Disney Animation Reviews #22: The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh

Disney Movie Review: 22/53 - The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh

Ryan Dosier - The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh is an adorably delightful collection of previously released Winnie the Pooh short subject cartoons released by Disney. The film was compiled and released (with some new interstitial material) in 1977. Although it is, at its core, a collection of shorts, the film is still wonderful and charming.

The cast of characters in this film based on A.A. Milne’s work is now iconic, mostly because of this film. Winnie the Pooh and his friends in the Hundred Acre Wood are some of the most beloved characters Disney has ever drawn—and with good reason. Tigger, Piglet, Eeyore, and the rest are all joyful, fun, innocent characters that are a delight to watch.

It’s hard to pick a favorite character or story in this wonderfully episodic piece. All of them are animated wonderfully, voiced wonderfully, and just plain wonderful. I’m partial to the “wise” Owl and the “smart” Rabbit, but again, I enjoy them all so much. Piglet is especially funny in The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh and is a definite highlight.

I also love the music in this film. Adorable songs like “Rumbly in My Tumbly” (almost typed Rumbly in My Tumblr), “I’m Just a Rain Cloud,” and “The Wonderful Thing About Tiggers” are catchy classics. It’s hard not to love this movie with songs and characters that are so well done.

But as is the case with any “package film” like this, some of the shorts are weaker than others. The “Blustery,” “Rainy,” and “Snowy” Day shorts are absolutely wonderful, but the shorts involving Rabbit and Tigger lost in the woods and Pooh and the Heffalumps are rather weak in comparison—and much, much shorter as well. Thankfully, there are enough quality shorts to give each of the colorful Milne characters time to shine.

My favorite short is when Pooh finds himself too fat to get out of Rabbit’s house and everyone must wait until he thins out to pull him free. This is the first short and it introduces us to Pooh’s world in a hilarious fashion. It also introduces the character of Gopher, who was invented by Disney, not Milne. Gopher often comments how “I’m not in the book!” and it’s a lovely break of the fourth wall that I really appreciate.

The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh may not be the most impressive Disney animated feature, but what it is is positively wonderful. Somehow it all works making it two great successes in a row for Disney animation.

3.5/5 Heffalumps and/or Woozles