Now here’s a delightful movie that I never realized I needed in a world where cheap stories, hollow special effects, and gimmicky 3D rule the film industry. This is a film that seemingly uses hand-drawn animation and watercolor backgrounds instead of the now-traditional three-dimensional animated technique. There are no catches or tricks with Disney’s new ‘Winnie the Pooh’ film. What you expect is what you get. Nothing more, nothing less. And that’s all we ever really need.

The film’s plot is inspired by three short stories from A. A. Milne, the original creator of ‘Winnie the Pooh’ all those years ago. It starts off with the beloved bear waking up, hungry for honey as always. Pooh’s day soon gets adventurous when Eeyore’s tail goes missing and a contest is held to find the best replacement. Soon after, Pooh and the gang try to capture a terrible beast called “The Backson,” whom they believe has taken Christopher Robin, a young English boy and Pooh’s best friend.

The original characters all return in this new ‘Winnie the Pooh’ film, which includes Piglet (voiced by Travis Oates), Rabbit (Tom Kenny, ‘Spongebob Squarepants’), Owl (Craig Ferguson, ‘How to Train Your Dragon’), Eeyore (Bud Luckey, ‘The Incredibles’), Kanga (Kristen Anderson-Lopez), Roo (Wyatt Hall), and last but not least, Tigger (Jim Cummings, from ‘The Princess and the Frog’, and who also voices Pooh). All of the characters’ beloved traits are still kept intact, like Rabbit’s OCD, Piglet’s timidness, and Tigger’s hyperactivity.

‘Winnie the Pooh’ is narrated by John Cleese (of Monty Python fame), who narrates from the film’s storybook-like format. The words he reads from can sometimes be seen on screen, and in some cases the words themselves become part of setting, even moving, sliding, and falling when the characters interact with them. Zooey Deschanel (‘(500) Days of Summer’), Kristen Anderson-Lopez and Robert Lopez provide the film with playful and jolly songs, including one about honey and one about the fearsome Backson (as the animation of the film goes into a beautiful “chalk” form).

When the film was released it was lost under the hype and thrills of the final ‘Harry Potter’ film. Now that it’s on DVD/Blu-Ray, it should be able to provide entertainment to audiences of all ages and fit perfectly in one’s home. At 63 minutes, ‘Winnie the Pooh’ is a simply lighthearted film that’s just short enough for children and entertaining enough for adults. The film doesn’t tout any famous voice-actors like Pixar and Dreamworks Animation typically feature. The voice-actors for the film are here because they fit their characters perfectly, and that’s the only reason. This film is made purely to bring back the lovable cast of characters and to perhaps entertain a new generation of children.

Three out of four Kents.

Extra Notes:

• The only real “problem” I have with this movie is the character traits and actions of some of the major characters. I don’t remember Pooh being so dumb and irresponsible, nor Owl being such a pathological liar and know-it-all. Some of the characters show selfish qualities too. However, by the end some of the characters appear to redeem themselves, especially Pooh when he finally puts a friend before himself.