Blu-ray Review - The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh

The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh
Director: John Lounsbery & Wolfgang Reitherman
Voice Cast: Sterling Holloway, John Fiedler, Junius Matthews, Paul Winchell, Howard Morris, Bruce Reitherman, Jon Walmsley, Timothy Turner
Studio: Walt Disney
Release Date: August 27, 2013
ASIN: B00CMY3K5O
Buy Link: Amazon
Running Time: 74 minutes
Rating: G

Review:

Return to Hundred Acre Wood with last week's Blu-ray + DVD + Digital Copy release of the 1977 animation-musical classic The Many Adventures of Winne the Pooh for a whole new generation. The Blu-ray contains many new extras; Disney Intermission - press pause during the movie and the narrator will interact with the viewers in a variety of activities; Pooh Play-Along - the narrator invites the viewers to play along with Pooh and his pals; 5 "Mini Adventures of Winnie the Pooh" shorts: "If I Wasn't So Small," "Piglet's Drawings," "The Expedition," "Geniuses" (also on the DVD) & "The Honey Song"; Legacy "A Day for Eyeore" - classic animated short; Legacy "The Story Behind the Masterpieces" - making of featurette; and Legacy "The Winnie the Pooh Them Song" - performed by Carly Simon (also on the DVD). There is also a mini kit included!

The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh is based on the books by A.A. Milne and features three previously filmed Disney animations featurettes - Winnie the Pooh and the Honey Tree (1966), Winnie the Pooh and the Blustery Day (1968), and Winnie the Pooh and Tigger Too (1974). Additional materials were filmed to link all three featurettes together, as well as the final sequence between Winnie the Pooh and Christopher Robbins, which was based on the final chapter of The House at Pooh Corner by A.A. Milne.

Pooh has only thing on his mind, honey, in the Winnie the Pooh and the Honey Tree. He attempts to get honey from a bee hive by borrowing Christopher Robbin's balloon and floating to the hive, but it ends in disaster. Then he visits Rabbit, who makes the mistake of offering Pooh honey.

In Winnie the Pooh and the Blustery Day (which is a combination of three stories from The House at Pooh Corner), the blustery wind blows down Owl's home, which leads Eeyore on a mission to find Owl a new home. Meanwhile, Pooh gets a strange visitor at his a door, an orange bouncing tiger named Tigger, who warns him that there are Heffalumps and Woozles in the forest looking for honey. Pooh spends the rest of the night worrying about losing his honey and he even has a nightmare about it, but he has bigger things to worry about, as the rain has caused the Hundred Acre Wood to flood.

Ever since Tigger arrived, he has been bouncing up & down and knocking everyone down, especially Rabbit, who is tried of Tigger. Soon, almost everyone is annoyed by the bouncing orange tiger. After Tigger befriends Roo, they get stuck up a tree and Tigger is afraid to jump down. It is up to Pooh, his friends and even the narrator to help them get down safely in Winnie the Pooh and Tigger Too.

The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh is a charming animation classic that is finally being released on Blu-ray. I remember watching the movie when I was a kid and now rewatching it as an adult, I still think it is one of the best animated films based on a children's book. From the outstanding voice-actors to the hand-drawn animation that resembles a picture book, The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh is an animation with heart, along with catching songs as "The Wonderful Thing About Tiggers." There are plenty of extras including the 1983 featurette Winnie the Pooh and a Day for Eeyore on the Bu-ray. I enjoyed returning to Hundred Acre Wood and I recommend it to everyone, young and old.

*Disclaimer - I received a complimentary copy in exchange for my honest review. All opinions are my own.