Winnie the Pooh e gli efelanti

Awakening to hear the trumpeting of a Heffalump in the distance, Pooh (Jim Cummings), Piglet (John Fielder), Rabbit (Ken Sansom), Tigger (Cummings) and Eeyore (Peter Cullen) decide they should venture into Heffalump Hollow to investigate and capture one of the beasts. When Roo (Nikita Hopkins) learns he can't come along--even though he was the only one who thought of bringing something practical, a rope, on the "expoohdition"--he leaves on his own, and begins a grand adventure.

Originally slated as a direct-to-video release, Pooh's Heffalump Movie provides rewarding theatrical fare for children and adults alike. Although the animation isn't quite as intricately stylized as some Pooh tales, it is still quality work, and the story is very entertaining, with a slightly surprising and thinly veiled message.

Any Pooh fan will know that Heffalumps originally arose as dream material in Pooh's head--Heffalumps and Woozles were nightmare creatures (inspired by a mispronunciation of "elephants" and "weasels"), who were insanely wacky and out to steal Pooh's Hunny. In Pooh's Heffalump Movie (which is really more of a Roo tale, ala the Tigger tale of The Tigger Movie (2000) or Piglet's turn in Piglet's Big Movie (2003)), we get real Heffalumps, living in an area adjacent to the 100-Acre Wood called Heffalump Hollow. They're the Pooh gang's Other--imagined as having all of the negative qualities absent in the Pooh gang's image of Self.

The journey to seek out and capture a Heffalump involves crossing borders (a fence), passing over abyss-like ravines, crossing water barriers (rivers) and so on. It's a symbolic trip to a foreign, alien world, where unpleasant strangers live. Roo, the most innocent of Pooh's gang, is the first to encounter a Heffalump, and he learns that the Heffalump has a similarly negative depiction of the Other--an equally negative view of Pooh and our friends from the 100-Acre Wood. Both gradually come to terms with their misleading conceptions. The message of the film is to not "dehumanize" or "demonize" the Other--that the Other is probably someone not that different from you and I. Perhaps it's a surprisingly political message for a Pooh story, but it's valuable nonetheless, and easily meshes stylistically with the Pooh universe. It's interesting that director Frank Nissen chose to voice the principal Heffalumpian Other seen in the film, Lumpy (Kyle Sanger), with a British accent. It could have easily worked with an American accent like the other Pooh characters. The British accent is both more daring than we might expect (making the political distancing of the Other more obvious) and less controversial than we might expect (British culture being the closest one can come to American culture yet retain a distinct, recognizable accent).

Of course, kids aren't going to analyze the film in that way. For them, this is a fun adventure story, with moments of slight suspense and even slight scares (nothing that toddlers couldn't handle, though), where two like-minded creatures meet and become great friends. There are a lot of funny bits in the film, and the new characters are just as cute and likable as anyone else in the Pooh universe; I hope we see more of them in the future. There is a wonderful series of gags over the end credits featuring Lumpy in some of the better-known Pooh adventures. The songs by Carly Simon in the film are good, particularly when Carly sings them.

Now, bring us our Rabbit, Eeyore, Owl, and Gopher films!

At 18, you may think I am a little old to be watching this movie, but as a lover of the Winnie the Pooh characters I thought why not? So I watched Pooh's Heffalump Movie and was delighted by it. It is so charming, sweet and endearing and has a lot of heart too. Plenty of funny and touching moments here too. It isn't as good as the 1977 movie or the 80s TV show, but it is still a delightful movie, with enough charm for especially children. Adults may complain there aren't enough jokes for them, but if they see the movie they will probably be content by their child's happy smile as they watch it and by the charm the film has.

The film is very short, but it moves very quickly and doesn't feel boring. The story is also very simple, but it is effective and innocent with a nice message that I actually didn't find preachy. The animation is lovely, and the music while not the best in the world is still delightful and serves its purpose very well. Even the dialogue had some nice moments- I smiled and I was moved too. The characters are a delight, especially Lumpy who is so cute and endearing I fell in love with him the very first moment I set eyes on him. And the voice acting is excellent. Overall, charming and delightful. 9/10 Bethany Cox

This movie was the perfect first movie to bring our 3 and a half yr old daughter! It had a wonderful lesson for all of us: don't be judgmental about things we don't yet know.

There is a most tender moment between Roo and Kanga, which is coupled with a heartbreakingly sweet song, sung mostly by Carly Simon. (We bought the CD and it gets a lot of playtime.) Little Roo was courageous and wise - even seeking his parent's help when he couldn't solve a serious problem on his own. Pooh and the gang are featured throughout but are not the 'stars'. Roo plays a charming character growing up just a little bit, and my daughter related to him very well.

NOTE, however, there is a scene that can be seen as a little scary for little ones. My daughter ended up sitting on my husband's lap for security about half way through the film, and stayed there through the end. Afterwards we talked about it a little bit and she hasn't had any bad dreams that we know of. All in all, a new generation of Hundred Acre Wood movies has begun, and so has a new fan base! SEE IT!

All in all, this is a movie for kids. We saw it tonight and my child loved it. At one point my kid's excitement was so great that sitting was impossible. However, I am a great fan of A.A. Milne's books which are very subtle and hide a wry intelligence behind the childlike quality of its leading characters. This film was not subtle. It seems a shame that Disney cannot see the benefit of making movies from more of the stories contained in those pages, although perhaps, it doesn't have the permission to use them. I found myself wishing the theater was replaying "Winnie-the-Pooh and Tigger too", instead. The characters voices were very good. I was only really bothered by Kanga. The music, however, was twice as loud in parts than the dialog, and incongruous to the film.

As for the story, it was a bit preachy and militant in tone. Overall, I was disappointed, but I would go again just to see the same excitement on my child's face.

I liked Lumpy's laugh....

I went and saw this movie with my five year old. He laughed at several parts, but got very bored toward the end. Honestly, I couldn't blame him. The plot is incredibly thin, even for a children's movie. There's hardly any plot at all. The songs are OK, but they feel like filler to make the movie longer.

Yes, I know it's a children's movie, but it's not impossible to make a children's movie with decent plots. My three year old girl loves Sleeping Beauty, and I can easily watch it and enjoy with her. I use a Disney example for this; I could easily invoke some of the recent Pixar films as well.

Granted, Pooh is simpler and more innocent than other children's fare, but it doesn't have to be so dead dull. There are plenty of examples of good Pooh films/videos that have real plots.

I don't want to rant against recent Disney movies (there are more than enough people who do that), but they need to get some decent writers that know how to make a plot with many layers.