HI HIP POOHRAY!

Not one of Disney’s original features, but a compilation of three previously produced animated shorts starring Winnie the Pooh, released between 1966 and 1974, including the Oscar-winning Winnie the Pooh and the Blustery Day.

Seamless transitions tie the films together, where the teddybear interacts with A.A. Milne’s words on book pages. Perfect entertainment for children, with disarmingly simple and creative adventures in the forest, often depending on the whims of the weather. It all ends with a new epilogue, which has a bittersweet touch.

Irresistible music and songs by the Sherman brothers.

1977-U.S. Animated. 74 min. Color. Directed by Wolfgang Reitherman, John Lousberry. Stories: A.A. Milne, E.H. Shepard. Songs: Robert Sherman, Richard Sherman. Voices of Sterling Holloway (Winnie the Pooh), John Fiedler (Piglet), Paul Winchell (Tigger), Bruce Reitherman, Jon Walmsley, Timothy Turner. Narrated by Sebastian Cabot. 

Trivia: In the 1980s, a fourth featurette (first shown in theaters in 1983) was added to VHS releases of this film. Winnie the Pooh returned in multiple Disney-produced shorts, series and films from the late 1980s and onwards.

Last word: “I absolutely think that Sterling’s performance in Winnie the Pooh was the mortar between all the other building blocks, that without that, the thing would not have held up. It would have felt saccharine or something else, but Sterling managed to bring that depth of character to it that I think was just fundamental to the film’s success.” (Bruce Reitherman, People)