MovieChat Forums > Winnie the Pooh (2011) Discussion > Am I the only one who was left extremely...

Am I the only one who was left extremely disappointed?

posted 13 years ago by Kieska317
25 replies | jump to latest

I really wanted this movie to be good. I didn't believe it when my mother said she couldn't stand it and I set out to prove her wrong, that she was just being over judgemental. I'd grown up with Winnie the Pooh and will always love it.
But, my god, this movie was such a disappointment.
Maybe I just have high expectations because I remember the good Winnie the Pooh movies (Pooh's Grand Adventure: The Search for Christopher Robin, The Tigger Movie, Piglet's BIG Movie). These movies had the ability to make me laugh histerically, bust out in tears and left me with a wonderful, loving feeling by the end of it.
This version of Winnie the Pooh made me sick to my stomach throughout.
The animation was good and I was very happy Jim Cummings could still do the voices of Pooh and Tigger, but it just wasn't enough to carry the film.
All that the writers did was use old plots from previous stories of Winnie the Pooh and ruin them so that they wouldn't have to come up with anything original.
Eeyore's tail: Let's spend the entire movie slapping random objects to his butt for cheap laughs.
The red balloon: That's a recognizable object from previous episodes and movies. Let's stick that in anywhere we can with no point.
The Backson: Just ripping off Pooh's Grand Adventure where Christopher Robin goes to school and the group thinks the note reads "Skull".
The humor was dry and the characters were made out to be ten times more stupid than they actually are. The puns were awful. I saw absolutely no love or caring for one another between the characters. All I witnessed were annoyance to one another and phrases I never thought I'd hear these characters say.
Piglet is thrown around like a piece of bacon and referred to as "swine". When deciding who to throw down in the pit Roo bluntly says something like "Send the pig" in a bratty teenager's voice.
The songs were mundane and that is being generous considering the amazing songs from the previous movies. All I remember from these songs is the same phrase being repeated constantly:
"The Backson, The Backson, The Backson Backson Backson!"
"Honey, honey, honey, honey..."
"It's gonna be great, It's gonna be great..."
There was no climax. It started dull and got duller.
Where was the love? Where was the joyful, homey feeling I'm supposed to get?
I just want to understand why everyone seems to think this movie is a piece of magic. I wanted it to be good, but I'm just left feeling sick.

[–] 9 years ago

[deleted]

[–] j-jessie-weaver 8 years ago

You're not the only one, pal. I was really disappointed with this movie. Most of the characters, except Pooh, Piglet, Eeyore, Tigger and Christopher Robin, were completely out of character and I absolutely hated how they abused Piglet and Eeyore for some stupid, cheap laughs. The way they portrayed Kanga and Roo was completely uncalled for and they had the gall to turn him into a smart aleck brat.

The only song I liked from the film was "Everything is Honey." That's it. Every single song before it was utter bull crap. Another thing that really made blood boil about this movie is that Pooh, on the DVD cover, is pushed to the side while the other characters take the spotlight. Disney destroyed everything that made "Winnie the Pooh" great with this remake and I personally believe it's the worst one they've ever put out.

[–] sailorspysedna 8 years ago

As a big Pooh fan since childhood, I agree: it is the worst they've put out, yes, you're right, most of the characters were made stupid and portrayed terribly. My poor, poor Kanga (she's one of my favorites)...

Another problem is it was focused too much on exaggerated slapstick and humor which was just completely unfunny. Those scenes with Rabbit making those faces, the Tigger and Eeyore song, the Backson song (which is right when the film took a HUGE nosedive to me) and that whole scene with the hole, I didn't crack a smile at all, just felt very (plus enraged Rabbit scared me! ) embarrassing and awkward to watch. I only chuckled at that "sneeze" joke Pooh did.

It's not a remake, more of a rip-off of Pooh's Grand Adventure and people unthinkingly fell in love with this film, and that other film is really underrated, it's one of the best ones also.

Only things I liked for this one were the animation, which I'd give an A, (but the art flip flopped back and forth between being good and horrible, so I'd give it a B-) Zooey Desenchel (I can't spell her name)'s version of the Pooh song, "The Tummy Song", and the ending with the plushies on the credits. It's a damn shame they wasted the 2D animation on such a crappy movie. I actually consider this film non-canon to the Disney Pooh universe/stories, that's how bad it is.

Day for Eeyore, which actually used Eeyore very well, got negative reviews on it whilst this one got almost none? Look at the top review marked under "best", and that's pretty much my thoughts on it minus the animation (plus that one didn't really have slapstick in it). Then again I've seen more people love than hate that but I digress...

Ernest Shepherd is probably rolling around in his grave, and British critics thought the original "Honey Tree" short (which Shepherd thought was a travesty) was Disney "murdering Winnie the Pooh?" THIS was murdering Winnie the Pooh.

Luckily I only borrowed this from the library instead of accidentally going to the theaters to see it.

[–] j-jessie-weaver 8 years ago

You made your point quite clear.

[–] reichen4eva (252) 5 years ago

Yes. i found plot to be extremely boring, but i did enjoy the animation. I'm not familiar with the books or the TV series, would have liked to have a more mature storyline or something rather than for 5 year olds.