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DAY 210

Now get get to finish the direct-to-video Winnie the Pooh sequels. Even though these ones aren't really bad persay (with one exception), they aren't AS good as the Search for Christopher Robin, the Tigger Movie or Piglet's Big Movie. You won't be seeing Season of Giving because even though it's advertised as "an original story", it's really just a compilation video just like the other videos that have New Adventures of episodes around a theme. I also didn't bring it up with the first 3, but I wanna talk about the marketing for the Pooh sequels. Has anyone found it strange that the trailers for the Pooh sequels didn't use any footage from the film it's advertising? They always kept using videos from the previous Pooh movies horribly redubbed by OTHER audio bits that don't match at all! I know it's a small thing, but I never knew what to expect with the poorly done advertising (same thing goes for the opening bedroom scene recycled the same from Seasons of Giving and the Tigger Movie). Also, there's not much to say about the animation or voice cast; the animation is good and the voice cast is the same/does great as always.
A Very Merry Pooh Year is a nice holiday film, covering Christmas and New Year's Eve at once. It starts with the 100 Acre inhabitants gathering at Pooh's house on Christmas Eve. They're all there for a tree trimming sleepover and tell the story of the Christmas that almost wasn't. This transition to the Winnie the Pooh & Christmas Too TV special. It's... odd they choose to include it, but I'll talk about that at the end. After the special, it's Christmas morning and Pooh soon realizes he forgot where he hid his present for Piglet (but it was shown at the beginning). He spends days looking for it and then it's New Year's Eve and Pooh tells Christopher Robin that the party should be at Rabbit's house. After an accident AT Rabbit's house where he decides to move away, Pooh, Piglet, Tigger and Eeyore use resolutions to change theirselves in order for Rabbit to stay. The story's pretty much set up into 2 for each holiday. The Christmas one is mostly a set up for the TV special which I kind of understand. They already did the Chrismtas angle before so why try to top it? The only changes are digitally editing Rabbit's fur to yellow (THANK YOU!) and dubbing Christopher's voice (I get that the original voice was American, but it still feels odd). Even with that, the set up around it isn't bad. There's the nice community of all the characters, there's set ups for Piglet's present and a sideplot with Tigger jingling Christmas bells irritating Rabbit, some classic carols are sung and for some reason, I like the shot of Pooh's honey cabinet; I dunno why, but the angle and slow atmospheric pace wouldn't be too out of place in one of the theatrical Disney movies. The New Year's story I think is a reworked thing from the original stories with Rabbit moving away. It shows the length these characters will go through for a change, it's perfectly understandable for Rabbit to blow up like this and seeing the characters unintentionally turn into each other is hilarious (Piglet as Tigger, Tigger as Piglet, Pooh as Eeyore and Eeyore as Pooh). It wraps both holiday stories really nicely, it ends with Old Lang Syne and it's the last time you'd ever see Gopher again. (Seriously though, his voice actor's still alive, why not include him?)
There's a quote from the Tigger Movie that goes: "Wait hafa darn minuet! It seems ta me dat mosta dese stories are about dat silly ol' bear!" and it seems that these sequels acknowledge that because Pooh's more in the background than the star. Tigger and Piglet's worked because he was still a main player, but after Piglet, the focus shifted from Pooh to Roo as the star. That can be said quite a bit about Springtime with Roo and is a little on the weak side. The story is pretty much a reworked interpretation of A Christmas Carol; Tigger even says "What the Dickens, and I DO mean 'DICKENS' *eyebrow nudge*, is goin' on here?" Rabbit is Scrooge, replace the holiday of Christmas with Easter, Rabbit has to go through an arch to redeem himself against a holiday he has a distaste for with the rest of his friends. On one hand, I give them credit for doing a reworked version of Christmas Carol done in a different holiday (the context of the story CAN work anytime not just Christmas), but on the other hand... why Pooh? It sort of feels out of place, especially since a lot of the moments feel too harsh or just rushed. There's also a lot of moments that try to recreate the same feel of the '77 film; interacting with the narrator, playing with the text, mundane tasks turned to songs, flipping through the pages, etc. Some of them work but not too well. There's also one big problem with this: Rabbit. He's not entierly likable in this film. The way he treats his friends, berades them at moments and just the ignorance feels completely unlike him at all. I know it's the Scrooge parallel, but Scrooge's backstory and humbug attitude is learned about throughout the story whereas we already know Rabbit's a good guy. It just comes out of left field. Also noteworthy is the Narrator, voiced by David Ogden Sires. He didn't really fit how Sebastian Cabbot or Laurie Main did the narration and mostly, I kept thinking the prologue narrator from Beauty & the Beast got the books mixed up. It's just the oddest of the Pooh films.
Pooh's Heffalump Movie is another Roo-centered film and I feel is handled a lot better than Springtime. The gang hears a great disturbance in the forest and put together that it's the most dreaded animal in the world: a Heffalump. So they decide to head to the darker part of the forest to trap them before damage occurs. Roo goes out on his own (the others said he's too young for hunting) and soon develops a friendship with a young Heffalump his own age named Lumpy and both sides learn the prejudices moral. Aside from a couple continuity errors (they've met Heffalumps in the past and learned they're not all bad and why does Tigger have a portrait of his family if he realized he's the only one from his own movie?) even though the Pooh franchise has been good with that, this one's also OK (probably the best of these sets of films). There's a good "wanted to be treated like a grownup" story for Roo, the "don't go by prejudices only" for all the characters, Carly Simon comes back for the songs which are great, there's a simple climax even with big build-and-set-up and best of all is the friendship between Roo and Lumpy. The way they gradually go from hunter and huntie from bestest buddies and how they interact with each other just feels like how actual little kids acts. The only thing that bugs me aside from the continuity is how Pooh, Piglet, Tigger, Rabbit and Eeyore and treated. It sort feels like the "kids can do everything, grown ups are idiots" Home Alone-ish vibes. They're pushed to the side where it feels like they're in a completely different movie like Lion King 1 1/2. Some of their scenes amount to just one dimensional jokes, Eeyore's... LITERALLY the pack mule with nothing to do, I feel if maybe one of the other characters also joined Roo and Lumpy in the middle of the film and also learned the prejudice moral, it would've been a little stronger instead of just... leaving them running around the forest like idiots falling for their own traps. It's still good even with that.
Pooh's Heffalump Halloween Movie came out a year later and is the worst of the films. OK, "worst" might be too harsh a word, but it's just not that interesting. The story of this has been done many times before in episodes of TV shows. The group hears a ghost story (in this case, the Gabloon by Tigger) and after something goes wrong (Pooh eats all the prepared Halloween candy), two members of the gang (Roo and Lumpy) try to fix the problem by using the ghost story elements (capture the Gabloon and you’ll get a wish; you’ll turn into a Jackady-lantern if he catches you), only for misunderstandings to happen and for different stories to come together to fix the problem. You've all heard that before, right? Aside from that, everything’s been done in episodes of New Adventures of. Tigger dressed as a superhero (the Masked Offender), Rabbit come up with on-the-spot prepared and/or backup plans, the “wanting one thing but exchanges for another” cliché was done better in the Rugrats Movie, the ghost story of the Gabloon and the characters thinking its real was done with the Grab-Me-Gotcha in Pooh Moon and the Monster Franken-Pooh. Most importantly, all the Halloween elements have been done in the TV special WTP Boo Too You, which they flat-out show smack-dab in the middle of this movie! At one point, Lumpy gets scared so Roo tells him the special, even with the commercial break! Seeing the special paired up with the new story just feels lazy, especially since it's literally back to back. Very Merry Pooh Year worked because that was 2 different holiday stories and not just 2 Christmas stories. Our focus is mostly on Roo and Lumpy. I wouldn’t mind because they do have a decent friendship, but we’ve only seen Lumpy once and both aren't that strong enough to carry a film theirselves (the first Heffalump Movie could). The rest of the characters are just brushed aside, only appearing in the first and final act (not including the reused special). They probably did this to develop Roo and Lumpy’s friendship, but it doesn’t pay off too well. This is also John Fielder’s last performance as Piglet before his death, which is sad that they didn’t use him more here. Speaking of which, there's one joke that I do crack up at: Piglet having multiple locks on his door. If I sound too harsh, I wasn’t trying to be; this just has the most flaws.

DAY 212

Comment & enjoy!

Description
DAY 210

Now get get to finish the direct-to-video Winnie the Pooh sequels. Even though these ones aren't really bad persay (with one exception), they aren't AS good as the Search for Christopher Robin, the Tigger Movie or Piglet's Big Movie. You won't be seeing Season of Giving because even though it's advertised as "an original story", it's really just a compilation video just like the other videos that have New Adventures of episodes around a theme. I also didn't bring it up with the first 3, but I wanna talk about the marketing for the Pooh sequels. Has anyone found it strange that the trailers for the Pooh sequels didn't use any footage from the film it's advertising? They always kept using videos from the previous Pooh movies horribly redubbed by OTHER audio bits that don't match at all! I know it's a small thing, but I never knew what to expect with the poorly done advertising (same thing goes for the opening bedroom scene recycled the same from Seasons of Giving and the Tigger Movie). Also, there's not much to say about the animation or voice cast; the animation is good and the voice cast is the same/does great as always.
A Very Merry Pooh Year is a nice holiday film, covering Christmas and New Year's Eve at once. It starts with the 100 Acre inhabitants gathering at Pooh's house on Christmas Eve. They're all there for a tree trimming sleepover and tell the story of the Christmas that almost wasn't. This transition to the Winnie the Pooh & Christmas Too TV special. It's... odd they choose to include it, but I'll talk about that at the end. After the special, it's Christmas morning and Pooh soon realizes he forgot where he hid his present for Piglet (but it was shown at the beginning). He spends days looking for it and then it's New Year's Eve and Pooh tells Christopher Robin that the party should be at Rabbit's house. After an accident AT Rabbit's house where he decides to move away, Pooh, Piglet, Tigger and Eeyore use resolutions to change theirselves in order for Rabbit to stay. The story's pretty much set up into 2 for each holiday. The Christmas one is mostly a set up for the TV special which I kind of understand. They already did the Chrismtas angle before so why try to top it? The only changes are digitally editing Rabbit's fur to yellow (THANK YOU!) and dubbing Christopher's voice (I get that the original voice was American, but it still feels odd). Even with that, the set up around it isn't bad. There's the nice community of all the characters, there's set ups for Piglet's present and a sideplot with Tigger jingling Christmas bells irritating Rabbit, some classic carols are sung and for some reason, I like the shot of Pooh's honey cabinet; I dunno why, but the angle and slow atmospheric pace wouldn't be too out of place in one of the theatrical Disney movies. The New Year's story I think is a reworked thing from the original stories with Rabbit moving away. It shows the length these characters will go through for a change, it's perfectly understandable for Rabbit to blow up like this and seeing the characters unintentionally turn into each other is hilarious (Piglet as Tigger, Tigger as Piglet, Pooh as Eeyore and Eeyore as Pooh). It wraps both holiday stories really nicely, it ends with Old Lang Syne and it's the last time you'd ever see Gopher again. (Seriously though, his voice actor's still alive, why not include him?)
There's a quote from the Tigger Movie that goes: "Wait hafa darn minuet! It seems ta me dat mosta dese stories are about dat silly ol' bear!" and it seems that these sequels acknowledge that because Pooh's more in the background than the star. Tigger and Piglet's worked because he was still a main player, but after Piglet, the focus shifted from Pooh to Roo as the star. That can be said quite a bit about Springtime with Roo and is a little on the weak side. The story is pretty much a reworked interpretation of A Christmas Carol; Tigger even says "What the Dickens, and I DO mean 'DICKENS' *eyebrow nudge*, is goin' on here?" Rabbit is Scrooge, replace the holiday of Christmas with Easter, Rabbit has to go through an arch to redeem himself against a holiday he has a distaste for with the rest of his friends. On one hand, I give them credit for doing a reworked version of Christmas Carol done in a different holiday (the context of the story CAN work anytime not just Christmas), but on the other hand... why Pooh? It sort of feels out of place, especially since a lot of the moments feel too harsh or just rushed. There's also a lot of moments that try to recreate the same feel of the '77 film; interacting with the narrator, playing with the text, mundane tasks turned to songs, flipping through the pages, etc. Some of them work but not too well. There's also one big problem with this: Rabbit. He's not entierly likable in this film. The way he treats his friends, berades them at moments and just the ignorance feels completely unlike him at all. I know it's the Scrooge parallel, but Scrooge's backstory and humbug attitude is learned about throughout the story whereas we already know Rabbit's a good guy. It just comes out of left field. Also noteworthy is the Narrator, voiced by David Ogden Sires. He didn't really fit how Sebastian Cabbot or Laurie Main did the narration and mostly, I kept thinking the prologue narrator from Beauty & the Beast got the books mixed up. It's just the oddest of the Pooh films.
Pooh's Heffalump Movie is another Roo-centered film and I feel is handled a lot better than Springtime. The gang hears a great disturbance in the forest and put together that it's the most dreaded animal in the world: a Heffalump. So they decide to head to the darker part of the forest to trap them before damage occurs. Roo goes out on his own (the others said he's too young for hunting) and soon develops a friendship with a young Heffalump his own age named Lumpy and both sides learn the prejudices moral. Aside from a couple continuity errors (they've met Heffalumps in the past and learned they're not all bad and why does Tigger have a portrait of his family if he realized he's the only one from his own movie?) even though the Pooh franchise has been good with that, this one's also OK (probably the best of these sets of films). There's a good "wanted to be treated like a grownup" story for Roo, the "don't go by prejudices only" for all the characters, Carly Simon comes back for the songs which are great, there's a simple climax even with big build-and-set-up and best of all is the friendship between Roo and Lumpy. The way they gradually go from hunter and huntie from bestest buddies and how they interact with each other just feels like how actual little kids acts. The only thing that bugs me aside from the continuity is how Pooh, Piglet, Tigger, Rabbit and Eeyore and treated. It sort feels like the "kids can do everything, grown ups are idiots" Home Alone-ish vibes. They're pushed to the side where it feels like they're in a completely different movie like Lion King 1 1/2. Some of their scenes amount to just one dimensional jokes, Eeyore's... LITERALLY the pack mule with nothing to do, I feel if maybe one of the other characters also joined Roo and Lumpy in the middle of the film and also learned the prejudice moral, it would've been a little stronger instead of just... leaving them running around the forest like idiots falling for their own traps. It's still good even with that.
Pooh's Heffalump Halloween Movie came out a year later and is the worst of the films. OK, "worst" might be too harsh a word, but it's just not that interesting. The story of this has been done many times before in episodes of TV shows. The group hears a ghost story (in this case, the Gabloon by Tigger) and after something goes wrong (Pooh eats all the prepared Halloween candy), two members of the gang (Roo and Lumpy) try to fix the problem by using the ghost story elements (capture the Gabloon and you’ll get a wish; you’ll turn into a Jackady-lantern if he catches you), only for misunderstandings to happen and for different stories to come together to fix the problem. You've all heard that before, right? Aside from that, everything’s been done in episodes of New Adventures of. Tigger dressed as a superhero (the Masked Offender), Rabbit come up with on-the-spot prepared and/or backup plans, the “wanting one thing but exchanges for another” cliché was done better in the Rugrats Movie, the ghost story of the Gabloon and the characters thinking its real was done with the Grab-Me-Gotcha in Pooh Moon and the Monster Franken-Pooh. Most importantly, all the Halloween elements have been done in the TV special WTP Boo Too You, which they flat-out show smack-dab in the middle of this movie! At one point, Lumpy gets scared so Roo tells him the special, even with the commercial break! Seeing the special paired up with the new story just feels lazy, especially since it's literally back to back. Very Merry Pooh Year worked because that was 2 different holiday stories and not just 2 Christmas stories. Our focus is mostly on Roo and Lumpy. I wouldn’t mind because they do have a decent friendship, but we’ve only seen Lumpy once and both aren't that strong enough to carry a film theirselves (the first Heffalump Movie could). The rest of the characters are just brushed aside, only appearing in the first and final act (not including the reused special). They probably did this to develop Roo and Lumpy’s friendship, but it doesn’t pay off too well. This is also John Fielder’s last performance as Piglet before his death, which is sad that they didn’t use him more here. Speaking of which, there's one joke that I do crack up at: Piglet having multiple locks on his door. If I sound too harsh, I wasn’t trying to be; this just has the most flaws.

DAY 212

Comment & enjoy!