Winnie the Pooh [Review by Parsi]

I unabashedly loved Winnie the Pooh.  The movie is delightful, and unlike Pooh Bear is not stuffed with fluff.

My views may be tainted by certain nostalgia.  As a child I often played a Pooh record with such love that the record buzzed.  Of perhaps greater importance, I have often been compared to a certain character.  I also happen to be a Disneyland fan, a place where Pooh displaced one of my favorite attractions. 

But, I think the film stands on its own as a cute and quirky story.

The film brings the book to life, literally.  We open with a scan of Christopher Robin’s room, like a great Hitchcock film you are introduced to all of the characters in a single shot.  The characters and all of the elements of the forthcoming story are captured in the vignette. This allows the viewer to peer into the environment that captured Christopher Robin’s imagination and where the stories developed. 

Like the classic Disney films we are told the story by leaping directly into the book.  Of course, in this telling Pooh and friends interact with the narrator and the text itself to good effect.  The interplay is clever and fun.  The element does not seem tired because it is used sparingly and with purpose.

The animation also takes on the feel of a book.  At times the background is half painted or underdeveloped.  The scenery establishes a landscape where the characters can play and does not dominate the story.  After all, the story is the key.  It also makes the story leap from the pages.

Each character is developed with love — from Eeyore’s grumpiness to Tigger’s exuberance.  You watch the characters evolve.  Each characteristic is carried the way a child might hyperbolically imagine it.  They literally throw themselves into their emotions.  They have a childish quality to them that is both accurate and refreshing.  It is a story told with attention to the world imagined by a child.     

The dialogue is clever and witty.  The film plays with words exquisitely — from the foibles of mistaking back soon with the monstrous Backsoon, to the difference between not and knot.  The word play is good fun. 

The film also does a great job of playing with timing.  You can actually see the characters wheels spinning as they struggle to figure things out.

The film is made with clear affection.  The result is a film that is lovable and irreverent.  I found myself laughing uncontrollably and grinning ear to ear.  You cannot help but to love this film, even if the theater is filled with some rather unsavory folk.

This film is a joy for boys and girls of all ages.    

PARSI VERDICT: The film is sweeter than a pot of honey and more fulfilling as well.   

See what the other half thinks: Haus’s view.