One of the sincerest animated efforts seen in a very long time, Winnie The Pooh is a cinematic pot of golden honey. Chances are your kids probably won't see a better movie this year
Winnie The Pooh
U; Animation
Dir: Stephen J Anderson, Don Hall
Cast: Jim Cummings, Bud Luckey, Craig Ferguson, Tom Kenny, John Cleese, Travis Oates
****u00a0
Before becoming the face of tiffin-boxes and pencil-cases everywhere, Winnie The Pooh was a character created by English author A A Milne and the protagonist of an animated series adapted by Walt Disney in the '60s. One may, therefore, question the motive behind making a full-length feature on the exploits of a honey-obsessed bear and his none-too-bright friends in an age where laughs are generated through artfully made pop culture references and cynical observations. However, with its sweet, nostalgic vibe and surprisingly smart writing, Winnie The Pooh comes across as a welcome zephyr of fresh air. In the time of motion-capture and 3D, Winnie The Pooh is a glorious return to traditional hand-drawn animation.u00a0
Sure, it's sweet enough to induce hyperglycemia but you would have to be made of stone to not be charmed by Winnie The Pooh's honeyed centre. In fact, the beauty of the story, written by Anderson and ten other writers, lies in its subtle layering. Most modern animated movies (with the notable exception of Wall-E) tend to fall into the same trap: in a bid to keep both children and adults hooked, they tend to yo-yo between immature slapstick that makes the adults squirm around in their seats and nudge-nudge-wink-wink references that children fail to understand. In Winnie The Pooh's case, the writing makes all its nods without disturbing the fabric of the story. In its treatment of Winnie and his friends, the script finds the perfect balance between reverence and cheekiness.
The plot itself is a wafer-thin sentence: Winnie-the-Pooh has Something Very Important To Do. As the narrative begins, transformed from a real world with stuffed toys to the animated world within the pages of the book (thereby establishing loud and clear that this is, in fact, a fable), the masterful John Cleese provides a voice-over introducing us to a sleeping Pooh Bear. When Winnie refuses to wake up despite repeated pleas to do so by the narrator, the frame of reference zooms out of the page and shakes the book around until Winnie actually gets up.
This scene sets the tone for the rest of the movie i.e. whimsical without being inane. The fourth wall is often broken but never directly. It is made clear that the movie is place within the confines of a book, with actual paragraphs, sentences and letters visually interplaying with the characters. The voice work, from Cummings as Winnie and the clumsy but lovable tiger Tigger to Luckey as sad-sack donkey Eeyore, is top-notch.
At its most superficial level, Winnie The Pooh is a likeable but puerile tale of a bear in search of honey, a donkey in search of his missing tail and a motley group of friends eager to help. However, dig deeper and the movie throws up important life lessons about friendship, loyalty and perseverance. At an even deeper level, it works as a parable that warns us about the dangers of blind faith as well as (believe it or not) addiction.
If this isn't Disney at its best, I don't know what is. One of the sincerest animated efforts seen in a very long time, Winnie The Pooh is a cinematic pot of golden honey. Chances are your kids probably won't see a better movie this year.
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