Winnie the Pooh: Seasons of Giving (November 9, 1999)

This is a made-for-video animated film which includes “A Winnie the Pooh Thanksgiving”, and two episodes from The New Adventures of Winnie the Pooh (“Groundpiglet Day” and “Find Her, Keep Her”). The first segment is “Groundpiglet Day” in which Rabbit mistakenly believes it is Groundhogs day and so spring is coming, when in reality it is only November 13th. The episode is as exciting as that sounds with the usual added mischief in the form of an allegedly frozen Piglet. Next up it is Thanksgiving and the gang, along with Christopher Robin decide to hold a celebration at Rabbit’s house with each of them bringing food to share. Rabbit critics everyone’s dish for being nontraditional and tasks each of them with cooking a customary thanksgiving dish, which leads to a giant mess. Lastly, Christmas Eve arrives and during the preparations Rabbit tells the story of the time the gang rescued a young Blue Jay during a blizzard named Kessie. Rabbit tries to take care of Kessie all on her own, though his friends decide to assist him anyway. Eventually she is able to fly and leaves to travel south for the winter. These episodes really look like they came out of a tv show, with lesser quality than the other films as well as horrible computer animation in the opening and storybook transitions; their age is apparent. The movie gets better as it goes on with the latter two stories being vastly longer and more entertaining than the first, ridiculously cute, wholesome, and fun. Overall, while Season of Giving is the worst Winnie the Pooh film I have reviewed (I write this after watching all but Pooh’s Heffalump Halloween Movie (2005)) it is still enjoyable (bar Groundpiglet Day) and I believe it will delight children and those who grew up with The New Adventures of Winnie the Pooh TV show.

Final Rating: 5/10