Starring: Sterling Holloway, John Fiedler, Junius Matthews, Paul Winchell, Ralph Wright, Hal Smith
Narrator: Sebastian Cabot
Directors: John Lounsbery, Wolfgang Reitherman
Rated: G (General Audience)
Studio: Walt Disney Studios Home Entertainment
DVD Release Date: August 27, 2013
Run Time: 74 minutes
Film: 4 out of 5 stars
Extras: 3 out of 5 stars
I have always loved Winnie the Pooh and his friends in the 100 acre woods. I grew up watching “The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh”. It hard to believe that it was made over 35 years ago but it still holds up today and is very cute, humorous and screams classic Disney animation. The film consists of a collection of the original Pooh shorts including “The Honey Tree,” “The Blustery Day,” and “Winnie the Pooh and Tigger Too”, backed by great narration from Sebastian Cabot. Backed with an amazing musical score and original voices of Sterling Holloway as Pooh and Paul Winchell as Tigger, makes this film a timeless classic. Now if Disney is reading this they just need to release “Pooh’s Heffalump Movie” along with its sequel “Pooh’s Heffalump Halloween Movie” on Blu-ray next! Do I smell a the next double feature Blu-ray release?
Official Premise: Celebrate the never-ending friendship that has delighted generations with Pooh’s first and most beloved feature film. Full of fun and heartwarming stories, this Academy Award-winning animated classic (Best Cartoon Short Subject, 1968, Winnie the Pooh and the Blustery Day) tells the tale of the first unforgettable meeting between Tigger (Paul Winchell) and Pooh (Sterling Holloway). Your family will laugh along when Pooh gets stuck in Rabbit’s (Junius Matthews) house from eating too much honey, and enjoy the lovable characters’ flurry of hilarious activity on a windy day. These timeless adventures are brought to life through extraordinary Disney animation and engaging songs and a digitally restored and remastered Blu-ray presentation.
Disney is releasing this Blu-ray as a combo pack with a Blu-ray + DVD + Digital Copy. I love that Disney has switched from just iTunes digital copies to streaming digital copies from Vudu and Amazon. The 1080p transfer looks quite stunning for a film of it’s age. The animation is very sharp and I have always loved the line detail in “Winnie The Pooh” films. The colors are pop-out as well and are very well restored. The DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 track delivers as well. Since this film packs ome fun songs, it really gets a chance to shine. It also had my 15 month daughter on her feet dancing and clapping.
The special features are pretty decent as well. I particularly love the new feature “Disney Intermission”, which is activated when you pause the film with great and fun bonus activities for kids. There is an additional classic animated short including called “A Day for Eeyore”. If you watch Disney Junior like myself then you will be aware of the “Mini Adventures of Winnie the Pooh” Shorts. Included on this disc we get five shorts, including “If I Wasn’t So Small”, “Piglet’s Drawings”, “The Expedition”, “Geniuses”, “The Honey Song”. There is a behind-the-scenes look in the feature “The Story Behind the Masterpiece”. There is a music video for the Winnie the Pooh Theme Song performed by Carly Simon. Lastly, there is a “Pooh Play-Along”, which is a great feature for the kids.