BACKGROUND
Winnie the Pooh and his friends are now undoubtedly quintessentially Disney – but they didn’t start out that way.
Walt Disney took inspiration for his animated movie slate from children’s literature for the most part, with A. A. Milne’s Winnie the Pooh stories being favourites of his daughters’. It was only natural that Disney would want to take these beloved literature characters and “Disneyfy” them, making them mainstream and able to reach a wider audience.
The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh is not like a regular animated feature, as it could potentially be called another “package film”, like the ones of the 1940s, because it consists of three separate stories, though these are connected together with the help of the Narrator and the storybook approach.
These three sections are:
- Winnie the Pooh and the Honey Tree
- Winnie the Pooh and the Blustery Day
- Winnie the Pooh and Tigger Too
PLOT
The movie begins in a bedroom, presumably Christopher Robin’s, but it is a bedroom in live-action, with toys resembling the Hundred Acre Wood characters being dotted about the room. We then go over to a storybook which opens up to a map of the Hundred Acre Wood, where we are introduced to the characters in an animated format, as the theme tune plays. As we meet Winnie the Pooh for the first time, we move into the first story of Winnie the Pooh and the Honey Tree.
This story begins with Pooh Bear waking up feeling hungry for honey, as he normally does, except today, he has run out of honey. He sees a bee near him and follows it to its hive, as he knows where bees are, honey can’t be far away. He first tries to climb up the tree to get into the beehive to collect some honey, but falls out of it. Pooh Bear goes to find Christopher Robin for advice. Christopher Robin has just nailed Eeyore’s tail back on him when Pooh Bear arrives asking for a balloon. He plans to cover himself in mud and fly up to the beehive, pretending to be a “little black rain cloud” to fool the bees into letting him get close. Christopher Robin isn’t convinced by this plan so goes with him in case he gets himself into trouble. The bees sure enough are not taken in by this, and start to swarm around him, though Pooh Bear does get his hand in the honey first, and ends up almost swallowing some of the bees, which makes them angrier. The bees chase Pooh, where his balloon’s air is released, causing him to tumble to the ground. Christopher Robin catches him and they hide in the mud until the bees have gone.
But Pooh is still hungry, so he goes to Rabbit’s house for lunch. Rabbit doesn’t want to let him in, but begrudgingly does, where Pooh eats all the honey around him. As he is about to leave, he gets stuck in the entrance way to Rabbit’s house because he’s eaten so much! Rabbit is not amused and wants Pooh Bear out now, but it can’t be done. Owl hires Gopher to try to dig him out but he would take too long, and Christopher Robin and the others are unable to pull him out. They must wait for Pooh Bear to get thin again; imagine the view Rabbit has for that whole time! Days pass, and Gopher returns for his “nightshift”; he offers Pooh Bear some food, but Rabbit stops him quickly. One day, Pooh Bear budges slightly, so the others are called over, where they successfully pull him out, but don’t get enough grip on him, so he flies over the Hundred Acre Wood – straight into the beehive. The story ends with the others saying they’ll get him out, with Pooh telling them not to hurry as he finally gets to sit and eat all this honey!
We then move into Winnie the Pooh and the Blustery Day, where, sure enough, the Hundred Acre Wood is dealing with some very strong, windy weather. Pooh Bear wanders around greeting everyone with the phrase “Happy Windsday”, but not everyone is enjoying it! Piglet is almost blown away in the gales, with Pooh Bear holding onto his scarf thread, trying to pull him down, but just ending up looking like he’s flying a kite! He barrels through Eeyore’s newly built stick house, through Rabbit’s Garden, though he does harvest all the carrots for him by doing so, until they end up at Owl’s treehouse, which is tipping dangerously in the wind. Suddenly, the house comes tumbling down as the tree is uprooted, with Owl, Pooh, and Piglet coming down with it. Christopher Robin says it cannot be fixed; Eeyore volunteers to find Owl a new house.
In the meantime, the windy weather continues overnight, where Pooh Bear, now alone and hearing growling, begins to get frightened. He invites the growling creature into his home, where we meet Tigger for the first time. Tigger is hungry so Pooh offers him some honey, but he hates it. Just as Tigger is about to leave, he tells Pooh Bear that he should be wary of “heffalumps” and “woozles” because they steal honey. Pooh decides to stay up, monitoring his honey all night, but unsurprisingly falls asleep where he has a nightmare about these creatures. He wakes up with a start, to find his house is flooding as the windy weather has turned to rain. Pooh saves his honey pots by storing them up a tree, but falls into one and starts bobbing on the floodwater through the Hundred Acre Wood. Piglet, being so small, is swiftly carried away on one of his chairs, but not before he can send a message in a bottle asking for help. The others manage to get to Christopher Robin’s house, where they find Piglet’s bottle. Owl is ordered to fly over to them, while Christopher Robin sets up a rescue plan. Before they can, Piglet, Pooh, and Owl fall down a waterfall, as Owl becomes distracted telling them yet another long story about his family! Piglet and Pooh swap places in the fall, with Piglet now in the honey pot and Pooh on the chair. Pooh carries Piglet in the pot to the edge of the water, where Christopher Robin declares him a hero for saving Piglet and throws him a party to celebrate. Eeyore interrupts to say he’s found a house for Owl and tells everyone to follow him. In fact, the house he has found is Piglet’s house, but nobody seems to realise. Piglet can’t bring himself to tell Owl as he seems so happy, so gives up his house. Pooh Bear says he can live with him instead, and Christopher Robin now makes the party for two heroes, as Piglet is now a hero for giving up his house for someone else.
Then, the film moves into Winnie the Pooh and Tigger Too, where everyone is getting irritated by Tigger constantly bouncing on them and generally being too energetic. Rabbit is the most annoyed and arranges a meeting to discuss this problem. Rabbit, Pooh Bear and Piglet decide to try to lose Tigger in the woods. The day they enact the plan, it is misty so they believe it will be even easier. They manage to lose Tigger, but get lost themselves, going round and round in circles, always ending up by the same sandpit. Pooh says that maybe if they try to find this sandpit, then they won’t be able to, as the opposite keeps happening, and then they should be able to get out of the woods. Rabbit says that’s a stupid idea and goes to prove it, but doesn’t return. Pooh Bear and Piglet give up waiting and find their own way home – where they are greeted by Tigger. Tigger goes into the woods to rescue Rabbit, who is not pleased at all that he has returned, but Tiggers don’t get lost.
Soon, winter comes and it begins to snow. Tigger takes Roo out for a day of bouncing, and annoys Rabbit once more by trying to ice skate with him, but crashes into Rabbit instead! Tigger and Roo go further into the woods and find a tall tree, which Tigger bounces up, not realising that he’s scared of heights and is now stuck. Pooh Bear and Piglet are following tracks in the snow, but become startled by the “Hallo” call of a “jagular”. They bravely follow the sound to find Tigger and Roo stuck in a tree, getting Christopher Robin and the others to help rescue them. They make a net out of Christopher Robin’s coat, where Roo jumps down. Tigger can’t do the same though, but is so desperate to get down that he promises to never bounce again if he does get down. The Narrator helpfully turns the storybook on its side, so Tigger can place his feet on the ground and then slide down the paragraphs back into the story with the others. Tigger is so happy he wants to bounce, but Rabbit reminds him of his promise. He sadly walks away. The others see how sad he is, and ask Rabbit if he’d rather have the “old” Tigger back. Rabbit feels guilty and admits that he actually would, so Tigger returns happily and gets everyone bouncing with him, even Rabbit.
The final scene of the film shows Christopher Robin and Winnie the Pooh talking about how Christopher Robin must go to school soon, and that he won’t be able to play all the time anymore, but he hopes that sometimes Pooh will come and do nothing, with or without him. Pooh Bear says he will. The Narrator ends by saying that Pooh Bear will always be waiting for Christopher Robin no matter what.
CHARACTERS & CAST
Winnie the Pooh doesn’t need any introduction, but still, he is the main character and arguably the favourite toy of Christopher Robin. He is a “tubby little cubby all stuffed with fluff”, or that’s how he is described in the theme tune anyway! Pooh Bear is also constantly referenced as being the bear with “very little brain”, and they talk about his weight so much, him being “stout” and “round”, which I think is so mean because Pooh Bear is the best of all the Winnie the Pooh characters! I love his little giggle so much, and how he’s curious and child-like, getting himself into trouble and not even realising half the time! Oh yeah, and his defining feature is that he loves honey, or “hunny” as it’s spelt in the movie, and will do just about anything to get his hands on some! Pooh Bear wears a red t-shirt and lives in a house within the trunk of a tree. His house has a sign above it saying “Mr. Sanders”; that is not Winnie the Pooh’s surname, but just references the fact that clearly a Mr. Sanders lived in that house before Pooh Bear. They talk about it at the start of the film. Pooh Bear is voiced by Sterling Holloway, who had a long history with Disney, making his Disney debut as Mr. Stork in Dumbo (1941), as well as performing the roles of the Cheshire Cat in Alice in Wonderland (1951) and Kaa in The Jungle Book (1967). Holloway originated the voice of Winnie the Pooh, performing the role until 1977. Sterling Holloway was honoured as a Disney Legend in 1991, the first person to receive the award for voice parts. The Disney team loved working with Holloway calling him a true artist, who performed the part brilliantly. They even said he was just like the human version of Pooh Bear.
Piglet is Pooh Bear’s best friend in the Hundred Acre Wood. He is so tiny and nice, just getting along with everyone, that you have to feel bad for him when he’s scared and panicky, but trying to pretend he isn’t to everyone else! Piglet also stutters a lot when he’s nervous to show just how anxious and frightened he gets. This would be discussed further in Piglet’s very own movie, Piglet’s Big Movie (2003). Within these stories of the film, he has to navigate flood waters in his house, almost being blown away, giving up his home for Owl, and hiding from the “jagular”, which turns out to just be Tigger. Piglet has many difficulties that he overcomes every day, staying as strong as he can, but he’s so much smaller than everyone else that sometimes he can’t handle it as well as them – and that’s ok. Piglet lives, or should that be lived, in a house within a beech tree, with a sign outside that reads “Trespassers Wil”, which Piglet tells us is short for his grandfather’s name “Trespassers William”. Owl would later claim that “Wil” spells Owl, showing that this house is meant to belong to him. At the start of the TV series to follow this movie, The New Adventures of Winnie the Pooh (1988-91), Owl’s house is repaired so they both go back to their original dwellings. Piglet is voiced by actor John Fiedler, who voiced the character until 2005. Fiedler had also provided voice to other Disney characters such as the Old Man in The Emperor’s New Groove (2000), and Porcupine in The Fox and the Hound (1981).
Tigger is the most fun and carefree character within the Winnie the Pooh world. He does whatever he wants, getting himself into trouble frequently, like getting stuck in a tree, or annoying everyone else by constantly choosing to bounce on them as a greeting instead of just saying “hello”! He’s crazy, but he’s so lovable. He might be a bit irritating at times, especially if you ask Rabbit, but the others wouldn’t want it any other way. I’m glad that they decide at the end of Winnie the Pooh and Tigger Too that he should be allowed to bounce again, despite his promise, because it makes him who he is. Tigger even gets his own song in the film, “The Wonderful Thing about Tiggers”, which details the fact that he’s fun and likes bouncing, but that the best thing of all is that he’s the only one. This would later be explored in a movie specifically made for Tigger, The Tigger Movie (2000). Paul Winchell provides the voice of Tigger, and made sure to make the voice special for him, full of humour and exuberance to match Tigger’s personality. Winchell even ad-libbed Tigger’s famous line: “TTFN – ta-ta for now”. Paul Winchell voiced Tigger until 1999, when Jim Cummings took over from him in 2000. Cummings has also voiced the role of Pooh Bear since 1988. Winchell also voiced Boomer the Woodpecker in Disney’s The Fox and the Hound (1981).
Then there’s the gloomier character of Eeyore the donkey. He has quite a hard time generally, with his stick house consistently being knocked over, losing his tail multiple times, and even having the gang forget his birthday in the 1983 short Winnie the Pooh and a Day for Eeyore, so no wonder he’s down sometimes! Ralph Wright was chosen to voice the role, as he had a naturally deep voice, which worked well for the character. Wright was actually a Disney animator and storyboard writer, not an actor, having worked on multiple Disney projects from 1940 to 1977. His final voice role for Eeyore was in 1983 with the A Day for Eeyore short, as he died in December of that year. The voice role was later given to Peter Cullen, who is notable for voicing Optimus Prime in the Transformers franchise!
Rabbit is the fussy one, who is always frustrated and worrying, wanting things to be just the way he wants them. I do feel sorry for Rabbit though, when Pooh Bear gets stuck in Rabbit’s house, and when Tigger annoys him so much, but he is a bit of a “stick-in-the-mud”, having to be forced to join in with the fun quite a lot of the time! Rabbit is still a good character though, as he is caring towards his friends quite often, probably more so in later movies than in The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh though. Rabbit is voiced by Junius Matthews in these shorts, being replaced with Ken Sansom who voiced the part from 1988 to 2010. Matthews died in 1978. Matthews is also well-known for providing the voice of Archimedes in The Sword in the Stone (1963); he had quite a distinctive voice!
Then there’s Kanga and her son, Roo. Kanga is the maternal one, who looks after not just Roo, but the others as well at times. She seems to be a good mother, but unfortunately doesn’t feature all that much in this Winnie the Pooh feature, however, she is more prominent in later ones. Roo was designed to be like a boisterous, typical five-year-old boy, always jumping around, wanting to have fun, insisting that he’s not sleepy when his eyes are already closing; that sort of thing! Tigger gets on very well with Roo, enjoying having someone around who has as much energy as him, and who doesn’t get annoyed with him at all. Kanga is voiced by Barbara Luddy here, known for her role as Lady in Lady and the Tramp (1955), as well as Merryweather in Sleeping Beauty (1959). This was Luddy’s final film role before her death in 1979. Kanga would then be voiced by, predominantly, two other well-known voice actresses, Tress MacNeille and Kath Soucie. Roo is voiced by Clint Howard in the first two shorts of this film, and then by Dori Whitaker in the final story. Howard also voiced the part of Hathi Jr. in The Jungle Book (1967) and is the brother of director Ron Howard. Dori Whitaker voiced one of the rabbits in Robin Hood (1973). Due to the child-like nature of Roo, his voice actors have had to change constantly over the years.
Owl is the talkative one of the group and rivals the top spot for being the “know-it-all” with Rabbit, even though neither of them tend to know what they’re doing most of the time, but wanting to prove themselves as the leader of the group. In The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh, Owl mostly just talks a lot, telling long-winded stories about his ancestors, not even noticing that his house is about to fall down during the blustery day, with the Narrator saying at one point that “Owl talked from page 41 to page 62”. Hal Smith voiced the role of Owl until his death in 1994 when he was replaced by voice actor Andre Stojka for a time. Hal Smith gained numerous acting credits, with many voice roles, during his career.
Like Roo, the voice of Christopher Robin has changed many times over the years. Each of the short stories within The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh feature a different voice actor: Bruce Reitherman, son of Woolie Reitherman, and voice of Mowgli in The Jungle Book (1967); then English actor Jon Walmsley, who appeared in The Waltons series (1972-81), and finally, Timothy Turner. Christopher Robin is the one that all the residents of the Hundred Acre Wood go to for help, because, even though he is only meant to be about six-years-old, he has the most knowledge of the group and frequently has good ideas on how to solve their problems. He is the glue that holds the group together. The moment at the end of the film with him saying goodbye to Winnie the Pooh is really touching – even though we know that wasn’t their final moment together[1]!
Though many people appreciate the Disney adaptations of Milne’s books and characters, there was actually some controversy linked to the “Americanisation” of the popular British stories, as a predominantly American voice cast was used, with only two British actors being cast. These are Jon Walmsley and Sebastian Cabot, the Narrator, who also voiced the part of Bagheera in The Jungle Book (1967). Disney Animation also decided to introduce the character of Gopher, who did not feature in the books, with gophers being a typically American animal[2]. The fact that Gopher is not an original character is referenced a few times in Winnie the Pooh and the Honey Tree by stating that he is “not in the book”, which is a dual meaning of not being in Milne’s stories, as well as not being in the phonebook, since he runs his own digging business. Gopher is voiced by American actor and comedian Howard Morris, who had to add in that distinctive whistle into his lines, in a similar way to the beaver character in Lady and the Tramp (1955). Howard Morris voiced Gopher until 1977. Morris also had varying voice roles in TV series like The Flintstones (1962-65) and The Jetsons (1962-87).
PRODUCTION
The characters of Winnie the Pooh and his friends in the Hundred Acre Wood were created by English writer A. A. Milne, who wrote the books for his son, called Christopher Robin Milne, naming the boy in the stories after him. Winnie the Pooh was named after Christopher’s teddy bear, originally called Edward, but then renamed to Winnie, after a Canadian black bear called Winnipeg that was at London Zoo from 1915 to 1934, and a swan, which Christopher had called “Pooh”. Ernest H. Shepard illustrated the original books that Milne wrote, that began with “When We Were Very Young”, a collection of poems published in 1924, where Winne the Pooh first appears as “Mr. Edward Bear”. The first full children’s book written by Milne solely about Winnie the Pooh and friends was titled “Winnie-the-Pooh”, published in 1926, with “The House at Pooh Corner” being the second and final book by Milne about Winnie the Pooh being published in 1928, with the character of Tigger being introduced here. Some say that Milne had become annoyed at being successful only in children’s literature and that he wasn’t being taken seriously as a novelist and playwright, which is what Milne had been writing before the Winnie the Pooh stories. It is likely that he wanted to focus on a more serious genre of writing, so only wrote the two books[3].
The books were incredibly popular in the UK and in Europe but did not have the same reputation in the US at the time. However, Walt Disney had heard his wife reading the tales of Mary Poppins and Winnie the Pooh to his children at bedtime, and remembered hearing them laughing. He decided to make a feature film from both of these, purchasing the rights for both around 1961, though we all now what a struggle it was to get the rights to Mary Poppins from P. L. Travers! The rights to Winnie the Pooh were not as difficult to obtain, probably because Milne had died in 1956, whereas P. L. Travers was still alive even during the production on Disney’s live-action Mary Poppins (1964).
After the rights were obtained, Walt Disney put many of his best workers on it, including Woolie Reitherman to direct and Ken Anderson on story. One of the most interesting things about The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh is the prominence of the actual “Winnie the Pooh” storybook within the film. Though plenty of Disney movies, usually the fairy-tale-based ones, use a storybook in their films, such as the opening and closing of the book, with the occasional first or last pages being used, The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh constantly goes from the book pages, to moving images of the characters within the pages, to a full-screen view of the action, and then back again. It’s a cool concept that Disney decided to use for two reasons: one being that it’s like we as the viewer are reading the book and seeing it all play out in front of our eyes instead of just in our imagination; and the second reason being that it reminds the viewer that these characters were first created by A. A. Milne for a real-life children’s book that perhaps they can go away and read after watching the movie. At times, the book’s pages are used as part of the story, like characters being blown across multiple pages, some of the words running down the page during the flooding and heavy rain, and being used as a rescue slide for Tigger getting down from the tree.
Not only that but the original illustrations in the books, by E. H. Shepard, were used as the inspiration for Disney’s animation of Milne’s characters. Walt Disney wanted them to be based in the same drawings, but with that added element of Disney animation stylings, where strong facial expressions to convey the emotions of the characters are required. Walt didn’t want these Winnie the Pooh stories to be all charm and no substance[4]. Now the Disney versions of the characters are more well-known that the originals!
MUSIC
The Sherman Brothers were brought in to write the songs for the movie. They were very much associated with Disney Productions, also working on Mary Poppins (1964) and The Jungle Book (1967) around this time. Walt wanted the songs within The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh to be simple, whimsical, original, and sing-able which they achieved. The theme tune was based around the simplicity and innocence of childhood, for example. All the songs they wrote, ten in total, are catchy but my favourites are “Little Black Rain Cloud”, because it’s so cute hearing Pooh sing it; “The Wonderful Thing About Tiggers”, because it can get stuck in your head all day; and “Heffalumps and Woozles”, which I like mostly from the crazy, colourful scene that you encounter on the theme park ride! More on that later.
Buddy Baker was brought in to compose the score. Baker wanted to follow a similar idea to Prokofiev’s Peter and the Wolf by representing each character with a different instrument. For example, serious Rabbit by a clarinet; bumbling Pooh Bear by a baritone hone; and a piccolo for the sweet-natured Kanga. It’s a lovely score that fits well.
RECEPTION
After about two thirds of the full movie had been storyboarded, with some scenes even partially animated, Walt Disney called a big meeting with everyone involved in the production of The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh. Walt was concerned that as the Milne stories were not as popular in the US that perhaps they should slowly introduce the American audience to Winnie the Pooh and his friends, by splitting the originally planned full-length feature into three shorts instead.
So, it was done, with Winnie the Pooh and the Honey Tree being the first short to be released into theatres in February 1966, along with the live-action-comedy film The Ugly Dachshund (1966). This was the last short to be produced by Walt Disney himself, as he would die in December 1966, never having seen the last two Winnie the Pooh shorts.
After his death and as work was finishing on The Jungle Book (1967), Winnie the Pooh and the Blustery Day was put into production, with Ollie Johnstone, Frank Thomas and Milt Kahl now being able to animate on this short, as they had been busy on The Jungle Book (1967) when the first short was being made. Winnie the Pooh and the Blustery Day was released in 1968, along with The Horse in the Gray Flannel Suit (1968), and was even more successful than the original short, winning the Academy Award for Best Animated Short Film, which was awarded posthumously to Walt Disney. It was the only Winnie the Pooh production to ever win an Academy Award.
The third short, Winnie the Pooh and Tigger Too, was released in 1974, this time being directed by John Lounsbery instead of Reitherman. It was released along with The Island at the Top of the World (1974). Again, this short was received well, being nominated for the Academy Award for Best Animated Short Film, losing to Closing Mondays (1974), a claymation film. It did, however, win the Grammy Award for Best Album for Children in 1975.
The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh was then created by combining these three shorts, adding in additional linking material, as well as the final scene to close the movie, which was inspired by the final chapter of “The House at Pooh Corner”, where Christopher Robin is saying goodbye to Winnie the Pooh and his childhood, as he must go to school and start to grow up. The movie is considered to be the last film that Walt Disney was personally involved in as it includes the Winnie the Pooh and the Honey Tree short which was released during Walt’s lifetime. It was always Walt’s intention to make the Winnie the Pooh stories into a feature-length animated film, which finally came to be realised in 1977, becoming the 22nd Disney Animated Classic
It is considered to be one of the most faithful adaptations that Disney Animation has done, with many praising Disney for making the stories charming and memorable. Winnie the Pooh is potentially still the most popular and beloved character in children’s literature, with him being loved by people all around the world. The stories are about friendship and being curious of the world around you, which are important messages for children growing up. The characters are honest and caring towards each other, all within this safe world where everyone is nice and kind, but also different. Walt Disney is credited with bringing the popularity of the Winnie the Pooh stories to the American public, going on to become a huge franchise for the Disney Company[5].
LEGACY
The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh was just the first of six theatrically released films based on these characters, with the others being The Tigger Movie (2000); Piglet’s Big Movie (2003); Pooh’s Heffalump Movie (2005); Winnie the Pooh (2011); and Christopher Robin (2018). Of these, my favourite is Pooh’s Heffalump Movie; I’m not really sure why, I just do, but I know many people like The Tigger Movie. I do also like Winnie the Pooh’s scenes within the live-action film, Christopher Robin, but those are the best bits of the film in my opinion. Plus, I found that, although Cummings returned to voice Tigger and Pooh Bear, the other voice artists were all different, and many did not sound good, in my opinion with Brad Garrett as Eeyore being the only exception!
There have also been nine direct-to-video films released as part of this franchise, many of them being compilations of shorts that had previously appeared in some of the Winnie the Pooh television series. The three most recent ones (2007, 2009 and 2010) are based on the series My Friends Tigger & Pooh (2007-10). My favourite direct-to-video film is Pooh’s Grand Adventure: The Search for Christopher Robin (1997). I still like watching it, and the songs are particularly good. It follows the characters searching for Christopher Robin who has left them to go to “skull”, actually “school”. I also watch A Very Merry Pooh Year (2002) every Christmas mostly just to see the 1991 Christmas TV special Winnie the Pooh and Christmas Too!
As well as that, there have been a few other shorts that were released separately and were not included in any direct-to-video films: Winnie the Pooh Discovers the Seasons (1981); A Valentine For You (1999); and Winnie the Pooh and a Day for Eeyore (1983). Winnie the Pooh and a Day for Eeyore was not originally connected to any of the material within The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh but has since been added to the home releases of the movie. I watched it from a DVD, but it was added as a bonus feature, not as part of the original film. It contains a different voice cast, with some musical changes as well, for example, the theme tune sounds much jazzier, though it does begin within the same bedroom and uses the same concept of switching between the storybook pages and the full- screen action of the characters. Rabbit was also almost green in this short! It follows the story of Eeyore’s birthday being forgotten, before a party is thrown for him, and the game of “Pooh-sticks” is introduced as part of the celebrations. For me, the short wasn’t great.
As I mentioned, there were some television series created around these characters: the live-action/puppetry series Welcome to Pooh Corner (1983-84); the animated series The New Adventures of Winnie the Pooh (1988-91); another puppetry series called The Book of Pooh (2001-03) which added a new character called Kessie; and My Friends Tigger & Pooh (2007-10), a computer-animated series with Darby and her dog Buster being included.
Within the Disney Parks, the film did inspire a dark ride. It first opened at Walt Disney World’s Magic Kingdom as The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh in 1999, taking over the former Fantasyland home of Mr. Toad’s Wild Ride. As Winnie the Pooh had become so popular at the time, it was an obvious decision to make a theme park ride based on him. Buddy Baker returned to arrange the attraction music from the film score. Paul Winchell also recorded new lines for his character, Tigger. It became his last performance as Tigger before Winchell retired in 1999. Jim Cummings did the voice for Winnie the Pooh, returning to the character after his debut as Pooh Bear in The New Adventures of Winnie the Pooh (1988-91). The ride goes through many of the same scenes as the 1977 film, with the Heffalumps and Woozles scene being my favourite, as well as Bouncing with Tigger. It also includes the wind and rainstorm from Winnie the Pooh and the Blustery Day. The scenes follow the story order of the film[6].
The ride exists in every other Disney Park around the world – except for Disneyland Paris, who must just be miserable for not having any ride based on Winnie the Pooh! At Disneyland, the ride replaced Country Bear Jamboree, opening in 2003, with the order of some scenes being rearranged compared with the Magic Kingdom version. At Hong Kong Disneyland and Shanghai Disneyland, a very similar ride to the Magic Kingdom version opened on the official opening date of those parks in 2005 and 2016, respectively. At Tokyo Disneyland, they went one step further and created a trackless version of the ride called Pooh’s Hunny Hunt. This opened in 2000, with many calling it the best Pooh Bear attraction at any Disney Park, with similar scenes to the original ride, but somehow better.
Winnie the Pooh and his friends, such as Piglet, Eeyore, and Tigger, can also be found at meet-and-greets at all the Disney Parks, as well as featuring within various parades. At Walt Disney World’s Magic Kingdom, you can even have a character meal with those four characters, for either breakfast, lunch, or dinner, buffet-style at the Crystal Palace.
Some other parts of the whole Winnie the Pooh franchise include various games, including some educational ones and Tigger’s Honey Hunt, which was released in 2000. There were also two children’s albums by Kenny Loggins (yes, him from the Footloose and Top Gun movie soundtracks!), which are inspired by Winnie the Pooh, though these do not feature many songs related to the Winnie the Pooh films! The first album, titled Return to Pooh Corner, was released in 1994 and was nominated for a Grammy Award for Best Musical Album for Children. The second album, titled More Songs from Pooh Corner, was released in 2000 and includes the main song from The Tigger Movie (2000), “Your Heart Will Lead You Home”, along with covers of other Disney songs.
There is also a musical based on Winnie the Pooh titled Winnie the Pooh: The New Musical Adaptation, produced by Disney Theatrical Productions. It debuted in New York City in October 2021 to a positive response. It was then in Chicago and New York City again in Spring/Summer 2022, with a US tour from September 2022 to May 2023. It came to London between March and May 2023, and is on tour in the UK right now, until September 2023.
A further collection of Pooh stories was published in 2009, 81 years after the first book, titled “Return to the Hundred Acre Wood”, but it was not written by Milne. It was written by David Benedictus, and illustrated by Mark Burgess, with a new character, Lottie the Otter.
A final, weirder note that is not at all related to Disney’s Winnie the Pooh is that because the Winnie the Pooh books have now gone into the public domain, it does mean that stranger adaptations are likely to come. Though Disney still have exclusive rights to their version of Milne’s characters and its subsequent franchise, some filmmakers are now allowed to make the story “their own”. A horror film, titled Winnie-the-Pooh: Blood and Honey (2023), directed by Rhys Frake-Waterfield, was released in early in 2023. It was subsequently panned, even “winning” five Razzies, but that hasn’t stopped the director from planning a sequel to it, or planning to do the same with the likes of Bambi and Peter Pan[7]!
FINAL THOUGHTS
After the “Fab Five” of Mickey, Minnie, Donald, Goofy and Pluto, the collection of characters from the Hundred Acre Wood come a close second in terms of being the most popular Disney characters, with Winnie the Pooh merchandise occasionally outselling those of Mickey Mouse! What Walt Disney and his animators did was to bring the characters to the US market, ensuring that A. A. Milne’s stories could gain a reputation outside of Europe.
Disney have managed to make these characters so successful with a wide audience of people that we can’t help but be charmed by every new concept that comes from it! Though I found the film to be a bit long and think it would’ve been better to have been kept as three separate shorts and not combined, I still love all the Hundred Acre Wood characters, but especially Winnie the Pooh, and am happy to see whatever Disney have planned with them next.
REFERENCES
[1] Credit: Harry Arends, “The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh: The Story Behind the Masterpiece”, from The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh (1977), 25th Anniversary DVD (2002).
[2] Credit: Michael Lyons, ‘Show Me the Honey: The 45th Anniversary of “The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh”, CartoonResearch.com, 11th April 2022.
[3] Credit: Adam Donald, ‘How ‘Winnie the Pooh’ Updated the 1977 Animated Classic ‘The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh’, Collider.com, 18th January 2023.
[4] Credit: Harry Arends, “The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh: The Story Behind the Masterpiece”, from The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh (1977), 25th Anniversary DVD (2002).
[5] Credit: Harry Arends, “The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh: The Story Behind the Masterpiece”, from The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh (1977), 25th Anniversary DVD (2002).
[6] Credit: Dave Shute, ‘Fridays with Jim Korkis: The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh’, YourFirstVisit.net, date unknown.
[7] Credit: Liam Maguren, ‘I Kid You Not: Disney’s Winnie the Pooh movies are meditative experiences’, Flicks.co.uk, 14th February 2023.
The Disney Purist 