The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh

The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh was released in theaters on March 11, 1977. This was the last film that had any actual involvement from Walt Disney. It is an anthology film of three Winnie the Pooh shorts. Winnie the Pooh and the Honey Tree from 1966 which Walt was involved with and released before he died. Winnie the Pooh and the Blustery Day also had involvement from Walt although it came out two years after he died, 1968. The final cartoon in the anthology was Winnie the Pooh and Tigger Too from 1974.

This is by far the best of the package films up to this point. The stories are good and entertaining. The scenes that tie the stories together are seamless with the film. And it has a true Disney quality to the entire package.

The characters are what make this film so good. Each character is easily defined by a simple quirk and they all seem somewhat realistic with both good and bad traits. The best part is that they each spend some time in the spotlight as the comedy relief.

The only real flat character is Christopher Robin and he plays more of a parental role than anything anyway. On top of the characters and great stories, the music also plays a big role in the film. It manages to avoid the cliché sounds of the previous film, Robin Hood, and has that true Disney magic tied into it.

This was a surprise hit to me. I didn’t remember Winnie the Pooh being as good is it was this time around. I think this may be the first example of Disney films making some more sophisticated humor mixed in with a kids feature that speaks to me more now than then.

Run Time – 74 Minutes

50th Academy Awards – 0 Nomination – 0 Wins

Disney Animated Canon so far in order of Quality

1. Lady and the Tramp 6-22-1955

2. Peter Pan 2-5-1953

3. The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh 3-11-1977

4. One Hundred and One Dalmatians 1-25-1961

5. Dumbo 10-23-1941

6. Cinderella 2-15-1950

7. Pinocchio 2-7-1940

8. Sleeping Beauty 1-29-1959

9. The Adventure of Ichabod and Mr. Toad 10-5-1949

10. The Jungle Book 10-18-1967

11. Robin Hood 11-8-1973

12. Make Mine Music 4-20-1946

13. Fun and Fancy Free 9-27-1947

14. The Aristocats 12-11-1970

15. Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs 12-21-1937

16. Saludos Amigos 8-24-1942

17. The Sword in the Stone 12-25-1963

18. Alice in Wonderland 7-26-1951

19. Melody Time 5-27-1948

20. Bambi 8-13-1942

21. Fantasia 11-13-1940

22. The Three Caballeros 12-21-1944