WINNIE THE POOH
(G)
MOVIE: **** (out of 5)
BLU-RAY EXPERIENCE: *** (out of 5)
BY KEVIN CARR
As if Disney wasn’t already out-cuting itself with its 2011 releases (including a new “Cars” film and the upcoming “The Muppets”), they gave us a brand new “Winnie the Pooh” film. While we’ve seen the Hundred Acre woods on the big screen relatively recently with “Pooh’s Heffalump Movie” and “Piglet’s Big Movie,” this new “Winnie the Pooh” goes for throwback nostalgia, and it hits a home run.
This short feature, which barely runs over an hour, follows the gang of toys in Christopher Robin’s room as they try to find a new tail for Eeyore. The charm from the original short films of the 60s, 70s and 80s are back, tossing away the overthought and neurotic television shows since “The New Adventures of Winnie the Pooh” came out in the mid-80s. We get the same characters with their original cuddliness. We also get some beautiful retro-style animation and some musical numbers too.
Things get a little over-hyper at times, but on the whole, this is a somber, sweet and neat film that plays well for audiences of all ages.
The combo pack comes with the DVD and the Blu-ray, along with some decent bonus content. There’s five deleted scenes, the accompanying theatrical short “The Ballad of Nessie,” the Pooh short “Pooh’s Balloon,” plus some Blu-ray exclusive features, including “Winnie the Pooh and His Story Too” and “Sing Along with the Movie.”