- “An all new story brought to life on the big screen.”
- ―Tagline
Winnie the Pooh is a traditionally-animated feature film created and produced at Walt Disney Animation Studios and presented by Walt Disney Pictures. It is the 51st film in the Disney Animated Canon, and most recent Disney movie to be traditionally animated in 2D. Production began in late 2009 and the film was released on July 15, 2011. and Last Disney Animation Studios film to be Produced by his Dedicated Traditionally hand-drawn 2D-animated department Division at Walt Disney Animation Studios in Burbank, before the studio closed the unit in 2013.
Inspired by A. A. Milne's stories of the same name, Winnie the Pooh features two previously never-before-adapted stories from the original books, in the same style as previous Disney-produced Winnie the Pooh featurettes, such as Winnie the Pooh and the Honey Tree, Winnie the Pooh and the Blustery Day, and Winnie the Pooh and Tigger Too! The film acts as both a sequel to The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh, and a reboot of the franchise. Unlike The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh, this film however is a full-bodied feature with single narrative as opposed to being a package film with three separate Winnie the Pooh featurettes stitched together to fill up its feature length running time.
The film is directed by Stephen Anderson and Don Hall and produced by Clark Spencer and Peter Del Vecho, with John Lasseter as executive producer. Burny Mattinson, a Disney veteran who worked on several of the previous Pooh films, served as lead storyboard artist.
The film was scored by Henry Jackman, with additional music by Christopher Willis with Robert Lopez and his wife Kristen Anderson-Lopez contributing seven new songs for the film. Zooey Deschanel performed a new version of the Sherman Brothers' "Winnie the Pooh" theme. In the Latin American version of the film, the song is sung by Danna Paola.
The film is dedicated to Dan Read, who had worked on Disney films, including The Emperor's New Groove and Chicken Little, and who passed away on May 25, 2010.
Due to the film competing with Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – Part 2 in 3D on the same weekend, it was a box office disappointment, grossing $50.1 million worldwide a against a budget of $30 million.[1] As a result, Disney closed its 2D-animated department in 2013.[2] However, Disney would still use traditional animation with mixing the CGI animation on their films. Additionally, Disney still uses traditional animation in films, primarily on animated shorts, like the Short Circuit series on Disney+. However, the studio stated in 2019 and 2023 that they are open to proposals from filmmakers for future hand-drawn feature projects. In addition, in April 2022, Eric Goldberg, one of the studio's longtime hand-drawn animators, confirmed plans within the Disney studio to once again return to hand-drawn animation.
Sources[]
The film is primarily based on three stories from the A. A. Milne books. Two of which are from Winnie-the-Pooh: "In which Eeyore loses his tail and Pooh finds one" and "In which Piglet meets a Heffalump". The other story is from The House at Pooh Corner: "In which Rabbit has a busy day and we learn what Christopher Robin does in the mornings". Some elements, such as the gang thinking that Christopher Robin has been captured by a monster due to a misspelling on a note, are based on events from the film Pooh's Grand Adventure: The Search for Christopher Robin.
Plot[]
The film opens with a view of a boy's bedroom, with assorted toys and books scattered around. The narrator states that it is the room of Christopher Robin, and that he likes to collect things. He mostly likes to collect stuffed animals, and his favorite toy bear is Winnie the Pooh.
The movie shifts to animation, with the pages of a book, and illustrations of the Hundred Acre Wood, where Winnie the Pooh and his friends live. The page turns and it is Chapter One: "In Which Winnie the Pooh has a Very Important Thing to Do". Pooh is sleeping and the narrator calls his name to wake him, but he is talking in his sleep about honey. Pooh finally wakes up and his stomach growls-he says it is rumbly for honey and "a Pooh Bear takes care of his tummy." He looks all over his house, but all the honey pots are empty. So, he leaves to go find some honey from one of his generous friends.
Pooh finds the ever-gloomy donkey named Eeyore, and asks if he has any honey. Eeyore doesn't have any, but as he checks, Pooh notices that Eeyore's tail is missing. Owl is up above them in the tree, writing his personal memoirs, and Pooh asks him if he could take a break and help them find Eeyore's missing tail. The loyal Owl suggests that first, they must issue a reward for the finder of the tail. Pooh says "Gesundheit" and asks if he is sick. Owl is confused and Eeyore confirms that both he and Pooh heard Owl sneeze. He thinks they are silly, and he did not sneeze. They get back to discussing Eeyore's tail, and when Owl mentions they need to issue a reward, both Pooh and Eeyore again think he sneezed. Eeyore also thinks that he is catching whatever Owl has, and has a scratchy throat. Pooh tells him that honey is good for a scratchy throat. Owl finally figures out that whenever he said "issue", they thought he said, "achoo", like a sneeze. He reassures them that he isn't sick, and explains what "issue" means. They agree that Christopher Robin needs to write and hang the notices about the missing tail and reward.
"A Very Important Thing to Do" signs go up, and all the beloved animals in the Hundred Acre Wood show up for a meeting. An loyal, boisterious, bouncing tiger called Tigger bounces in with B'loon, and the static from it makes it stick to his fur, which scares him at first. He sings "The Most Wonderful Thing About Tiggers". At the podium, Christopher Robin informs the animals of the tragedy of the missing tail. There is a contest to find the best replacement tail for Eeyore and the winner will get a pot of honey. With honey as the reward, Pooh is thinking of what would be a good tail for Eeyore. He runs home and comes back with his cuckoo clock. They stick it on the nail in Eeyore's rear and proclaim it is a fine tail and Pooh wins the honey. They sing the honey-winner's song and as Pooh is about to eat the honey, Eeyore sits down and the cuckoo clock shatters. So they take the honey back, which saddens Pooh, and all start trying other tails. The timid Piglet brings B'loon over, but it lifts Eeyore's hind legs up and tries to fly away. Then they try a yoyo, umbrella, dartboard, misc toys, a vane, and a concertina but none will work. A sweet-hearted female kangaroo Kanga brings over the scarf she has been knitting, and places it on Eeyore's nail. He likes it, and they proclaim her the winner and start singing the honey-winner's song again, but she asks them to celebrate with silence.
Pooh's tummy keeps rumbling, so he leaves to find some honey, as it is now past breakfast and nearly lunch. He finds a red string on the ground, and follows it, and eventually finds that it is Kanga's scarf. It has gotten stuck on something and come unraveled, so Eeyore is still in need of a tail. They walk back home and find a note from Christopher Robin: "Gon Out. Bizy. Back Soon". Pooh cannot read it as he says he is a bear with very little brain, and so he takes it to Owl to read. Owl invites him in, and offers him some honey. As Pooh stretches up to the shelf to reach the honey, his tummy stitches pop, and his stuffing falls out. He puts it back, but before he can eat the honey, Owl is worried about the note: He reads it as Christopher Robin has been captured and being held by a creature called the Backson. He describes him to Pooh as a huge creature with horns, a ring in his nose, and a pointy tail. He is the creature that scribbles in your books, tangles the hooks in the Christmas decorations, and puts holes in your socks. A terrible creature such as this means they must rescue Christopher Robin.
The friends come up with a plan: They will dig a deep hole, fill it with things the Backson would like, and then he will fall in it and be captured. They dig and bring lots of toys to fill the hole. Pooh covers it with a picnic blanket and Piglet puts large rocks on the corners. They hope they can lure the Backson there and he will fall in. Piglet brings a honey pot and places it in the blanket. Pooh opens it to eat it, but it is empty. Piglet explains it is just for the disguise of tricking the Backson. The animals dress up with pots, pans or even an oven mitt on their heads for protection, and begin to leave a trail of toys through the woods, to lure the Backson out. Tigger, however, has another plan: he thinks they are too slow, so he dresses up like a Backson, and goes into the woods to track him. He finds Eeyore, who has been left behind as he was too slow to keep up. Tigger says that the two of them will go track the Backson together. First, he tries to "tigger-ize" Eeyore: He paints Tigger-stripes on him and adds a spring for a tail. He tries to teach Eeyore to bounce likes he does.
Pooh spies a beehive but it is too high to reach. He places Piglet on the low end of a teeter-totter and then he jumps on the high end, sending Piglet soaring up into the tree, but he is shot right into the beehive, head-first. Pooh tries to get his head out of the beehive by hitting the hive with a stick, and Piglet is worried. The bees inside don't seem to like that. Pooh keeps hitting it, and the angry swarm of bees comes out and chases them. Pooh says, "Run!" and they run smack into steadfast and humorous Rabbit. Rabbit takes the hive off poor Piglet's head, and throws it up high into a tree, and the bees go back in. Pooh asks Rabbit, "Rabbit, Please, can we stop for lunch?" as his tummy is rumbling loudly, but Rabbit says not until they rescue Christopher Robin.
All Pooh hears is honey-honey-honey whenever anyone says anything-he is so distracted by his hunger that he can't think of anything else. Rabbit suggests that he try to think of something else, like finding Christopher Robin. He sees a honey pot, and runs for it, and falls into a deep hole before he can grab it. He had just fallen into the Backson trap. Pooh moans as he is stuck and cannot get out. The animals hear the scary moan and think they have caught the Backson. Afraid, none want to check, but they finally do and are surprised to see Pooh in the hole. Eeyore comes over and has an anchor on his tail. All the animals fall in the hole and are stuck. Piglet is topside and tries to help them out. He looks for help, but no one is there. He cuts a long rope into 6 small pieces, one for each animal, but the pieces are too short to reach into the hole. Rabbit tells him to knot the rope, but he says he cannot. Rabbit remembers that Christopher Robin has a rope in his room and sends Piglet to go get it. He is scared to go into the woods by himself. He goes and gets frightened by the shadows there. He sees that one of the shadows is just B'loon stuck in some branches. He pulls to get B'loon out, bumps into Tigger in his Backson disguise, freaks out, and runs away, thinking the Backson is there to get him. They run and fall into the hole. Pooh sees B'loon floating above, takes the letters from the story, stacks them into a letter-ladder, and climbs out of the hole. The rest of the animals do the same. They hear a noise and are frightened that it is the real Backson, but it is just Christopher Robin. They are happy that he is safe and ask how he escaped the Backson. Christopher Robin has no idea what they are talking about, so they show him the note. He explains that they just misread the note and that it said that he had "gone out" to school and would be "back soon".
For finding a way out of the hole and saving the day, they award the honey pot prize to B'loon. Pooh just says, "Oh, bother". He walks to Owl's house to hear him read and have that long-promised taste of honey and sees a sign, "Don't Nock-Plez Ring", so Pooh pulls the ringer for the bell and stares at it. Something about it is very familiar: he remembers! It is Eeyore's missing tail! Owl said he found it in a thistle bush. Pooh takes it to Christopher Robin with Eeyore so Christopher can reattach the tail. Pooh asks Eeyore if he is happy with it, but he says, "No. But I sure do like this new tail."
As a surprise, Christopher Robin gives Pooh a giant pot of honey along with the other animals as a reward. Pooh climbs up the sides of the pot, climbs in, and closes the lid. He swims in the honey and eats large handfuls. Later, Christopher Robin explains to Pooh that he really did a "very important thing" as he thought of his friend instead of his tummy. Pooh believes he will never be hungry again for a while after he ate all the honey he was given, only for his tummy to rumble once again. Christopher laughs and says, "Silly Old Bear".
In a post-credits scene, it is revealed that the rumored Backson actually exists deep in the woods, but is much friendlier than imagined. He discovers the trail of objects that the animals left and picks up each one, planning to return them to whoever owns them. He ends up falling into the hole originally meant for him and waits for someone to arrive and help him out where he adds, "I sure hope that fellow will be back soon".
Cast[]
The original Winnie-the-Pooh stuffed toys.
- Jim Cummings as Winnie the Pooh, the main protagonist, and Tigger
- Travis Oates as Piglet
- Jack Boulter as Christopher Robin
- Bud Luckey as Eeyore
- Kristen Anderson-Lopez as Kanga
- Wyatt Dean Hall as Roo
- Tom Kenny as Rabbit (Kenny replaces Ken Sansom as the voice of Rabbit)
- Craig Ferguson as Owl
- John Cleese as The Narrator
- Huell Howser as The Backson, the main antagonist.
Production[]
Development
Walt Disney Animation Studios' chief creative officer John Lasseter first approached Stephen Anderson is best known for his work on Meet the Robinsons, the 7th Episode Journey Beneath the Sea for First Season of The Oz Kids, which was not produced by Disney, instead, was produced by Hyperion Animation (which also produced The Brave Little Toaster and The Proud Family), Brother Bear, The Emperor's New Groove, and Bolt and Don Hall also has veteran status at Walt Disney Animation Studios, contributing significantly to The Princess and the Frog, Meet the Robinsons, Brother Bear, Home on the Range, The Emperor's New Groove and Tarzan In November 2008, about making a new Winnie the Pooh film for theaters, with the two becoming enthusiastic at the idea and accepting the project to create a film that would "transcend generations". In 2009, the same year as the release of The Princess and the Frog, John Lasseter, Stephen J. Anderson, and Don Hall viewed the classic Winnie the Pooh short films to discover how to make the title character culturally relevant.
Cast, Last Role and Interestingly
Kath Soucie (Kanga), Ken Sansom (Rabbit), Peter Cullen (Eeyore) and Andre Stojka (Owl) were recast by different actors for this movie, with Jim Cummings and Travis Oates being the only voice actors to retain their roles. Sansom died of a stroke a year later after the film's release. The voice cast also includes Tom Kenny as Rabbit, Craig Ferguson as Owl, Bud Luckey as Eeyore, Kristen Anderson-Lopez as Kanga, Wyatt Dean Hall as Roo, Jack Boulter as Christopher Robin and Huell Howser as Backson. This was also Howser's final film role before his retirement in 2012 and death from prostate cancer in January 2013. In the film, which is narrated by John Cleese, unlike several other versions of Owl, especially the Disney incarnation, the 2011 version of Owl is a funnier character. Humorous, comedic, egotistical, and less wise than previous iterations like Craig Ferguson as well as the other Disney characters and other comedians. John Cleese had previously Voiced the Narrator of "How Not to be Seen" in Monty Python's Flying Circus and And Now For Something Completely Different. The Narrator in Winnie the Pooh is Good Like Main Characters Such As Winnie the Pooh and others. The Narrator of "How Not to be Seen" is Terrorist and Killer.
Candi Milo and Corey Burton were Originally considered for the role of Kanga, Roo and Narrator, due to scheduling conflicts with dubbing and other commitments from Milo and Burton and Replaced by Kristen Anderson Lopez, Wyatt Hall and John Cleese.
Animation, Design and Deleted Scene
Following a trip to Ashdown Forest in Sussex, South East England to explore the location of A. A. Milne's original stories, the filmmakers enlisted Burny Mattinson, a Disney veteran who worked as the key animator on the 1974 short Winnie the Pooh and Tigger Too!, to serve as lead storyboard artist for the film, with Anderson and Hall directing. After seeing all the feature films about Winnie the Pooh, Mattinson thought he could use Milne's story "In which Eeyore loses his tail and Pooh finds one" as the basic idea for the plot. Mattinson's five-minute pitch for the sequence where Eeyore loses his tail is credited with convincing Disney executives to make the film a feature-length work instead of a featurette. Regarding the decision to use hand-drawn (traditional) animation in lieu of computer-generated imagery (CGI), Anderson stated that "If this were a fully CG-animated and rendered and lit Pooh, it just wouldn’t feel right. We would be doing the characters a real disservice." Many of the animation staff from The Princess and the Frog (2009) were brought in to work on Winnie the Pooh, as the two films involved traditional animation, traditional paper and pencil drawings, pipeline, workflow, rough animation, compositing animation and additional clean-up/in-between animation and digital ink and paint, The main Hand-Drawn Rough animation, pencil drawings and rough pencil test's work was done in-house at Walt Disney Animation Studios in Burbank. While the Tradicional Animation, which were then scanned into the computer systems, compositing animation, additional clean-up/in-between animation and digital ink and paint was provided by Yowza! Animation, Inc. which provided the clean-up for 101 Dalmatians (1996), clean-up, animation and additional animation for Disney Interactive's video games, Goofy's short How to Hook Up Your Home Theater (2007), The Princess and the Frog (2009) and the last Disney traditionally animated short The Ballad of Nessie (2011). Among the animation supervisors are Mark Henn (Winnie the Pooh and Christopher Robin), Andreas Deja (Tigger), Bruce W. Smith (Piglet, Kanga and Roo), Randy Haycock (Eeyore), Eric Goldberg (Rabbit and Backson) and Dale Baer (Owl).
Unlike previous appearances where Christopher Robin's eyes were black dots similar to Pooh Bear, Tigger, Piglet, Kanga and Roo, his eyes are now white sclera and black pupils like the other characters, The Character Design Was Done by Paul Felix the Art Director for the Film.
The production would also use the same software utilized for The Princess and the Frog, Toon Boom Animation's Harmony, to digitally ink and paint the character drawings with black lines. as well as many of the backgrounds, were created digitally in Adobe Photoshop the Two Same Techinques utilized for The Princess and the Frog While the Additional animation was done in Adobe Flash.
For the Backson song, the animators' drawings were inked with wide-tipped felt markers and given a rough texture in post production to make them look like chalkboard drawings.
Originally, the film was supposed to feature five stories from the A. A. Milne books, but the final version ended up drawing inspiration from three stories. Lasseter had also announced that Rabbit's friends and relatives would be in the film, but they appear only in a deleted scene.
Release[]
Short films[]
The film was preceded by the animated short The Ballad of Nessie, which was about a friendly Loch Ness Monster named Nessie and how she and her best friend MacQuack, the rubber duck, came to live in the moor they now call home. In some international screenings, the episode "Cubby's Goldfish" from the Disney Jr. series Jake and the Never Land Pirates also appeared.
Reception[]
Winnie the Pooh received universal acclaim, despite its very short film length. The film received a "Certified Fresh" rating, with a score of 91% among all critics based on 118 reviews and 97% among top critics on Rotten Tomatoes. The site's consensus is: "Short, nostalgic, and gently whimsical, Winnie the Pooh offers young audiences ― and their parents ― a sweetly traditional family treat." Gary Goldstein of the Los Angeles Times says the film "proves a fitting tribute to one of the last century's most enduring children's tales." The film has been praised for not only being able to charm the children audience but the parents as well. Roger Ebert, giving it 3 stars out of 4, said in his review "In a time of shock-value 3-D animation and special effects, the look of the film is gentle and pleasing. It was hand-animated, I'm told, and the backgrounds use a subtle and reassuring watercolor style. It's a nightmare-proof experience for even the youngest viewers."
While Platform Online stated that Winnie the Pooh's "hand-drawn animation is such a welcome relief", it found the film's runtime length to be more of an issue, which it stated "At just 70 minutes, even aiming at kids this could have been longer – Pixar have been pushing films well over 90 minutes for years now, and it's clear the children can handle it. Just as you really get into the film it's over, and you're left wanting more."
Box Office[]
The film was a box-office disappointment at the time of its release. On its opening weekend, it got just $7,857,076, opening at 6th place, way behind the number one film, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2, which set a then-new box office record with $169,189,427, beating The Dark Knight's $158,411,483 in 2008, and was also behind Michael Bay's film, Transformers: Dark of the Moon. Adjusted for ticket price inflation, this is the 2nd lowest in the Pooh series, ahead of 2005's Pooh's Heffalump Movie. In its second week, the film dropped just 34% to $5,162,046, having it at 8th place. The movie grossed $26,692,846 in the US and $6,460,000 internationally for a total of $33,152,846.[3][4] The international grosses include $4.13 million in Japan, $1.33 million in Germany, $1.29 million in Poland, $1.18 million in the UK and $1.14 million in Russia.[5]
Home media[]
- Main article: Winnie the Pooh (video)
The film was released in the UK on DVD only on August 22, 2011. In the US, it was released on Blu-ray, DVD, and Digital Download on October 25, 2011. The releases included animated shorts: The Ballad of Nessie and Mini-Adventures of Winnie the Pooh: "Pooh's Balloon", as well as deleted scenes.
Awards and Nominations[]
The film won 1 out of 7 Annie Award nominations and received 2 more nominations making the total of 1 win and 8 nominations.
| Award | Category | Nominee | Result |
|---|---|---|---|
| Annie Awards | Animated Effects in an Animated Production | Dan Lund | Nominated |
| Character Animation in a Feature Production | Andreas Deja Mark Henn | ||
| Directing in a Feature Production | Don Hall Stephen Anderson | ||
| Music in a Feature Production | Zooey Deschannel, Kristen Anderson-Lopez, Henry Jackman, Robert Lopez | ||
| Production Design in a Feature Production | Paul Felix | ||
| Storyboarding in a Feature Production | Jeremy Spears | Won | |
| Writing in a Feature Production | Story by Brian Kesinger, Kendelle Hoyer, Don Dougherty, Clio Chiang, Don Hall, Stephen Anderson, Nicole Mitchell, Jeremy Spears | Nominated | |
| Chicago Film Critics Association Awards | Animated Film | ||
| Online Film Critics Society | Best Animated Film |
Trivia[]
- Morals:
- Sometimes you need to slow down, appreciate the present, and find contentment in simple things.
- It's okay to be scared or sad and to share those feelings with loved ones, it will eventually build resilience.
- By showing loyalty and coming together in times of need, friends will always be there for you.
- A simple act of kindness, like being there for a friend, can be very meaningful.
- It's very important to prioritize your friends' well-being over your own desires.
- This is the first Walt Disney Animation Studios feature to have a post-credits scene since Brother Bear in 2003.
- This is only the third time that Walt Disney Animation Studios produced a sequel to one of their films from the Disney Animated Classics canon in-house. The previous instances are as follows: The Rescuers Down Under (1990) followed The Rescuers (1977) and Fantasia 2000 (1999) followed Fantasia (1940).
- This is the last WDAS feature to have the 2006-present Walt Disney Pictures logo (2006-2011 version).
- This is the last Disney animated canon film to have the 1.78.1/1.85:1 aspect ratio until 2021's Encanto.
- The second and last traditionally-animated film to involve John Lasseter before he exited the Disney company as chief creative officer in 2018.
- This is also the last WDAS feature to have the "Walt Disney Pictures Presents" credit.
- Currently, this is so far, the Most Recent traditionally animated entity in the Disney canon to date. This is due to the closure of the hand-drawn department two years after the film was released, to make room for computer-animated features. However, (Walt) Disney Television Animation still uses hand drawn animation for shows, like Phineas and Ferb and DuckTales (2017) as well as their films. Walt Disney Animation Studios also still uses hand drawn animation as supplements for their current films, such as Maui's tattoos in Moana, Sorcerer Mickey's animation in Ralph Breaks the Internet, and a sequence in Raya and the Last Dragon. However, in April 2022, Eric Goldberg confirmed plans within the studio to once again return to hand-drawn animation.[6]
- After this movie, Winnie the Pooh and his friends didn't appear in any new movies for seven years until the 2018 live-action film Christopher Robin.
- Christopher Robin's design from this Film Was reused in Tales of Friendship with Winnie the Pooh, Books and Disney Magic Kingdoms where Christopher himself was released during the second Tower Challenge Event in August 2018.
- This is the first WDAS film to feature a voice actor to reprise a role originated in a Disneytoon Studios film, as Travis Oates voiced Piglet since Pooh's Heffalump Halloween Movie, as well as the first WDAS film to feature a voice actor reprising a role originated in a TV series, since Jim Cummings voiced Winnie the Pooh and Tigger since the 1988 TV series The New Adventures of Winnie the Pooh.
- Kristen Anderson-Lopez and Robert Lopez not only wrote new songs for this movie but they also starred in this movie as the voice of Kanga (filling in for Kath Soucie) and the sounds of Pooh Bear's tummy respectively. Peter Del Vecho loved their songs so much that he rehired them 2 years later to write songs for the movie Frozen (2013).
- This is also the first traditionally animated Disney theatrical film to include both a storybook opening and a storybook closing since Sleeping Beauty, as Beauty and the Beast: Belle's Magical World (the first Disney film overall to include both) was a direct to video midquel, and A Christmas Carol (the first Disney-made theatrical film) was a 3D-animated theatrical film.
- In the past Winnie the Pooh movies, Tigger was not named in the "Winnie the Pooh" theme song. But in this film however, he is finally named in this song after Kanga and Roo.
- This is the lowest grossing Winnie the Pooh film to date. Despite mostly positive reviews from critics, the film underperformed at the box office, mainly due to releasing the same day as Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows - Part 2 (2011), which grossed a lot higher than Winnie the Pooh (2011) did.
- First Winnie the Pooh film to not release on VHS.
- Tom Kenny stated in interviews that he was not asked to impersonate Ken Sansom's voice for Rabbit. This suited him, since he doesn't consider himself a good impressionist and avoids soundalike roles accordingly.
- Kath Soucie (Kanga), Ken Sansom (Rabbit), Peter Cullen (Eeyore) and Andre Stojka (Owl) were recast by different actors for this movie, with Jim Cummings and Travis Oates being the only voice actors to retain their roles. Sansom died of a stroke a year later after the film's release.
- The familiar theme song "Winnie the Pooh" is here performed by Zooey Deschanel.
- This is the last film by Walt Disney Animation Studios to be shown in a 1:85:1 aspect ratio up until Encanto (2021) and to be rated G by the Motion Picture Association (MPA).
- This was Walt Disney Animation Studios last hand drawn animated film to date until years later. Starting with Wreck-It Ralph (2012), the studio now makes computer-animated theatrical films exclusively.
- The last Walt Disney Animation Studios film to feature the 2006-2012 Walt Disney Pictures logo.
- This is the last Walt Disney Animation Studios feature film to be regularly rated G by the MPAA as their subsequent films continue will be receiving the PG rating due to stricter reasons and problems regarding the violent content in Pixar's Cars 2 while receiving such a non-restricted rating.[7] That is until years to come. As of now, the G rating will be given to films that are marketed primarily towards much younger children, such as Toy Story 4 in 2019.
- This was Walt Disney Animation Studios' last feature-length film to include "cartoony" sound effects until 2016's Moana, as most of that company's feature-length films would continue to be more realistic with a completely different sound design with Wreck-It Ralph (which would include some cartoon-like sound effects for certain scenes, especially the Sugar Rush scenes) up until Zootopia (like the Pixar films).
- The reason Peter Cullen did not voice Eeyore for this film was likely as he was busy voicing Optimus Prime in Transformers: Dark of the Moon (2011) at the time of recording.
- This was the first Walt Disney Animation Studios film to be scored by British composer Henry Jackman, who would eventually become a recurring composer of films from that studio after Frank Churchill, Leigh Harline, Paul J. Smith, Oliver Wallace, George Bruns, Alan Menken, Mark Mancina, John Debney, and James Newton Howard and before Christophe Beck.
- Owl and Christopher Robin both make their first appearances in 7 years, after having been absent from the franchise in that amount of time.
- This is the first shortest feature length Winnie the Pooh film since Pooh's Heffalump Movie (2005) to be released in theaters and the first Disney film in the animated features canon since Dumbo (1941), Saludos Amigos (1942) and The Adventures of Ichabod and Mr. Toad (1949) which were all made as short feature length animated films to be released in theaters.
- This is the first Winnie the Pooh film not to feature any of the original voice actors from the original Winnie the Pooh featurettes in any capacity, as the last surviving voice actors of the original Winnie the Pooh featurettes, Paul Winchell and John Fiedler, who voiced Tigger and Piglet respectively, have both passed away in 2005.
- Pooh Bear, Tigger, and Piglet are the only characters to retain their current voice actors (Jim Cummings and Travis Oates respectively).
- Both Jim Cummings and Tom Kenny previous co-starred together in the animated series CatDog and The Mummy: The Animated Series.
- Christopher Robin's voice in this film sounds different. In his appearances throughout the Disney franchise, his voice sounds a little bit older but in this film, his voice is much younger. In addition, his eyes are white with black pupils while in his two Disney appearances, his eyes are white with blue pupils. As such this is the only hand-drawn animation feature film to feature his eye design.
- This is the only theatrical animated sequel/reboot film whose predecessor was previously animated using xerography.
- The working title for this film was Winnie the Pooh and the Day in Which Many Things Happened.
- Lumpy and Mama Heffalump are absent.
- John Cleese, who narrates the film, had previously turned down the chance to voice characters in three other animated Disney films. Those roles being Basil in The Great Mouse Detective (1986), Cogsworth in Beauty and the Beast (1991), and Zazu in The Lion King (1994).
- John Cleese, who voices the narrator for this movie, used to be the narrator for the Mickey Mouse Works (1999) episodes "The Nutcracker", "Around the World in Eighty Days", "Midsummer Night's Dream" and "Mickey's Mechanical House".
- The film has a total runtime of 63 minutes, which is 12 minutes shorter than the original 1977 film, which in contrast, has a total runtime of 75 minutes, hence making this film one of the shortest-running films in the Disney Animated Canon alongside Dumbo (which has a total runtime of 64 minutes) and Saludos Amigos (which has a total runtime of 42 minutes). It is also the only Walt Disney Animation Studios film after Chicken Little to have a running time of less than 90 minutes.
- Much like Dinosaur, this movie is not included in the Disney Animated Canon In the UK, instead going straight to Wreck-It Ralph.
- This movie was released after My Friends Tigger & Pooh ended.
- Contrary to popular belief, this is actually the first Disney Animated Canon film in the Disney Revival era, as well as from the 2010s overall, to not be an original one, as its titular character has already experienced starring in his first feature film The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh, so this one serves as a as a sort of follow-up to that older film.
- To prepare for the film, the directors Stephen J. Anderson and Don Hall visited Ashdown Forest in England, the inspiration for A. A. Milne's original stories.
- Tom Kenny and Craig Ferguson's second time working together after SpongeBob's Truth or Square (2009).
- Of the film's cast members, Piglet, Owl, the Narrator and the Backson all had their voices done by celebrities (Travis Oates, Craig Ferguson, John Cleese and Huell Howser), featuring more celebrity castings than previous times in the franchise, whilst Pooh Bear, Tigger, Rabbit, Eeyore and Kanga were voiced by voice actors common in the industry and crew members of people who worked on the film respectively (Jim Cummings, Tom Kenny, Bud Luckey and Kristen Anderson-Lopez).
- In this Winnie the Pooh film, the narrator is John Cleese while in The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh (1977), the narrator was Sebastian Cabot. Both actors worked on different movies of The Jungle Book for Disney. Cabot voiced Bagheera in The Jungle Book (1967) while Cleese played Dr. Julius Plumford in Rudyard Kipling's The Jungle Book (1994).
- This is the eighth animated film where characters voiced by studio members are listed during the casting call of main cast members outside the credits, which applies to Bud Luckey as Eeyore and Kristen Anderson-Lopez (one of the composers) as Kanga. The previous seven like this had been Lilo & Stitch (2002) with Chris Sanders as Stitch (a deuteragonist), Open Season (2006) with Cody Cameron as Mr. Weenie (a tritagonist), Meet the Robinsons (2007) with Stephen J. Anderson as Bowler Hat Guy (a secondary antagonist), Ratatouille (2007) with Lou Romano as Alfredo Linguini (a deuteragonist) and Peter Sohn as Emile (a supporting character), Bolt (2008) with Mark Walton as Rhino (a tritagonist), Up (2009) with Bob Peterson as Dug and Alpha (a tritagonist and a secondary antagonist), director Pete Docter as Kevin (a tritagonist), and Jerome Ranft as Gamma (a tertiary antagonist), and Shrek: Forever After (2010) with Walt Dohrn as Rumpelstiltskin (a main antagonist).
- This is the sixth animated film from Walt Disney Animation Studios to have an experienced voice actor as a major cast member, which applies to Jim Cummings as Pooh Bear and Tigger and Tom Kenny as Rabbit. The previous five had been The Lion King (1994) with Jim Cummings, Mulan (1998) with June Foray, Atlantis: The Lost Empire (2001) with Corey Burton and Cree Summer, Lilo & Stitch (2002) with Kevin Michael Richardson, and The Princess and the Frog (2009) with Jim Cummings.
- Craig Ferguson (Owl) is the 2nd actor with the surname Ferguson to voice a Disney owl. The first had been Keith Ferguson who voiced Friend Owl in the straight-to-DVD film Bambi II (2006).
- Eric Goldberg, who was the supervising animator of Rabbit, previously worked as an animation director on Looney Tunes: Back to Action (2003), and a drawing of Eric Goldberg drawing the Winnie the Pooh characters as Looney Tunes characters drawn by Eric Goldberg himself, which can be found on the book, An Animator's Gallery: Eric Goldberg Draws the Disney Characters.
- This is Tom Kenny's third Disney movie role after Sky High (2005) and Meet the Robinsons (2007). His fourth one after this is Frankenweenie (2012) and his fifth one is Beverly Hills Chihuahua 3: Viva la Fiesta (2012).
- Given that this is a loose sequel to The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh, this currently makes 2011 the only year that is ended with the number 1 to not have any original Disney animated film.
- 1941 has Dumbo.
- 1951 has Alice in Wonderland.
- 1961 has One Hundred and One Dalmatians.
- 1981 has The Fox and the Hound.
- 1991 has Beauty and the Beast.
- 2001 has Atlantis: The Lost Empire.
- 2021 has both Raya and the Last Dragon, and Encanto.
Gallery[]
See also[]
- The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh (1977)
- Winnie the Pooh and a Day for Eeyore (1983)
- Christopher Robin (2018)
References[]
- ↑ http://www.movieweb.com/news/winnie-the-pooh-trailer-and-photos
- ↑ https://screenrant.com/disney-no-2d-animated-movies-future/
- ↑ http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/entertainmentnewsbuzz/2011/07/box-office-harry-potter-deathly-hallow-part-2-winnie-the-pooh.html
- ↑ http://www.boxofficemojo.com/movies/?id=winniethepooh.htm
- ↑ http://www.boxofficemojo.com/movies/?page=intl&id=winniethepooh.htm
- ↑ 'Sketchbook': Disney's Return to 2D Animation Reinforced by Documentary Series
- ↑ "Was Cars 2 Too Violent For A G-Rating?". Screened (June 27, 2011).
External links[]
Winnie the Pooh on Wikipedia
Winnie the Pooh (film) on IMDb- Winnie the Pooh (film) on Disney.com
- Official Page on Walt Disney Animation Studios
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