MY FRIENDS TIGGER & POOH: SUPER SLEUTH CHRISTMAS MOVIE
(NOT RATED)
MOVIE: *** (out of 5)
DVD EXPERIENCE: **1/2 (out of 5)
Studio: Disney
BY KEVIN CARR
One of the newest preschool programs on television is the latest incarnation of the Winnie the Pooh franchise. “My Friends Tigger & Pooh” takes all the friends from the Hundred Acre Wood and puts them into a CGI environment, similar to the style of the Mickey Mouse Clubhouse. Instead of Christopher Robin, the human companion is Darby, a young girl who interacts with the stuffed animals.
It didn’t take the Mouse House long after the show premiered to put together a special Christmas episode. The characters gather as Super Sleuths to solve mysteries in the show. This special mystery occurs when Santa’s magical toy sack goes missing. It’s up to the gang in the Hundred Acre Wood to find out where it went.
While the show runs only a half-hour on television (which amounts to only 22 minutes of story), this Christmas special is twice as long. The rudimentary nature of the show grinds a bit on the grown-up nerve, but still it’s one of the better preschool programs out there. The show itself, and the Christmas special, teach fine lessons to kids and keeps them interested with characters that have proved their worth for decades.
In the new CGI format, the show isn’t as heartwarming as the original animated shorts from 40 years ago or so, but they’re also far better than the crappy animated television series that ran in the 1980s.
The DVD comes with a bonus episode of the series and a set-top game that kids will enjoy playing with a grown-up’s help.