Winnie the Pooh 720p - (2011 Lang: English)

Winnie the Pooh is great fun!

I was able to see a special screening of this movie at the L.A. Film Festival and I was very excited for it. For starters, I'm a huge Winnie the Pooh fan and the 1977 animated movie is one of my favorites. However, even though I was very excited to see it I was a bit worried that this might be a disappointment because I heard the running time for the film was less than an hour. Well, while watching this movie my worries were pushed to the side. I loved everything about this movie and in the end I was quite pleased with the length of the film and when I thought about it I'm not sure why that was a worry for me. Winnie the Pooh isn't not something that can be stretched to 90 minutes without having some major filling and this movie had none.

There have also been some talks about the animation and how it's in 2d and that is one of the reasons I was excited. Winnie the Pooh wouldn't work in any other type of animation and so Disney made the right choice in returning to the 2d for this movie. The characters all look great, especially Eeyore and Christopher Robin. Another thing that surprised me about the movie was how every character was well represented. I was worried that the story might not focus on all the characters and that some would be left out. However, that was not the case. Every character has their fair of great moments, from Eeyore's tail contest to Rabbit's silly antics later in the movie.

I think another reason why this film succeeds is because of the story line. There is plenty of going on, but it doesn't get overstuffed and it doesn't drag. The movie starts off on the characters looking for a new tail for Eeyore and smoothly transitions into the characters trying to rescue Christopher Robin because they miss read the letter he left at his house. The voices for all the characters are great and it's another reason this film succeeds. Everyone involved adds something to each character and truly makes it their own, something a lot of other animated movies fail at.

Lastly, the score for the movie was great and really added something special to the scenes that carried the movie and hearing Zooey Deschanel sing the Winnie the Pooh theme song was terrific. When I think back on it there was nothing that disappointed me in this movie and it was everything I could ever want from a Disney movie.

Winnie the Pooh is a 2011 American animated buddy musical comedy film produced by Walt Disney Animation Studios and released by Walt Disney Pictures. It is the 51st Disney animated feature film. Inspired by A. A. Milne's stories of the same name, the film is part of Disney's Winnie the Pooh franchise, the fifth theatrical Winnie the Pooh film released, and Walt Disney Animation Studios' second adaptation of Winnie-the-Pooh stories. Jim Cummings reprises his vocal roles as Winnie the Pooh and Tigger, while series newcomers Travis Oates, Tom Kenny, Craig Ferguson, Bud Luckey, and Kristen Anderson-Lopez provide the voices of Piglet, Rabbit, Owl, Eeyore, and Kanga, respectively. In the film, the aforementioned residents of the Hundred Acre Wood embark on a quest to save Christopher Robin from an imaginary culprit while Pooh deals with a hunger for honey. The film is directed by Stephen Anderson and Don Hall, adapted from Milne's books by a story team led by Burny Mattinson, produced by Peter Del Vecho, Clark Spencer, John Lasseter, and Craig Sost, and narrated by John Cleese.

The film was released on April 15, 2011 in the United Kingdom, and on July 15, 2011 in the United States. Production for the film began in September 2009 with John Lasseter announcing that they wanted to create a film that would "transcend generations." The film also features six songs by Kristen Anderson-Lopez and Robert Lopez, as well as a rendition of the Sherman Brothers' "Winnie the Pooh" theme song by actress and musician Zooey Deschanel.

The film is dedicated to Dan Read, who had worked on Disney films including The Emperor's New Groove and Chicken Little, and died on May 25, 2010. That was also Huell Howser's (who voices the Backson in the epilogue) only film role.

Winnie-the-Pooh wakes up one day to find that he is out of honey. While out searching for more, Pooh discovers that Eeyore has lost his tail. Pooh, Piglet, Rabbit, Owl, Kanga, and Roo come to the rescue while Tigger has his bouncing fun, and Christopher Robin decides to hold a contest to see who can find a replacement for Eeyore's tail. The prize for the winner is a fresh pot of honey. After many failed attempts for what would replace Eeyore's tail (including a cuckoo clock, then a yoyo, an umbrella, a dartboard, misc toys, a vane, and a concertina), Kanga suggests that they use a scarf, which unravels.

The next day, Pooh goes to visit Christopher Robin and he finds a note that says "Gone Out Busy Back Soon (misspelled as "Gon Out Bizy Back Soon")". Because Pooh is unable to read the note, he asks for Owl's help. Owl's poor reading comprehension skills lead Pooh and his friends to believe that Christopher Robin has been abducted by a ruthless and mischievous monster they call the "Backson" and Owl describes it in a song that is shown in a chalk-drawn scene. Rabbit plans to trap the Backson in a pit, which they think he will fall into after following a trail of items leading to it. Meanwhile, Tigger, who wants a sidekick to help him defeat the Backson, recruits a reluctant Eeyore to be a second Tigger. He dresses up like the Backson and tries to teach Eeyore how to fight. Eeyore manages to escape from Tigger and hides underwater where he discovers an anchor.

After a failed attempt to get honey from a bee hive, Pooh's imagination combined with his hunger get the better of him which has ended up eating some mud and later, accidentally falls into the pit meant for the Backson. Rabbit, Kanga, Roo, Owl, Piglet, and Eeyore (using the anchor he found as a replacement tail) try to get him out, but fall in themselves. Piglet, who did not fall in, attempts to get Pooh and friends out of the trap (though continuously irritating Rabbit with over-interpretations of his instructions), but he runs into Tigger, still in his Backson outfit, and mistakes him for the actual monster. Piglet escapes from Tigger on a red balloon, which knocks some of the storybook's letters into the pit. After the chase, Tigger and Piglet fall into the trap as well, where Eeyore reminds Tigger that he, being "the only one," is "the most wonderful thing about Tiggers". Eventually, Pooh figures out to use the fallen letters to form a ladder, and his friends are able to escape the pit. They soon find Christopher Robin, and tell him about the Backson, but he clarifies, saying that he meant to be "back soon." The hunny pot prize has given to the red balloon from earlier, much to Pooh's dismay.

Later, Pooh visits Owl only to find that Owl is the one that has taken Eeyore's tail, not realizing that it belongs to Eeyore. Owl has been using Eeyore's tail as a bell-pull for his door. Pooh chooses to leave and return the tail to Eeyore instead of sharing a pot of honey with Owl. Christopher Robin is proud of Pooh's selflessness and rewards him with a large pot of honey.

I was waiting to see this for my 3 year old first visit to a cinema and I have to say that although I wasn't brought up on Winnie myself, my Daughter loved it and I have to say I was nothing but impressed with this wonderful piece of simplicity, light humor and pure joy of the film and it's characters.

If you want to spend an hour or so just seeing life in it's simplest childhood joy as it should be for all children, then see this.

My Daughter loved it and all she said at the end was " again, again! " while attempting to finish off all her popcorn!

One of the best films of the year and in some time to boot.

Simply brilliant. If you have a heart, you'll love this! Back to the childhood innocence I know and love...