Winnie the Pooh review

Sometimes there comes a film that reminds us how simple life used to be, a film that reminds us how good a kids film can actually be, a film that reminds us how incredible traditional animation really is. In a modern age where kids films are made quick and cheap, Winnie the Pooh is a film that reminds us how great Disney Animation is. Winnie the Pooh is so far, my pick for the best film of the summer and maybe even the best film of the year next to Rango.

What works about Winnie the Pooh is how simplistic it is. The plot itself isn’t really that deep, however it doesn’t really need to be because Winnie the Pooh has always been simplistic and that’s one of the things that make Winnie the Pooh as great as it is. It’s not trying to be an intellectual children’s movie but at the same time it’s not one of those children’s that doesn’t dumb down the audience either. While the characters themselves aren’t necessarily the brightest bunch of characters out there, they are actually fun characters to watch because they have always been the way they are in previous films featuring these characters. In the ends every character in this movie are the same characters we all know and love with the only real difference with them are some of the voice actors.

All these characters are funny and they do have a great personality to go along with the great humor that is given to them. And even with different voice actors playing some of these characters, the newcomer voice actors are excellent replacements that almost make you forget that some of these characters are played by a different actor. While we still have a few voice actors returning such as Jim Cummings as both Pooh and Tigger who does a great job as always. The new ones such as Tom Kenny as Rabbit and Bud Lucky as Eeyore do an incredible job voicing these characters along with having them sound exactly the way they should sound like.  However the biggest strong point with this movie in terms of both the film itself and the characters is the animation.

This movie is a perfect example of why I miss traditional animation. The character animation is another reason why these characters are fun to watch because they have great facial expressions, they’re animated well and it feels like the animators for this movie had an enjoyable time animating them. It’s easily my pick for the most visually appealing film I’ve seen all year because it’s an animation style that is rarely seen today on the big screen and this film makes that style look even better than ever.  Another great thing about this film is the music. While, it’s definitely not one of Disney’s best in terms of great soundtracks, the songs in this film are fun to listen to. While they are short songs, they end up being sweet and fun ones as well. Plus, Zooey Deschanel does a solid job on singing the Winnie the Pooh theme as well.

If there is one problem I do have with this movie it is that it is a little too short. It’s strange because most recent films have the problem of being way too long. Films like Transformers Dark of the Moon is an example of a movie that could have been two hours long rather than two and a half, while with Winnie the Pooh has the issue of that it could have had an extra ten or twenty minutes that could have been added. Now, it’s not the worst thing in the world that this film is short, because it is a short and sweet movie to watch. However, I was enjoying this film so much, that if it was about 30 minutes longer, I wouldn’t mind at all. Even with that minor gripe I have with Winnie the Pooh, everything else this films has to offer makes Winnie the Pooh easily one of the best films I’ve seen all year. This is the type of movie that Pixar should have given us instead of Cars 2, a sweet charming movie that is both nostalgic and fun to watch. I was smiling through-out this whole entire movie and I can’t see how anyone else can watch this film without doing that. Where Harry Potter gave us a film that makes us feel old now, pooh bear has given us a film that truly makes us feel like a kid again.

RATING: 9.5/10