The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh

• Directed by John Lounsbery and Wolfgang Reitherman
• March 11, 1977
• Based on Winnie-the-Pooh by A. A. Milne

Voice Cast

• The Narrator-Sebastian Cabot
• Winnie the Pooh-Sterling Holloway
• Christopher Robin-Bruce Reitherman, Jon Walmsley, Timothy Turner
• Piglet-John Fiedler
• Eeyore-Ralph Wright
• Roo-Clint Howard, Dori Whitaker
• Kanga-Barbara Luddy
• Tigger-Paul Winchell
• Rabbit-Junius Matthews
• Owl-Hal Smith
• Gopher-Howard Morris

Three animated shorts are brought together featuring the classic character and his friends.

The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh is perhaps everyone’s main source of knowledge on the Winnie the Pooh character. Not the image presented in the books but what we see presented by Disney. Disney has that effect on people. It is so ingrained that it has reached the point of being parodied in the likes of Winnie-the-Pooh: Blood and Honey.

This particular film gathers together three previously released Winnie the Pooh shorts with extra material to connect them into a mostly cohesive movie: Winnie the Pooh and the Honey Tree from 1966, Winnie the Pooh and the Blustery Day from 1968, and Winnie the Pooh and Tigger Too from 1974. It a bit of true craftsmanship that individually each tells a complete story yet with the new linking material they become a part of something larger while still maintaining that individuality.

These are loosely interwoven tails with one gently given away to another but not necessarily directly connected. And weirdly apart or together this is strong for what it is. Individually they each have a beginning, middle, and end. Together they form as I said before a loosely connected narrative. A bit of a slice of life in the day of Winnie the Pooh and friends.

Simple and safe with no pretensions of complexity is what this is. Family friendly without talking down to the audience. The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh is the very definition of comfort food and it’s something that Disney was once so very good at. This is an old friend who gives you a hug when you need it. It helps that this uses the quaint 2-D style of Disney’s more traditional classics.

One of the most intriguing elements of this is how the story here interweaves a standard animated visual presentation with the story occurring within the pages of a book. There are even points where the type in the book is helpful to the characters or just important to that particular story. It drives home the fantastical elements and hints that this is imagination and not actually happening.

The story(s) deal mildly and simply with themes of friendship and loyalty and addresses acts of kindness in a way children can easily understand. I know in this day and age there are plenty of adult Disney nuts, but this is it not for adults. This is for kids, but it is still enjoyable for those very adults. And in the end with Christopher Robin’s statement to Pooh it even addresses leaving childhood behind and growing up.

The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh is sweet and heartwarming and ultimately a good view for all. Put this on and visit some old friends.