Winnie the Pooh (July 15, 2011)

As of 2020, this is Disney’s latest animated film using traditional animation. This is the version of Winnie the Pooh that I think of as I saw it in theaters as a child. All of the Winnie the Pooh iterations I have seen so far have been lovely and this is no exception. In this film, the lovable residents of the Hundred Acre Wood embark on a quest to save Christopher Robin from an imaginary monster called the “Backson” while Pooh deals with an insatiable hunger for honey. Unlike the previous films, this is a complete narrative instead of multiple shorter stories strung loosely together. This gives it a greater sense of cohesion, which I enjoy. However, I feel that Winnie the Pooh generally works better in smaller, bite sized tales, as they are just long enough to tell a charming story but short enough that they do not get stale. Despite this, this film manages to be charming and funny through its roughly hour-long runtime (unheard of for a feature film nowadays- even animated ones!) It also has a great soundtrack with a few nice original songs. Its traditional animated style works wonderfully and is simply the only medium appropriate to tell these stories (though I am not a fan of the updated design of Christopher Robin). It makes me nostalgic for the earlier Winnie the Pooh films and for the hand drawn medium altogether. Winnie the Pooh is a charming brief film that is sure to delight audiences of all ages and is a worthy modern adaptation of the beloved characters. Watching this film was a great interlude in my Disney marathon, showing that simple does not mean bad.

Final Rating: 9/10