Movie Review: WINNIE THE POOH

WINNIE THE POOH

2011
G


"Oh, Pooh, you went back for the honey, didn't you?"
-- Piglet

Winnie the Pooh is a 2011 animated film directed by Don Hall and Stephen J. Anderson that offers a new tale in the Hundred Acres Wood. Our narrator (voiced by John Cleese) starts our tale by telling the audience of morning where Winnie the Pooh (voiced by Jim Cummings) had something important to do. He starts to go about his day in the hopes of finding what he's supposed to do, but he happens to stumble upon his friend Eeyore (voiced by Bud Luckey), who has lost his tail. Distraught, Pooh asks his friend Christopher Robin (voiced by Jack Boulter) for help, and he suggests a contest to see who can give Eeyore the best new tail. Every one of their friends, from Piglet (voiced by Travis Oates) and Owl (voiced by Craig Ferguson) to Kanga (voiced by Kristen Anderson-Lopez) and Roo (voiced by Wyatt Dean Hall), helps out, but in the process, the group comes to believe that Christopher Robin has been kidnapped by a terrible beast called the "backson." Led by Tigger (voiced by Cummings) and Rabbit (voiced by Tom Kenny) in an attempt to find their friend, they set a trap for this horrible monster and wait for it to be tricked.

I was moderately excited when this film was released last summer, and I wasn't at all shocked at how well-received it was with the critical community, and it's critical success was equivalent to the success that the 1977 film, The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh, received during its theatrical run. While the film from the 1970s featured three shorter vignettes, this film manages to interweave the stories and create one continuous and connected narrative that plays out rather nicely.

One of the film's stronger points is its screenplay. While on the one hand it's offering something terribly simple and easy-to-understand for the childhood audience, we're actually getting a few little quips here and there for the adult crowd. You have to imagine that the screenwriters understood that parents would be taking their kids to see this one, so they wanted to give them a little something to enjoy as well. But there's something so brutally innocent about the story and the characters that makes it all wonderfully charming. It's difficult to find a movie - even an animated kid's movie - in today's society that knows how to be completely innocent and carefree, but Winnie the Pooh has succeeded in doing just that, and it has its storyline and screenplay to thank.

I could probably talk about the vocal acting in the film, but there really isn't that much to say. The base characters have been crafted and created in the past, so it was up to the performers to mimic as best they could, and I thought they all did splendidly. I do think, however, that Cleese was the perfect choice to play the film's narrator.

We're also getting a rather stellar soundtrack, much of which is crafted by the multi-talented Zooey Deschanel. I had known that she was working on the film for quite some time, but I didn't quite know just how much she'd actually be doing with the movie. However, her voice is heard rather often throughout the flick, and it's a rather pleasant surprise, to be sure. From the film's opening sequence with the oh-so-familiar theme, she makes her presence known, and I couldn't be happier that she found a way into this film. Here's her biggest song on the soundtrack, which plays during the end credits:

At the end of the day, I have to be honest: I couldn't watch this movie without a huge, ridiculous grin across my face. I was smiling from ear to ear from start to finish, and I could probably go back and watch it again right now and smile and laugh just as much. This is high-class animated cinema at its finest, and I can only wish that studios were making films this brilliantly innocent more often. And yet, a part of me doesn't because that allows Winnie the Pooh to remain the gem that it is. I'll leave you with the critical consensus for the film from Rottentomatoes.com, where it holds a 91% approval rating:

Short, nostalgic, and gently whimsical, Winnie the Pooh offers young audiences - and their parents - a sweetly traditional family treat.

Movie Review Summary
Grade: A-
2 Thumbs Up

Movie Review: GNOMEO & JULIET

GNOMEO & JULIET

2011
G

Gnomeo & Juliet is a 2011 animated film directed by Kelly Asbury that puts a comedic, family-friendly spin on William Shakespeare's tale of star-crossed lovers. In two gardens separated only by a fence, there lives two rival groups of garden gnomes: the Reds and the Blues. For as long as anyone can remember, the two groups have feuded, and the feud has become deeply ingrained into the Blues' favorite son, Gnomeo (voiced by James McAvoy). One night, he decides to infiltrate the Reds' garden, and after an unsuccessful attempt to wreak havoc, Gnomeo spots a shadowy figure running along the top of a fence towards an abandoned yard's greenhouse where a beautiful orchid sits in full bloom. He chases the figure to the flower, and after a short interchange, he realizes that she the Reds' favorite daughter, Juliet (voiced by Emily Blunt). Initially, the two are repulsed by the others' true identity, but they cannot deny the immediate spark they both felt. They make plans to meet in the abandoned yard the following day, and the forbidden love affair begins. The two do their best to keep their love a secret, but with each passing moment, they have to fight to hide their affections from their families and their respective gardens. To top it off, they have to balance their feelings with the ever-growing resilience that both the Blues and the Reds are feeling towards one another, and Gnomeo and Juliet must ultimately choose between their love and their families.

When I first started seeing trailers for this film, I was originally rather excited to see it. Anything even remotely related to the tale of Romeo and Juliet - or anything Shakespearean in general - is sure to garner my attention, so Gnomeo & Juliet looked like it might be right up my alley. Upon its release, however, it started to garner some mixed reviews, and I soon found myself a little bit wary to give it a shot, chalking it up to another early-year dud. Still, something kept me wanting to watch it, and I finally had the opportunity to do so, and I have to say that I'm not quite sure why it was panned so widely.

You'd be hard-pressed to find someone who doesn't know the basic story of Romeo Montague and Juliet Capulet, and this film essentially follows the same formula (although, as you can probably imagine, the ultimate finalé is a little tamer than the dual-suicide that Shakespeare originally wrote). We're given a relatively good screenplay that's full of goofy jokes and gags, but there's definitely enough there for adults to enjoy and laugh at. There's quite a lot of self-reference to the original story, and I think that plays pretty well throughout the story. There's even a scene where Gnomeo meets a statue of Shakespeare himself and recants his tale, to which the Shakespeare statue tells him that he knows of a very similar story. But I digress... At the end of the day, there's a lot of goofs and gags for the kids, but there's enough for an adult audience to enjoy as well.

One reason that I particularly enjoyed this film was for its astoundingly huge-name voice cast that brings life to the gnomes and other characters on-screen. I've already mentioned McAvoy and Blunt, and having those two rising stars attached to this movie already gives it quite a bit of validity, but here's a list of some of the other big names that make vocal appearances throughout this one:

Dolly Parton (as Dolly Gnome)
Jason Statham (as Tybalt, Gnomeo's main enemy)
Jim Cummings (as Featherstone, a lawn flamingo)
Maggie Smith (as Lady Bluebury, leader of the Blues)
Matt Lucas (as Benny, Gnomeo's best friend)
Michael Caine (as Lord Redbrick, leader of the Reds)
Ozzy Osbourne (as Fawn, Tybalt's friend)
Patrick Stewart (as Bill Shakespeare)

As you can see, we're given quite the list of British-accented actors to lend their voices to the film, so it was quite a treat for a film buff like myself to hear the collective voices resonating throughout the movie. Oh, and we even get a little bit of a vocal cameo from Hulk Hogan, so be on the lookout for that one (it's pretty obvious).

I'd also like to take a moment to talk about the music in the film, which is almost entirely centered around the music of Elton John. In addition to a couple of visual references to the man himself, our ears are given a taste of such Elton songs as "Crocodile Rock," "Tiny Dancer," "Don't Go Breaking My Heart," and "Your Song," as well as a few others. Although there's really no real explanation as to the usage of his music, the simple fact that we're graced with Elton John tunes throughout the movie makes it all the more watchable, in my opinion.

Overall, I'm not quite sure why this movie was received with mixed reviews. Sure, it's not the greatest animated movie I've ever seen, but it's by no means the worst I've seen either. When you add solid animation, an age-old tale, a fantastic voice cast and incredible music, you're going to come out with a winner. So grab the kids and give this one a gander. They'll enjoy it, and so will you.

Movie Review Summary:

Grade: B-
1.5 Thumb Up