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The Book of Pooh - Stories From the Heart

The Book of Pooh - Stories From the Heart

List Price: $19.99
Your Price: $17.99
Product Info Reviews

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Rating: 5 stars
Summary: The Best Pooh Ever!
Review: This version of Winnie the Pooh, with its amazing puppets, beautifully rendered Hundred Acre Wood, and stories that are funny, heartfelt and pay homage to A.A. Milne is a wonder!

Rating: 3 stars
Summary: we want Kanga and Roo!!
Review: we like Book of Pooh but we miss Kanga and Roo as part of the gang in the movie.....PLEASE put them in the next movie you make!

Rating: 1 stars
Summary: Geriatric Pooh
Review: Well, this is a total disappointment! If Walt and A.A. were to see this they would...what's that sound? Is it thunder? Or, are they just turning in their graves?!!!

First of all, they have made some goony looking puppets who pretend to be Pooh, Piglet, Tigger, Owl, Rabbit and Eeyore and they have them 'living' in a virtual animated background...very cold colors make it a very un-Pooh-friendly place. It doesn't matter if there are two, three, or two-hundred! It is NOT friendlier!

The actions are clumsy and difficult to watch...sad, about Pooh being so old and shaky...I kept expecting him to ask if I wanted a burrito, as he reminds me of the Taco Bell dog...When Tigger bounces, he sort of floats and then lands sort of on the sides of his feet...not believable at all! The backdrop is a green screen to add the backgrounds and the puppeteers are wearing green suits so they don't show up...perhaps it would have been better if they wore Tigger and Pooh suits and just jumped and walked around themselves instead of trying to get these dopey puppets to work! Pooh really doesn't look like Pooh, though the others look okay.

Then, and possibly the most upsetting thing...they have eliminated Kanga and Roo! Who's not so brilliant idea was this? My son's favorite character is Roo and he isn't even in the new show! You've probably guessed...they don't play the Pooh theme song since they'd just have to hum during the part where they say "Kanga and Little Roo"! Oh, but the "Clampets" at Disney have decided to add some other character...a blue bird named Kessie! Okay, forget about the stupid name...I mean, you know the others are named more appropriately - Tigger for the Tiger, Rabbit for the Rabbit, Owl for the Owl...so where does Kessie fit in? Then, the usual warm toned and thoughtful sounding voices of the others are - as finger nails to a blackboard - interrupted by this screechy sounding high pitched, oh most irritating, bird voice...

Now, take all this and put them into the most un-interesting and nothing plot lines and you may as well be watching "Seinfeld Gets Lost in the Hundred-Acre Wood"! Only, Seinfeld was funny and had characters that worked... I truly think only Gilligan's Island (I mean no disrespect to this classic tv show...) could compete for stupidity in a TV show as this one has! Also, Pooh, who always has a hunnypot and is known to be seen eating hunny in every mini-story is only once seen with a hunny pot and it is while he is wrapping it up to go on an adventure...then, he is seen swatting 2 (yes, only 2) bees away from a beehive while sitting on a branch. You never see his hand in the hunny and you never see him eating it or wiping it from his face...things that are very characteristically Pooh!!!

Okay, we've covered the cold, unfriendly virtual backdrops (which at times look like a fuzzy bitmap), now let's discuss their places of residence...they look nothing like the original Pooh drawings...did they find it too difficult and decide to not bother trying so hey, let's move them to "Knot's Landing"?

And, when did Christopher Robin become an American? Also, he has a mother in this show... of course, he and his mother's torsos are the only thing shown...and we probably don't want to mention how unintelligent his mother is...first she comes into his room (she hears the gang making noise in his room and thinks it's Christopher) and discovers the terribly untidy mess that Tigger has made in the room and says she will have to mention it to Christopher when he gets home. Then, when he is home and the gang has quickly restored the room to Christopher's original settings (I say this because the majority of the room is - again - only 'virtually' there) she comes in with Christopher to find it clean and leaves the room saying she must have made a mistake...a MISTAKE?!! Come on...does she have a history of 'seeing things' or hallucinating? How does one decide that what they saw earlier was a mistake?!!! Perhaps she should lie down and stop taking the hallucinogenic drugs!

Now, lastly...though I could easily go on...the music... I see they saved some money (which they undoubtedly spent on the geriatric puppets instead) by hiring "Jo-Jo and his geetar accompanied by his rubber-binder band". Whereas in the original Pooh adventures you walk away humming and singing the wonderfully orchestrated melodies, this one leaves you flat...like you've fallen face down in the 'virtual' dirt. It lacks creativity and flair. The original songs were uplifting and light, these never leave the ground.

Now, perhaps you think I sound harsh and critical, let's just say, that since the dvd is ..., I feel a little as though Disney has 'picked my pocket'. I don't think I would recommend to anyone that they rush out and buy this one...

Lastly, for my son's review (keep in mind, he's a baby who loves the Many Adventures and on many occasions asks for 'Pooh')... he cried and was frightened of it at first. Now, he's not afraid, but it doesn't catch his attention...in fact, he ignores it. Perhaps this parent is expecting too much from a children's show...

The only saving grace on the dvd is the bonus track at the end which gives a fun history (with real photos) of A.A., Christopher Robin, and Ernest Shephard. It is quite interesting...not worth ... ...but interesting. At last, what they must think...what was that? Is that thunder....?

Rating: 1 stars
Summary: A pile of Pooh
Review: What a step back in quality! Disney seemed to have moved on from insulting DVD releases when a picture printed on the DVD disc face was classed as an 'extra'. The delights that the Snow White DVD will bring this October is what we expect - but this Pooh release is shoddy, unimaginative and a blur of pastel-coloured pixels and cheap blue screening a la 1980. Absolute rubbish. Has all the lustre of a pair of old saggy y-fronts!

Rating: 1 stars
Summary: NOT FOR KANGA AND ROO FANS!
Review: When they made this show I'm sad to say Kanga and Roo were left out. How Disappointing! It's not Fair!

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: The Wonderful World Of Pooh
Review: Who better to stimulate the minds of young children, teaching them to make the right choices and do good things? Pooh! That's who!

THE BOOK OF POOH is a wonderful DVD. First off, anything dealing with Disney's most loved character has to be sensational. But the truth is, this truly is a remarkable DVD.

Winnie the Pooh and his friends are so realistic looking, even though they are in the form of puppets, and the computer-generated annimated backrounds are fantastic. The colors are so vivid and pleasing to the eye, it is hard not to enjoy the film.

The DVD has a collection of six super stories featuring Pooh and the gang. Each is beautifully done, with nice positive messages that are peppered with a subtle amount of humor and catchy songs to keep the audience entertained. Tigger trying to teach Piglet how to become a Tigger is incredibly funny. THE BOOK OF POOH is a winner. It is a teriffic DVD that can be enjoyed by viewers of all ages.


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