"Pooh's Heffalump Movie"
DVD Review
by Kevin Carr
| MOVIE: ***1/2 (out of 5 stars)
DVD EXPERIENCE: *** (out of 5 stars) STARRING Jim Cummings as WINNIE THE POOH and TIGGER John Fielder as PIGLET Nikita Hopkins as ROO Kath Soucie as KANGA Ken Samson as RABBIT Peter Cullen as EEYORE Brenda Blethyn as MAMA HEFFALUMP Kyle Stanger as LUMPY Rated G Studio: Walt Disney Directed by: Frank Nissen Back to DVD Review Home |
 |
I love having kids. They open your eyes to the world. What may seem mundane to you holds endless fascination with a child.
One of the greatest things about having kids is rediscovering cartoons - especially the classics. I have a two year old son who has recently gotten into Winnie the Pooh. I love walking through my local video store and having him squeal with excitement when he sees a picture of Pooh Bear or Tigger on the wall.
Before I had kids, I was not a fan of the Winnie the Pooh series. I always found them to be too dysfunctional. However, through my kids, I have come to enjoy them immensely. I still find the episodes of the 1980s “New Adventures of Winnie the Pooh” television series to be irritating, but the feature-length movies have been a treat.
In “Pooh’s Heffalump Movie,” the Walt Disney company introduces a new member of the Hundred Acre Wood. Although Tigger warns Pooh of the dangers of heffalumps and woozles during the blustery day back in the 1960s, we really never get to meet a real heffalump. (I don’t count the heffalumps and woozles introduced in the old television show. They just annoy me.)
Now that direct-to-DVD releases have exhausted cute plots with Piglet, Tigger and Roo, they’ve brought us Lumpy. He’s a heffalump that lives across the Hundred Acre Wood with his mother. In “Pooh’s Heffalump Movie,” the characters from the wood band together to capture the heffalump, which they are sure is a terribibble creature. Ultimately, it is Roo who crosses paths with Lumpy first and discovers that he’s not terribibble, but instead a good friend.
“Pooh’s Heffalump Movie” is wholesome fun for the whole family. Lumpy makes a great new addition to the Hundred Acre Wood family. He doesn’t have the dysfunctional nature that surrounds the other characters. He’s just plain charming (although where he got his English accent, I couldn’t begin to say).
I actually saw this film in the theaters. I took both my sons - ages 4 and 2. My two-year-old was fussy getting into the theater, as two-year-olds are. However, the moment he looked up on the screen and could see the Pooh Bear characters, he was entranced. He loved the movie. He loved it so much, he barely looked at his bucket of popcorn. It’s a great little film for the kids.
Carly Simon lends her voice and guitar to this film as she has recent Winnie the Pooh releases like “Piglet’s Big Movie.” In fact, some of the songs are reminiscent enough of the Piglet movie to make me wonder if they were possibly revamping them for just a different film.
This DVD comes with a feature that will jump directly to the songs from the film, as well as a comical, tongue-in-cheek discussion with the filmmakers about the addition of Lumpy the new star. There is also a hide-and-seek game to play on the television. It’s nothing too complicated, but it makes a fun game to guide your children through.
Clearly, kids will find something to identify with in Lumpy, the lost heffalump. Disney’s already got a new heffalump movie coming down the DVD pike - this one just in time for Halloween. Sure, the Winnie the Pooh characters are nothing but formula, but it’s a formula that works. And to see your child’s eyes light up when they see them is a great feeling.
Specifications: Dolby 5.1 Surround Sound. Widescreen (1.78:1), enhanced for 16x9 televisions. French language track. English language subtitles for the hearing impaired.
