the Pooh and the Blustery Day (1968) · Winnie the Pooh and Tigger Too! (1974) · Winnie the Pooh and a Day for Eeyore (1983) Feature films and DTV The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh (1977) · Pooh's Grand Adventure: The Search for Christopher Robin (1997) · Winnie the Pooh: Seasons of Giving (1999) · The Tigger Movie (2000) · Winnie the Pooh: A Very Merry Pooh Year (2002) · Piglet's Big Movie (2003) · Winnie the Pooh: Springtime with Roo (2004) · Pooh's Heffalump Movie (2005) · Pooh's Heffalump Halloween Movie (2005) Television Welcome to Pooh Corner (1983–1986) · The New Adventures of Winnie the Pooh (1988–1991) · The Book of Pooh (2001–2002) · My Friends Tigger & Pooh (2007–present) Specials Cartoon All-Stars to the Rescue (1990) · Winnie the Pooh and Christmas Too (1991) · Boo to You Too! Winnie the Pooh (1996) · A Winnie the Pooh Thanksgiving (1998) · Winnie the Pooh: A Valentine for You (1999) Video games Winnie the Pooh in the Hundred Acre Wood · Winnie the Pooh Adventures · Winnie the Pooh's Party Games: In Search of the Treasure · Tigger's Honey Hunt · Pooh & Tigger's Hunny Safari · Winnie the Pooh Pre-School · Winnie the Pooh Kindergarten · Piglet's Big Game · Winnie the Pooh's Rumbly Tumbly Adventure · Ready to Read with Pooh · Kingdom Hearts (series) Songs "Winnie the Pooh" (1966) · "Up, Down and Touch the Ground" (1966) · "Mind Over Matter" (1966) · "Rumbly in My Tumbly" (1966) · "A Rather Blustery Day" (1968) · "When the Rain Rain Rain Came Down" (1968) · "Little Black Rain Cloud" (1968) · "Heffalumps and Woozles" (1968) · "Hip Hip Pooh-Ray!" (1968) · "The Wonderful Things About Tiggers" (1974) · "I Hum to Myself" (1983) · "Just Say, 'Yes I Can'" (1983) · "The Right Side" (1983) · "You're the Only You" (1983) · "Try a Little Something New" (1983) · "Ev'ry Season Has A Reason" (1999) · "Someone Like Me" (2000) · "Whoop-de-Dooper Bounce" (2000) · "Pooh's Lullabee" (2000) · "How To Be A Tigger" (2000) · "Round My Family Tree" (2000) · "Your Heart Will Lead You Home" (2000) People A. A. Milne · Christopher Robin Milne · Sherman Brothers · Jim Cummings · Peter Dennis · Walt Disney · Sterling Holloway · Paul Winchell · Yevgeny Leonov  · E. H. Shepard · Shirley Slesinger Lasswell · Stephen Slesinger · David Benedictus Related articles Ashdown Forest · Bother! The Brain of Pooh · Hundred Acre Wood · Methuen & Co. Ltd. · More Songs from Pooh Corner · Poohsticks · Return to Pooh Corner · The Tao of Pooh · The Te of Piglet · Winnipeg the Bear Category ·  Wikiquote ·  Commons ·  Wikinews