Review - The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh (1977)

         Hey guys, Chuck here. And, it's with a heavy heart that I am writing this review. On May 25, 2024, beloved music composer and songwriter Richard M. Sherman passed away at the age of 95. Richard, along with his brother Robert (who passed away in March of 2012), wrote many beloved songs for movies released by Disney, including the film Mary Poppins. Another film that the Sherman Brothers wrote songs for is the subject of this review: 1977's The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh. 

        In truth, this wasn't really a movie, as much as it was a cinematic repackaging of three animated featurettes based on the beloved Winnie the Pooh stories by A.A. Milne: Winnie the Pooh and the Honey Tree, Winnie the Pooh and the Blustery Day, and Winnie the Pooh and Tigger, Too. Now, each of these three featurettes were released previously, with Winnie the Pooh and the Blustery Day going on to win the Academy Award for Best Animated Short Film. So, releasing the three together, repackaged with transitions and an epilogue that was exclusive to this movie was actually a neat idea. 

       So, the three stories that compose The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh are as follows. In Winnie the Pooh and the Honey Tree, Pooh goes to great lengths to find some honey, including getting some from a tree, having some from Rabbit, and ending up stuck in Rabbit's front door. Eventually, with help from the likes of Rabbit, Kanga, Roo, Gopher, and Christopher Robin, Pooh gets unstuck, only to find himself stuck inside of a tree filled with honey. In Winnie the Pooh and the Blustery Day, Pooh and his best friend Piglet wind up caught in a massive wind, which carries them to Owl's house, which gets blown down by the wind. Eeyore goes on a mission to locate a new home for Owl, and Pooh returns home for the evening. And, it's here where he meets Tigger for the first time, and Tigger warns of creatures called Heffalumps and Woozles. After a bad dream about said Heffalumps and Woozles, Pooh awakens to find his home, as well as the Hundred Acre Wood, flooded from the rain. 

        While Eeyore continues his search for a new home for Owl, Tigger, Rabbit, Kanga, and Roo make their way safely to Christopher Robin's place, where they find a message in a bottle. The message is a letter for help from Piglet, who was swept away in the flood, as was Pooh. Christopher Robin sends Owl to find Piglet, and Owl finds both Piglet and Pooh, the latter of whom is head-first in a honey pot. Piglet and Pooh go over a waterfall, and Piglet winds up safely in Pooh's honey pot, and Christopher Roban and co. believe Pooh rescued Piglet,.and is declared a hero. During a party celebrating Pooh's heroic deed, Eeyore reveals that he found a new home for Owl...which turns out to be Piglet's house. Piglet, however, willingly gives his home to Owl, and Pooh allows Piglet to move in with him. And, both heroes are celebrated. 

       In Winnie the Pooh and Tigger, Too, many in the Hundred Acre Wood grow tired of Tigger's bouncing, including Rabbit, who teams up with Pooh and Piglet to make Tigger get lost in an unfamiliar part of Hundred Acre Wood, and thus he'll be humbled and less inclined to bounce. However, this backfires, as Rabbit gets lost instead, and Tigger ends up rescuing Rabbit. Oops. Anyway, it's during the winter time that Tigger and Roo go out to bounce and play, and the two end up bouncing into a very tall tree, and Tigger is too scared to bounce out of the tree. Now, while Roo is easily convinced by Christopher Robin, Pooh, Piglet, and Kanga to jump out of the tree, Tigger is much harder to convince. It's with assistance from the Narrator (I swear, I'm not kidding) that Tigger finally gets out of the tree, and he celebrates by bouncing with his friends, including Rabbit. 

        The film's epilogue, which was made exclusively for the movie, sets up that Christopher Robin will be soon leaving the Hundred Acre Wood to attend school, but promises Pooh that the two of them will always be friends. 

        So, The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh has a very easy to follow set of stories, with simple but stellar animation. The vocal performances by the likes of Sterling Holloway as Pooh, Paul Winchell as Tigger, Hal Smith as Owl, Junius Matthews as Rabbit, John Fielder as Piglet, Ralph Wright as Eeyore, Barbara Luddy as Kanga, Howard Morris as Gopher, and Sebastian Cabot as the Narrator, is absolutely fantastic. 

      But, it's the songs and the music that are the purpose of this review. And, the songs by the Sherman Brothers are easily among the most iconic they ever wrote at their time at Disney. Such memorable songs include "Up, Down, Touch the Ground," "The Wonderful Thing About Tiggers," "Heffalumps and Woozles," and of course the title song "Winnie the Pooh." I grew up on these songs, and they are as important to me today as they were in my childhood. I am truly grateful to Richard and Robert Sherman for having written so many iconic tracks that many continue to associate with Winnie the Pooh.

        Truly, I have nothing negative to say about this one. Seriously, log on to Disney+ and watch it. I'm giving The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh a rating of 5/5. 

         Okay guys, this is Chuck signing off, and I'll see you guys in the next review.