Who’s who on Walt Disney Animation Studios’ reboot of Winnie the Pooh

Jim Hill

14 years ago

It is the film that – when Andrew Mooney of Disney Consumer Products revealed that this project was in the works back in June of 2009 at the Licensing International Expo in Las
Vegas – made a lot of people go “Huh?”

By that I mean: A hand-drawn, feature-length Winnie the Pooh.
Which was something that Walt himself wasn’t sure would work. Which is why –
back in the early 1960s – Disney stopped developing a “Pooh” feature and opted
instead to make featurettes like “Winnie the Pooh and the Honey Tree.”

(L to R) Stephen J. Anderson and
Don Hall. Photo by
Eric Charbonneau. Copyright Disney Enterprises, Inc
All
rights reserved

Which is why — when Stephen J. Anderson & Don Hall came
to John Lasseter with an idea of taking three of A.A. Milne’s “Pooh” stories
that Disney had yet to use – they were thinking home premiere. Something that Walt Disney Studios Home
Entertainment might release

But John … He saw something more here. More to the point,
recognizing that The Walt Disney Company was looking to reboot Winnie the Pooh,
return Milne’s Silly Old Bear to the way this character was initially presented
to the public back in the 1960s.

But whimsy & charm is a lot harder than it looks.
Especially when you’re trying to make a hand-drawn animated feature that’s
supposed to be whimsical & charming for longer than an hour. Which is why Walt
Disney Animation Studios recruited some of the very best animators in the
business – not to mention top voice talent – to come work on “Winnie the Pooh.”

So who’s who on “Pooh” ? Well, as you can see by the photo below, Jim Cummings has returned to
voice both Winnie the Pooh & Tigger.

Jim Cummings. Photo by Eric
Charbonneau.
Copyright Disney Enterprises, Inc.
All rights reserved

As for Winnie the Pooh’s supervising animator … Mark Henn‘s
pulling double duty on this production …

Mark Henn. Photo by Eric
Charbonneau. Copyright Disney
Enterprises, Inc. All rights reserved

… serving as supervising animator for both Winnie the Pooh
& Christopher Robin. While master animator Andreas Deja …

Andreas Deja. Photo by Eric
Charbonneau. Copyright Disney
Enterprises, Inc. All rights reserved

… is the one tackling that sure-to-be-difficult assignment,
animating bouncy, trouncy Tigger.

As for Owl, he’s being voiced by “Late, Late Show” host
Craig Ferguson …

Craig Ferguson. Photo by Eric Charbonneau.
Copyright Disney
Enterprises, Inc.
All rights reserved

… while industry veteran Dale Baer is serving as supervising
animator for this garrulous raptor.

Dale Baer. Photo by Eric Charbonneau.
Copyright Disney
Enterprises, Inc. All rights reserved

As for Rabbit … Tom Kenny, best known for voicing SpongeBob
SquarePants, will be the performer who’ll be speaking for Rabbit this time around …

Tom Kenny. Photo by Eric Charbonneau.
Copyright
Disney Enterprises, Inc. All rights reserved

… while the one, the only Eric Goldberg will be supervising
the animation of Pooh’s hare-y pal.

Eric Goldberg. Photo by Eric
Charbonneau. Copyright Disney
Enterprises, Inc. All rights reserved

And then when you factor in that there are artists of the caliber
of Randy Haycock (who will be supervising the animation of Eeyore) …

Randy Haycock. Photo by Eric
Charbonneau. Copyright Disney
Enterprises, Inc. All rights reserved

… and Bruce Smith (who’ll be supervising the animation of
Piglet on this production) …

Bruce Smith. Photo by Eric
Charbonneau. Copyright Disney
Enterprises, Inc. All rights reserved

… “Winnie the Pooh” really does look like a winner.
Especially when you factor in that Disney Legend Burny Mattinson …

… — who worked as a key animator on Disney’s 1974
featurette, “Winnie the Pooh and Tigger Too” – is serving as a senior story artist on this particular
production. Which provides a bit of creative connective tissue from this new “Pooh”
animated feature all the way back to the three WDAS featurettes that proceeded it.

And did I mention that Monty Python vet John Cleese …

… will be serving as the narrator of this hand-drawn
animated feature? Which will also attempt to recreate those beautiful
watercolor-like backgrounds that gave Disney’s “Winnie the Pooh” featurettes of
the 1960s & 1970s such a distinct look.

“So what does the storyline of ‘Winnie the Pooh’ entail?,”
you ask. Well, it’s funny that you should use the word “tail.” For one of the
main plotlines of this new hand-drawn Walt Disney Animation Studios production
deals with the search for Eeyore’s tail.

Mind you, there are a lot of industry insiders who wonder if
“Winnie the Pooh” ‘s gentle whimsy & charm will have what it takes to stand
up to that sure-to-be summer blockbuster, “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows
– Part 2” …

… which opens on the exact same day (i.e. July 15, 2011) as
Disney’s next hand-drawn animated feature.

But the folks at Walt Disney Studios … Given that “Deathly
Hallows – Part II” will be the darkest & most violent of the “Harry Potter”
films, they’re assuming that a lot of parents will opt out of taking their
younger children to go see the final installment of this series. At least while this Warner Bros. film is still in theater. Which then (in theory, anyway) makes “Winnie
the Pooh” ‘s July 15^th opening date a brilliant bit of
counter-programming. Giving audiences a more family-friendly option on what’s sure-to-be one of the busiest movie-going weekends of the year.

But what do you folks think? Will Winnie the Pooh & his
hunny pots really have what it takes to stand up to “Harry Potter and the Deathly
Hallows – Part II” ? Or will the crew at WDAS sink into a Eeyore-like funk once
they get a look at how this hand-drawn animated feature performs over its opening weekend?

Your thoughts?