Winnie the Pooh has never been my favorite Disney character, and as a matter of fact, the guy kind of gets on my nerves. To be honest about it, everyone over in the Hundred Acre Woods bothers me to no end except for Eeyore. All of them have their own little mental disorders and do everything they can to bother Eeyore. All he wants to do is be left alone, but the rest of them try to get him to play or ruin his stick house and never even bother to help him rebuild it. Sorry everyone sorry, but I had to get that off my chest. As for our musical and this brand new computer-generated Winnie the Pooh and gang; things actually have turned fun and enjoyable while hardly aggravating me at all. Is this a sign of the apocalypse?
Rabbit has put together a grand picnic for everyone in the Hundred Acre Wood so that they can all celebrate their vast friendships with one another. To show their gratitude for making such a wonderful shindig; the friends make Rabbit the Mayor and of course he soon lets it go to his head. Rabbit begins coming up with schedules for everyone and making them follow a strict set of rules which takes all the fun out of their original intentions. Tigger has finally had a bit too much of it and ends up forming a revolt of sorts against the new “mayor.” The Hundred Acre Wood is now split right down the middle and splitting all of the friendships up. Darby and Buster don’t necessarily belong to Rabbit or Tigger’s side and it’s up to them to figure out how things can be straightened out and the friendships can be mended.
This Musical is not much different then what you’ll get from watching the different daily episodes because it is full of all your favorite characters, fantastic songs to sing with, and lessons for life that all young ones need to learn. They’ll surely enjoy it because of Pooh Bear, Tigger, Darby, Rabbit, Owl, and all the rest of the characters that can keep their attention just by being on the screen. Throw in a bunch of catchy songs for them to sing along with and you parents can almost guarantee that your kids will be glued to the TV for at least an hour. For some reason though, this particular feature didn’t deliver the same fun and excitement that most of the episodes have done for me. Maybe it’s best served in half an hour and throwing one whole story into double that time is a bit much.
As I’ve implied already, Winnie the Pooh has always kind of gotten on my nerves along with the rest of the group, but there have been different television series I’ve enjoyed in the past. The Saturday morning cartoon show entitled The New Adventures of Winnie the Pooh and the weekly show Welcome to Pooh Corner were actually some of my favorite things to watch when my younger days were around. My Friends Tigger and Pooh is a great way to keep an old traditional group of characters together without modernizing it much (except for the computer imagery) and let children of today see what so many of us experienced as children. Too many series have been overhauled too much or don’t even exist anymore and that’s just sad. Kids don’t get to enjoy the awesomeness we all had on Saturday mornings or after school during the week, but at least Winnie The Pooh, Tigger, and everyone else can bring them a little old school joy.
All the fun is shown in 1.78:1 Anamorphic Widescreen format and it looks great. I’ve watched this series before with my niece Maggie and it looks just as good as it does when the episodes are shown on television.
The film is heard in Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround Sound and it also comes through nicely with dialogue centered up front and the wonderful music surrounding the room.
Rabbit’s “Think Think Think Theatre” Game – A game that most kids will enjoy, but not the parents. Remove some pieces and put some more in place to get a theatre production going so that you can dance with Rabbit and the rest of the gang.
Kenny Loggins’ “Underneath The Same Sky” Music Video
Three Ways To Watch – The main feature can be watched regularly with Easy Play, Active Play With Your Remote, or even with a Sing Along feature.
Trailers – Snow White And The Seven Dwarfs Platinum Edition, Mickey Mouse Clubhouse: Mickey’s Big Splash, Mickey Mouse Clubhouse: Mickey’s Adventures In Wonderland, Up, Monsters Inc. on Blu-ray, and TinkerBell and the Lost Treasure
When comparing this hour-long feature to the half-hour episodes kids see for free on television, it almost doesn’t begin to compare. This new series of Winnie the Pooh and the gang is really a lot of fun and brings all the quaint quirks of the group from the Hundred Acre Woods and adds new touches like modern day situations, a heffalump, and Darby instead of Christopher Robin. For some reason this special just doesn’t have the same feeling as the awesome episodes I remember watching with Maggie and enjoying. It seems to be missing something, but it’s hard to put my finger on it. The special features are really surprising too because you’d figure that Disney would put something more in there to get parents to pick this up for their kids. Children will love the feature and would rate it much higher then I did, but why would parents want to buy it when their children can see virtually the same thing every single day for free? When it comes to the time you’re in the store and have this DVD in your hand…then is the time to think, think, think!
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Walt Disney Video presents Tigger & Pooh And A Musical Too. Directed by: David Hartman. Starring (voices): Jim Cummings, Dee Bradley Baker, Chloe Moretz, Peter Cullen, Ken Samson, and more. Written by: Dean Stefan, Nicole Dubroc, & Brian Hohlfeld. Running time: 60 minutes. Rating: Not Rated. Released on DVD: April 7, 2009. Available at Amazon.com
