Springtime with Roo (March 9, 2004)

This is a direct-to-video film in the Winnie the Pooh franchise. The story is an Easter-themed adaptation of Charles Dickens' classic novella A Christmas Carol. Unlike A Very Merry Pooh Year and Seasons of Giving, Springtime with Roo does not reuse episodes from The New Adventures of Winnie the Pooh. In this retelling of the classic tale, Roo is excited to hunt for Easter eggs with his friends. But Rabbit refuses, instead insisting that Easter is Spring Cleaning Day and forcing his friends to help clean his house. With the help of the narrator we are able to see that the reason why Rabbit is against Easter is that, last year, while he was trying to control every last detail in order to give Roo the perfect first Easter the others ruin his plans and strip him of his title as Easter Bunny. We then go on a journey through time, past present and future, watching Rabbit realize the error of his ways and come to enjoy Easter again. This time-traveling is cleverly done by flipping through pages of the storybook (a framing device that was not used in past Winnie the Pooh direct-to-video releases). The visual style is more aligned with the more recent theatrical Winnie the Pooh releases (up until Winnie the Pooh (2011)) more polished and smoother but lacking a bit of the rough charm of the older releases. I also feel the absence of Christopher Robin (he seems less and less involved in these films). All and All, Springtime with Roo is a creative spin on A Christmas Carol that works surprisingly well. I daresay this is my favorite of the direct-to-DVD films and one I would gladly revisit next year on Easter!

Final Rating: 8/10