22 – The Many Adventures of Winnie
the Pooh
There are many different kinds of
stories. Watching all these Disney movies has really given me an
opportunity to see many of them. By “many different stories” I
really mean even beyond genre there are stories that try to
accomplish different things. There are the stories that really try to
tell a story that involves interesting characters and carries it's
own themes. That would be most of what Disney has tried to do. Then
there are stories, like the shorts I reviewed early on, that don't
really try to tell a story but just have fun scenes to keep people
entertained. 1977's The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh doesn't
really fit into either of those categories.
The
movie itself is structured a bit differently than any of the movies
I've reviewed so far. The movie is really four shorts combined into
one story depicting the lives of Winnie the Pooh and his friends in
the Hundred Acre Wood. The first short deals with Pooh's crazy
attempts to get his favorite food, honey, out of a tree protected by
bees. The next one shows how the characters deal with some
particularly bad weather. After this, there's a short where Pooh's
friend Rabbit tries to get Tigger to stop doing his favorite thing,
bouncing. Finally, we have a little short where Christopher Robin,
Pooh's human friend, has to leave the Hundred Acre Wood. I really
like the approach they took with this format. None of the shorts felt
too disjointed and each one helped to establish the characters more
and more. They spent just enough time on each one to make sure
nothing felt rushed or pointless.
The
story also, surprisingly, gave a good amount of detail to the
characters that lived in the Hundred Acre Wood. There's Winnie the
Pooh, of course, with his insatiable love of honey and real loyalty
to his friends. Then there's Christopher Robin, the young boy that
presumably imagines all of the events that occur and is a real model
of a good kid. Piglet also appears as the shy and timid but also
extremely kind friend of Pooh's. There's the incredibly energetic and
bouncy Tigger and serious Rabbit who is a bit of a stick in the mud
and would love to stop Tigger from bouncing. On top of all of them
there are a few side characters that get a bit of screen time like
Eeyore, the pessimistic donkey, Kanga and Roo, the mother and son
kangaroos, and Owl, an older and wiser figure for the other
characters. It's really crazy to me how many characters this story
has and how unique each one is.
The
style of the story is also incredible. The movie is told in this
really great storybook form where we can sometimes actually see the
pages and words of the book in addition to the animation. You can see
the pages turning and the narrator of the story frequently comments
on events happening on specific pages. The words on the pages
sometimes react to the events in the story like wind blowing words
off the page or Tigger using some words to safely land on. The art
really looks like illustrations from a book and really has a unique
and nostalgic feeling to them. The movie really gives you the
impression that the illustrations in the story are coming to life.
I
mentioned the feeling this story gives before and on top of that it
really has a child-like wonder to it all. The way the characters act
are very unique and imaginative. They are incredibly simple minded
but it really reminds me of how a child might view different things
while they're playing. The themes the movie goes into are really
simple too but so important. The idea of being generous, even when it
might put you in a difficult place. The idea of being brave in the
face of danger. Even the incredibly sad idea of having to say goodbye
to someone. The movie really hits hard at the end with some really
poignant moments.
Overall,
I adored this movie. It's really a great change of pace from what
I've been seeing. It's incredibly different than anything I've seen
so far. I really think that movies like this need to exist. I think
we all need to be reminded sometimes what it's like to be a kid and
have that sense of wonder come back. While I really enjoyed this, I
think this kind of movie is best when you haven't seen something like
this in awhile. I don't think it would carry the same weight if this
was the sort of thing I saw every day. I'm excited to go back to some
more traditional stories tomorrow, even if it just means that in the
future I can come back to this one.
22
down. 31 to go.
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