I can vividly recall Disney's animated Winnie the Pooh stories from the 1960s and '70s: "Winnie the Pooh and the Blustery
Day," "Winnie the Pooh and Tigger Too," and so forth. What I remember most about them are the storybooks and records that tied in with them, with the distinctive voice of Sebastian Cabot as the narrator and Sterling Holloway as Pooh. The stories were so simple and charming, the characters distinct but gentle. They were meant to come from the imagination of a child, Christopher Robin, and they always seemed like they could have done just that. And while Disney has bastardized, ruined, and sold out pretty much all of its other properties, the bedeviled corporation has somehow managed not to sully the good name of Winnie the Pooh. The most recent theatrical films -- "The Tigger Movie" and "Piglet's Big Movie" -- had their missteps but generally kept the spirit alive, albeit in a weakened condition. Now here is "Pooh's Heffalump Movie," another fine addition to the canon and a delightful little movie in its own right. Nothing has been modernized (no more rapping for Tigger after "The Tigger Movie," thank goodness), there's nothing subversive, there are no fart jokes. It's just good ol' Pooh and his whimsical little friends.
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