The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh

The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh
Directed by	John Lounsbery Wolfgang Reitherman
Story by	Larry Clemmons Ralph Wright Vance Gerry Xavier Atencio Ken Anderson Julius Svendsen Ted Berman Eric Cleworth
Based on	Winnie-the-Pooh by A. A. Milne
Produced by	Walt Disney Wolfgang Reitherman
Starring	Sterling Holloway John Fiedler Ralph Wright Paul Winchell Barbara Luddy Clint Howard Junius Matthews
Narrated by	Sebastian Cabot
Edited by	Tom Acosta James Melton
Music by	Richard M. Sherman Robert B. Sherman (songs) Buddy Baker (score)
Production company	Walt Disney Productions
Distributed by	Buena Vista Distribution
Release date	March 11, 1977 (1977-03-11)
Running time	74 minutes
Country	United States
Language	English

The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh is the 1977 animated movie produced and released by Walt Disney Productions. It was released on March 11, 1977.

Unlike Disney's other animated anthology movies which have originally created material, this movie is made from three previously released animated short movies based upon the Winnie-the-Pooh books by A. A. Milne: Winnie the Pooh and the Honey Tree (1966), Winnie the Pooh and the Blustery Day (1968), and Winnie the Pooh and Tigger Too (1974). This is also the last movie in the Disney canon that Walt Disney was personally involved with, because one of the shorts (Winnie the Pooh and the Honey Tree) was released during his lifetime, and he was involved in the production of Blustery Day. The fourth and final short movie based on the original books, Winnie the Pooh and a Day for Eeyore, was released in 1983. It is included as a bonus feature on the VHS and DVD releases of the movie. The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh was 1 of 2 Disney animated anthology movies released under the rating system, along with Fantasia 2000.

The characters from the movie became very popular. There have been sequels, television programs, clothing, books and toys based on the characters. The movie is different from the three individual shorts by having newly created material to link the stories together. It also has an ending to close the stories. The ending is based on the final chapter of The House at Pooh Corner. It was always Walt Disney's intention to make a movie, but he decided to make shorts instead — after production had begun — to familiarize US audiences with the characters. All three shorts as well as future movies boast classic songs by the Sherman Brothers including "Winnie the Pooh" and "The Wonderful Thing About Tiggers".

The movie also inspired an attraction of the same name at Disneyland, Walt Disney World and Hong Kong Disneyland. A much more elaborate attraction, also based on the movie, opened in Tokyo Disneyland as "Pooh's Hunny Hunt".

Plot

One morning, Winnie the Pooh, a honey-loving anthropomorphic bear who lives in the Hundred Acre Wood, does his stoutness exercise to help improve his appetite. Pooh then looks in his cupboard to look for honey, only to find that his last honey pot is empty. He then hears a bee fly by and decides to climb a nearby honey tree, to which he is unsuccessful. Unwilling to give up his quest for honey, Pooh visits the house of his best friend Christopher Robin, where he obtains a balloon from him. He then rolls around in a mud puddle, hoping to trick the bees into believing he is a "little black rain cloud" and uses the balloon to float up to the hive. The bees see through this disguise and angrily chase Pooh and Christopher Robin away.

Still hungry for honey, Pooh decides to visit his friend Rabbit's house, where Rabbit reluctantly invites him to have some honey. After Pooh greedily helps himself to all of the honey in Rabbit's house, he begins to leave, only to realize that he has gotten too chubby to fit through the passageway that Rabbit uses as his front door. Unable to push Pooh's bottom through by himself, Rabbit rushes off to get help. Meanwhile, Owl tries to convince a gopher to dig Pooh out of the hole from the front, which is unsuccessful. Rabbit returns with Christopher Robin and they both try to pull Pooh out but fail; Christopher Robin decides Pooh must wait without food until he is thin enough to pass through Rabbit's front door, much to the consternation of both Pooh and Rabbit.

To cope with the situation, Rabbit attempts to decorate Pooh's bottom, while making sure that Pooh doesn't eat any food. After several days, Rabbit, who has become increasingly tired of the situation, leans against Pooh's bottom and feels him move slightly; he then joyously summons Christopher Robin and the rest of his friends to free Pooh. Rabbit pushes Pooh from inside, while everyone else pulls Pooh from outside, without success. Fed up with the delay, Rabbit takes several steps backwards and shoves Pooh with a running start, causing the bear to be launched into the air. He lands headfirst into the hole of another honey tree, scaring the bees away. Although his friends offer to free him again, Pooh does not mind being stuck again, as he can now eat all the honey he likes.

On a very windy day, Winnie the Pooh visits his "thoughtful spot". As Pooh sits thinking, Gopher pops out of the ground and advises him to leave, claiming that it is a "Winds-day". Misunderstanding Gopher's warning, Pooh decides to wish everyone in the Hundred Acre Wood a happy Winds-day. He starts with his best friend Piglet, who is nearly blown away while trying to rake leaves. Pooh grabs Piglet by his scarf, which unravels and leaves Piglet hanging on like a kite.

The wind blows Pooh and Piglet to Owl's treehouse, where he invites them in. As Owl tells Pooh and Piglet some of the adventures of his relatives, the strong wind causes his tree to sway and eventually collapse, taking the house with it. Christopher Robin and the others soon hear of the news and rush to the scene. As Owl's house is wrecked beyond the point of repair, Eeyore volunteers to seek out a new house for Owl.

As night falls, the wind is still blowing, and Pooh is kept awake by noises outside. He opens his door for a visitor: a bouncing tiger named Tigger, who introduces himself with his signature song ("The Wonderful Thing About Tiggers") before stating that he has come looking for something to eat. Disgusted by the taste of Pooh's honey, Tigger tells him that there are Heffalumps and Woozles in the forest that steal honey before he leaves. Frightened by Tigger's words, Pooh stays up to guard his honey, but falls asleep as a thunderstorm brews. After having a nightmare about being attacked by Heffalumps and Woozles, Pooh wakes up in a flood caused by the storm.

In the flood, Piglet is washed away from his home in a floating chair, but not before he manages to write a message in a bottle for help. Pooh manages to escape to higher ground with ten honey pots, only to also be washed away by the rising waters. Kanga, Roo, Rabbit, and Tigger gather at Christopher Robin's house, the only place in the Hundred Acre Wood that isn't flooded, while Eeyore continues house hunting for Owl. Roo finds Piglet's bottle, and Owl flies off to tell Piglet that help is on the way.

Owl eventually finds Piglet as well as Pooh. As Owl attempts to ease Piglet's fears by telling him another story, a waterfall threatens to carry the three all over the side. Pooh switches places with Piglet as they take the plunge, and the waterfall washes them right into Christopher Robin's yard. Thinking that Pooh has rescued Piglet, Christopher Robin deems Pooh a hero. Once the flood has subsided, Christopher Robin throws a party for Pooh, where Eeyore announces he has found a new home for Owl. He leads everyone to his discovery which, known to everyone except Owl and Eeyore, is Piglet's house. Piglet generously lets Owl have his home, despite having nowhere else to live himself. Pooh then invites Piglet to move into his home, which Piglet happily accepts, and at Pooh's request, Christopher Robin declares the occasion a "two hero party", in which Pooh is a hero for saving Piglet and Piglet is a hero for giving Owl his home.

During the fall, Rabbit becomes fed up with Tigger bouncing on everyone for fun, so he meets with Pooh and Piglet and comes up with a plan: the three of them will take Tigger on a long walk in the forest, abandon him, and find him the next day, in the hopes that he will stop bouncing on his friends unexpectedly.

Pooh, Piglet, and Rabbit execute the plan the next morning, and it initially appears to work, as they manage to lose Tigger, but things soon go wrong as they get lost and are unable to find their way home. After Rabbit separates from Pooh and Piglet due to a disagreement on how to escape, the latter two manage to find their way out of the forest on their own before running into Tigger, who had already found his way out. Upon learning from Pooh and Piglet that Rabbit is still in the forest, Tigger returns to rescue Rabbit and lead him out of the forest, much to his humiliation.

Sometime later, on the first day of winter, Tigger arrives at Kanga and Roo's house so he and Roo can spend some time together. As they travel through the forest, Tigger and Roo see Rabbit ice skating. Tigger tries to teach Roo how to ice skate by doing it himself, but unfortunately, he loses his balance and collides with Rabbit, resulting in Rabbit crashing into his house and Tigger sliding into a snowbank. Later, Tigger decides to bounce up a tall tree with Roo riding on his back and manages to bounce all the way to the top of the tree, but when he sees how high up they are, he becomes paralyzed with fear and is afraid to climb back down.

Pooh and Piglet soon discover Tigger and Roo in the tree and recruit Christopher Robin, Kanga, and Rabbit to help get them down. Roo manages to make it down safely by jumping on Christopher Robin's coat, but a frightened Tigger refuses to jump and promises never to bounce again should he be released from his predicament, thrilling Rabbit. To help Tigger, the Narrator tips over the book to allow Tigger to slide down the book unharmed. Tigger's joy to be back on the ground turns into depression when Rabbit reminds him of his promise. Feeling sorry for Tigger, his friends remind Rabbit of the joy Tigger had brought with his bouncing, causing Rabbit to realize his selfishness and take back the promise they had agreed on. An overjoyed Tigger then invites everyone to bounce with him, much to the joy of everyone, including Rabbit.

Christopher Robin must leave behind the Hundred Acre Wood to start school. The Narrator concludes that wherever Christopher Robin goes, Pooh will always be waiting.

Voice cast

• Winnie-the-Pooh, voiced by Sterling Holloway
• Piglet, voiced by John Fiedler
• Eeyore, voiced by Ralph Wright
• Tigger, voiced by Paul Winchell
• Kanga, voiced by Barbara Luddy
• Roo, voiced by Clint Howard, later Dori Whitaker
• Rabbit, voiced by Junius Matthews
• Owl, voiced by Hal Smith
• Gopher, voiced by Howard Morris
• Christopher Robin, voiced by Bruce Reitherman (the son of director Wolfgang Reitherman), later Jon Walmsley and Timothy Turner
• Narrated by Sebastian Cabot

Production

For the character Piglet, hand gestures and other movements were used by the animators to make expressions, because he (and Pooh) had the look of dolls or stuffed animals with relatively simple button eyes. The scene where Rabbit deals with Pooh's being part of the "decor of his home" was not in the original book, but was reportedly made by Disney when he first read the book.

Reception

Movie critic Leonard Maltin called the original Pooh featurettes "gems". He also noted that the artwork resembles the book illustrations, and that the particular length of these short movies meant that the moviemakers didn't have to "compress or protract their script." The movie has a 91% "fresh" rating from critics on Rotten Tomatoes.

Ruth Hill Viguers, however, when writing in A Critical History of Children’s Literature during the 1960s, mentioned Disney's Winnie the Pooh along with several other Disney adaptations as having “destroyed the integrity of the original books”.

The American Film Institute nominated The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh for its Top 10 Animated Films list.

History

In 1977, Bruce Reitherman the original US voice actor remains role fact, because Christopher Robin is British with a British accent who was re-dubbed by Jon Walmsley in the segment of Winnie the Pooh and the Honey Tree.

Home video

The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh was first released on VHS, Betamax, CED videorecord, and laserdisc in the early 1980s. In 1996, it was re-released on VHS as part of the Masterpiece Collection. It included video footage of the making which was shown before the movie starts. It was released on DVD for the first time in 2002 to commemorate its 25th anniversary, with digitally restored picture and sound. The separate shorts had also been released on their own on VHS in the 1990s.

The 25th anniversary edition DVD includes, among other bonus features, "The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh: The Story Behind the Masterpiece", which documents the history of the books and their initial movie adaptations. It also features interviews with animators Ollie Johnston, Frank Thomas, and Burny Mattinson, as well as the Sherman brothers, Paul Winchell, and others. Digital Media FX reviewer Shannon Muir said that the audio and video quality of the movie on this DVD was very high.

The "Friendship Edition" DVD was re-released on June 19, 2007. All of the special features from the previous "25th Anniversary Edition" DVD were recycled; the only new addition being an episode of Playhouse Disney's computer-animated series The Book of Pooh. The DVD re-release coincides with the 30th anniversary of the release of the movie. [1] Archived 2023-02-03 at the Wayback Machine

The Blu-Ray version was released for the first time in August 2013.

Songs

• "Winnie the Pooh"
• "Up, Down and Touch the Ground"
• "Rumbly in My Tumbly"
• "Little Black Rain Cloud"
• "Mind Over Matter"
• "A Rather Blustery Day"
• "The Wonderful Thing About Tiggers"
• "Heffalumps and Woozles"
• "When the Rain Rain Rain Came Down"
• "Hip Hip Pooh-Ray!"

References

Notes

Other websites

• The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh at the Big Cartoon DataBase (Dead link)
• The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh on IMDb
• The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh at Rotten Tomatoes