On 15th April 2011 “Winnie the Pooh” was released in cinemas to the great joy of Pooh fans across Wales. After waiting almost 30 years, the friends of 100 acre wood returned to the big screen in a brand new adventure.
Winnie the Pooh fans loved the return to the classic Pooh style, with hand drawn animation and a narrated story (narrator John Cleese). Bringing Pooh back to his roots was a key objective for the Disney Animation Studios in creating this movie. Wanting to take a very specific step away from the modern film making techniques of computer generated imagery and the 3D film experience, the moviemakers really wanted to remind the world of the beauty of simple animation.
The imagery on “Winnie the Pooh” is truly stunning, with wonderful colours within the wood, of leaves and grasses as well as the more imaginative scenery, such as a world made entirely of “hunny” and frogs turning into hunny pots!
Children really enjoyed the simple humour of the Winnie the Pooh movie, whether it was Tigger bouncing bouncing bouncing around the 100 acre wood, or poor Eeyore losing his tail again and having to make do with clock, a yo-yo, an umbrella and a balloon as potential tails!
Winnie the Pooh was first seen in cinemas in 1977 in “The Many Adventure of Winnie the Pooh” however it was over 40 years previously that Pooh Bear was first brought to the world stage. In 1925 the Winnie the Pooh stories were published in the London newspaper “The Evening News” as a serialisation of short stories. These tales were so loved by all that in 1926 they were published in the book “Winnie-the-Pooh” in the USA.
Soon afterwards, Stephen Slesinger bought the rights to Winnie the Pooh and built a Pooh empire amounting to over £50 million per year. It was Slesinger who began the meteoric rise of Pooh Bear and developed the distinctive red t-shirt which Winnie the Pooh still wears today.
In 1961 The Walt Disney Company bought the right for the Pooh franchise from the Slesinger family and catapulted Pooh, Tigger, Eeyore, Piglet, Owl, Rabbit, Kanga, Roo and, of course, Christopher Robin onto the international stage. After the production of the first Pooh movie, Disney Animation Studios created a new TV series “The New Adventures of Winnie the Pooh”. This series was so popular that over 80 episodes were created, the last repeat airing of which was as late as 2007, just before the newest incarnation of Pooh Bear was released.
“My Friends Tigger and Pooh” brought the friends of 100 acre wood into the 21st century. Created using state of the art 3D-esque computer animation, the TV series really modernised Winnie the Pooh.
However, with the latest Pooh movie, Disney Animation have brought back the real essence of Pooh Bear, reminding people what they loved about Winnie the Pooh as children. “Winnie the Pooh” introduces a whole new generation to the delights of Pooh Bear and all his friends of 100 acre wood.
Disney’s “Winnie the Pooh” is still showing in cinemas in and around Rhyl!