Winnie the Pooh (2011)

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Post by Ben » January 25th, 2011, 8:37 am

They'd be in their right if it turned out to be the Horned King! Imagine that! He turns up in the middle of a Pooh film to suck the life out of Christopher Robin's toys! "Soon the power of the Pooh will be miiiine!" ;)

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Post by Dacey » January 25th, 2011, 9:53 am

Eh, the monster probably "doesn't exist." It's probably just something that the characters imagine.

Still, it would be cool if the Horned King did actually show up. ;)
"Yesterday is history, tomorrow is a mystery, but today is a gift--that is why it's called the present."

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Post by Bill1978 » January 25th, 2011, 9:10 pm

I'm going to say that the monster in the trees is the
Backson
based upon the section in Wikipedia about Plot details
...and another sequence based on a story from The House at Pooh Corner where Pooh and friends search for a creature called a "Backson", which is actually Christopher Robin's misspelling of the phrase "Back soon".
Still doesn't make me want to go to the theatre and watch it. In fact, even though I'll purchase it for the home collection to keep my collection complete, I won't be rushing to actually watch it.

I still scratch my head over the purpose of this film. With all the talk of the underperformance of The Princess And The Frog, Lasstter honestly believes this film is what will help determine if 2D is a viable option still. IMO Winnie-The-Pooh plays to a smaller crowd than the Princess crowd.

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Re:

Post by EricJ » January 26th, 2011, 2:02 am

Thought the purpose was obvious:
If Princess/Frog was a deliberately Lasseter-defiant "Take THAT, Chicken Little!", then this new 60's-friendly Pooh is "Take THAT, Darby and Lumpy!"
Sometimes you just have to fight the Good Fight. :)

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Post by Hewylewis » January 26th, 2011, 2:05 am

HOORAH!!!

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Post by Bill1978 » January 26th, 2011, 2:32 am

Not show sure EricJ, with this movie and the 3 sequels in a row over at Pixar I think John has discovered the wonders of merchandising.

I could deal with this movie if it wasn't going to count towards the official canon. But then I am looking at this movie through sceptical eyes as I've never been a fan of Winnie. Well except for the Cooking With Pooh book which still makes me laugh.

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Re:

Post by EricJ » January 26th, 2011, 3:53 am

Bill1978 wrote:Not show sure EricJ, with this movie and the 3 sequels in a row over at Pixar I think John has discovered the wonders of merchandising..
....Oh, not you TOO! :P

Okay, once more--Let's try to make it stick, this time:
- Toy Story 3, Monsters Inc. 2 - Titles that Eisner threatened to make via "Circle 7 Studios" back during the Pixar Wars, and which Pixar now owns in peacetime--Better to "bury" them by producing them nice and proper, so that there's no more argument over whether someone might have made them, or still had rights to make them, or etc...They're made, end of story.
- Cars 2 - Bob Iger's idea, to "prove" how much marketing demonstrated that audiences liked the first movie, so there, meanie analysts who kept saying Cars 1 was a "flop" on opening. (Basically, remember when Iger announced to all those meanie analysts that Princess/Frog's Tiana would now be permanently appearing with the princesses from now own, so there, nyeh?--Sorta like that with Cars. Consider that it was announced at the same time as the Cars Land at Disneyland. )
- Pooh - The SECOND Eisner legacy that the New Administration wanted to kick to the curb on day One. And given "Piglet's Big Movie", ask yourself who can blame them. (I know I can't.)

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Post by Bill1978 » January 26th, 2011, 5:24 am

Believe me EricJ, I'm not hopping on the merchandise band wagon, my statement was more in jest with just a slight ounce of truth. I'm more disgruntled that from Pixar I'm getting sequels for 12of their movies I don't give two hoots about. I will admit that I'm secretly hoping that Cars 2 and Monsters Inc 2 can burst the bubble that surrounds Pixar films with the critics. I don't care about their box office performance but it would be nice IF a Pixar film didn't get universal praise. Even Cars got lukewarm praise without the harsh criticism that I often see for Disney animated films of late.

I think though what it shows is that Pixar is only human and that the time of being able to produce original ideas ALL the time has come to the end. And regardless of what you say, I still don't understand the need to resurrect Winnie-The-Pooh as official canon. As a gentle spring film sure, but a summer film AND during a time people don't care for hand drawn animation. This film will just reinforce what people think of that style, it's old fashioned.

I still believe that Princess And The Frog could have been bigger IF they didn't use Randy Newman for the songs. I think that's what let it down NOT the princess angle. Well maybe the princess angle as the title clearly spoiled the ending.

For me there is still a stigma about seeing an animated film as an adult. Lately I have had no worries going to see an animated film and thinking what others think about a single adult male going to watch it (I still laugh at the fact I was the only adult male without a kid at the re-issue of The Little Mermaid), but at the moment I cannot see Winnie-The-Pooh dragging in the adults without kids crowd to help turn Winnie from a movie for Under 5s to a movie that all want to see, which would encourage more hand drawn animation.
Last edited by Bill1978 on January 26th, 2011, 5:29 am, edited 2 times in total.

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Re:

Post by EricJ » January 26th, 2011, 5:37 am

Bill1978 wrote: I will admit that I'm secretly hoping that Cars 2 and Monsters Inc 2 can burst the bubble that surrounds Pixar films with the critics. I don't care about their box office performance but it would be nice IF a Pixar film didn't get universal praise.
I think though what it shows is that Pixar is only human and that the time of being able to produce original ideas ALL the time has come to the end.
So....you're hoping Pixar flops because they "should"?
O-kay. Heard that one at the TAG blog a couple of times. But fact is, even that snotty grade-A student you always wanted to beat up in fourth grade for always getting so many A's on the tests....didn't get that way by getting B+'s.
For me there is still a stigma about seeing an animated film as an adult. Lately I have had no worries going to see an animated film and thinking what others think about a single adult male going to watch it (I still laugh at the fact I was the only adult male without a kid at the re-issue of The Little Mermaid)
(Was that the '97 one where everyone else was at "Anastasia"?) ;)
Bill1978 wrote:I still believe that Princess And The Frog could have been bigger IF they didn't use Randy Newman for the songs. I think that's what let it down NOT the princess angle. Well maybe the princess angle as the title clearly spoiled the ending.
Still think that Princess/Frog's problem wasn't so much the songs or the animation, so much as it more likely not having anything that resembled a coherent plot, and the studio constantly pushing the heroine into a PC "message" agenda every time she was on the verge of an actual cute breakout personality of her own (which was where Tangled succeeded). But that's just me. :)

As for Pooh--well, that's your opinion. I just know I wanted to torch the direct-videos and graffiti "Sebastian Cabot Lives" on the wall; can't speak for Lasseter.

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Re: Winnie the Pooh (2011)

Post by Bill1978 » January 26th, 2011, 6:02 am

So....you're hoping Pixar flops because they "should"?
Not at all, I just feel at the moment, it is ridiculous the amount of praise their movies get. Cars bored me, Ratatouille bored me, Up's beginning was great then went cliched but yet they get almost universal praise. And to show you I'm not anti-Pixar I would love if Toy Story 3 won Best Picture at the Oscars this year, but even I can see some recycled plot points used in the film. And for all the love The Incredibles got, all I got was disappointment that the movie didn't deliver the satire of the superhero genre that was implied in the trailer I saw. So I'm just hoping their next two films can show critics that the studio is not some sort of untouchable god.
(Was that the '97 one where everyone else was at "Anastasia"?)
Yes
and the studio constantly pushing the heroine into a PC "message" agenda every time she was on the verge of an actual cute breakout personality of her own (which was where Tangled succeeded). But that's just me.
I have my own deeper theory, that I don't really want to share as I wouldn't know how to accurately explain it without people throwing some ugly terms (and totally wrong) at me.
As for Pooh--well, that's your opinion. I just know I wanted to torch the direct-videos and graffiti "Sebastian Cabot Lives" on the wall; can't speak for Lasseter.
All I have to go on is the original Disney compilation film. And that doesn't make me want to go and see this new one. So it's not like all those other movies arethe reasons why I'm hesitant to see it.

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Re:

Post by Dusterian » January 26th, 2011, 3:37 pm

Bill1978 wrote:I still believe that Princess And The Frog could have been bigger IF they didn't use Randy Newman for the songs. I think that's what let it down NOT the princess angle. Well maybe the princess angle as the title clearly spoiled the ending.
I always thought she was just a metaphorical princess, and the frog mistakes her for a princess so it made sense to me even before I knew the ending. Anyway, yea, Randy's songs were not good enough.
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Re: Re:

Post by Hewylewis » January 26th, 2011, 4:22 pm

Humph! Says you. I love the songs from PATF, two of the songs from Tangled SUCKED!!!

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Re: Winnie the Pooh (2011)

Post by American_dog_2008 » January 26th, 2011, 4:46 pm

PATF deserved an Oscar for song.

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Re: Winnie the Pooh (2011)

Post by Darkblade » January 27th, 2011, 7:55 am

I would have to agree with you on that American Dog 08. Speaking of music, wasnt Winston Maralis(if that is even how you say his name) supposed to compose the music for Patf?

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Re: Winnie the Pooh (2011)

Post by chernabog » January 27th, 2011, 5:07 pm

Even though Tangled is the superior film (finally managed to see it over here in the UK last week at an advance screening and it's the best animated film I've seen since Ratatouille), the music in Princess and the Frog was far more memorable. The reason Princess didn't make as much money is the very same reason Winnie won't either - no one wants 2D animation. As much as Lasseter would like to make us believe otherwise, one need only look at the success of films such as Ice Age 3 and Despicable Me to see that people are far more attracted to pretty visuals over story.

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