Mickey Mouse is undoubtedly one of Disney’s most popular characters, but if you move beyond the scope of the familiar Disney cast see in their shorts throughout the years, there is a certain bear that has captured everyone’s hearts and imaginations. Winnie the Pooh has delighted audiences for a number of years thanks to Disney’s animated telling of his adventures, and actually the ever-hungry bear is celebrating his 80^th anniversary this year. It’s the perfect time for Pooh’s Grand Adventure to find its way to DVD, but when you’re Pooh, anytime is a perfect time for everything and for nothing.

Pooh, as we all know, has many friends in the Hundred Acre Wood, but his very best friend of all is Christopher Robin. Things are about to change though, a it’s time for Christopher to go back to school, and he’s left a note with Pooh as well as a jar of honey. Well, you know how much Pooh likes honey, and sadly, the writing on the note becomes virtually illegible, and now the bear is trying to find his dear friend.

A trip to visit Owl reveals that Christopher Robin is in danger; he’s gone far away to S-C-H-O-O-L, or as Owl sees it, Skull. Owl is kind enough to provide Pooh, Piglet, Tigger, Rabbit, and Eeyore with a map of the darker side of the Hundred Acre Woods and the friends head out in search of Christopher Robin in a journey that might be filled with peril, but then again, it might not be.

When it comes to Pooh and his friends, there are two things that you can expect. First and foremost, the overall plot is quite simple, but Pooh is made to appeal to the young as well as the young at heart. The other expectation is that there is going to be some type of trouble, though not the type that is going to be harmful to anyone except for the imaginations of Pooh and his friends.

Although The Search for Christopher Robin was originally released back in 1997, it really does retain the look and feeling of the Pooh films that were released prior. Anything that has come out since the passing of Walt Disney has, in may fans opinions, has been less than fantastic in many different ways, but here you will find a movie that has the same charm and magic as when Pooh first hit the screens. What you won’t find here is a newcomer to the world of Pooh that has a growing fan base, and that is Lumpy, but there is mention of Heffalumps, Jagulars, and all of those other frightening things that are rumored to lurk in the shadows of Hundred Acre Woods.

The film does throw a few songs in here and there, but these are both well done and rather infrequent, and that’s definitely a step in the right direction as far as I’m concerned. While I don’t mind Disney throwing in an occasional song, there are some features that overdo it. Instead, Pooh’s Grand Adventure focuses more on the characters, though there are some emotional issues with each of them that a psychologist could pinpoint (Eeyore’s depression, Pooh and his tendency to overeat, Piglet’s paranoia and so forth.) The grand adventure of course is to find Christopher Robin, though Pooh only has himself to blame initially. Christopher tried to tell him, but since it was bad news, Pooh decided that it could wait, forever of course. Owl isn’t much help though since he picks out certain words for the message that is left.

The story itself though, like many Disney works, is simply a tale of morals, and in this case, the idea is that friends stick by one another no matter what (and even if you’re dealing with the hyperactive Tigger.) We all know in watching the movie that Christopher Robin really hasn’t gone anywhere, but it’s a chance for Pooh and his friends to go on an adventure, but there are even more important things they discover. The primary lesson is simply to stand by your friends no matter what, but they also learn that no matter what shortcomings they have (or believe they have) they can rise above these and emerge victorious, plus working as a team never hurts in the least either.

Pooh and his friends do run into some other troubles however, and that is the strange things in the forest. This might seem like it’s going to be something that might frighten youngsters, but it is always portrayed in such a way that we see what the source of the fright really is, and this leads to humor and eases any tension that might be experienced. At the end of the film, we even find that many of these events and locations were simply Pooh and company blowing things a little out of proportion, or simply using their imaginations for an even bigger adventure.

Maybe watching Pooh and his friends try and locate Christopher Robin isn’t quite enough for you, and Disney has that covered for you. You can take control of Pooh, and even his friends, in the Adventures in the 100 Acre Woods game that will have you running around in some familiar locations (and getting into honey) in typical Pooh style. You aren’t done with visiting the Hundred Acer Woods with Pooh’s Grand Adventure concludes, and as an added bonus, you will find the animated short, Winnie the Pooh and The Blustery Day. Backstage Disney is a short look at the music used for Pooh, though in this case it is more of a junior introduction to what a composer does for a film.

Winnie the Pooh is always bound to please anyone, and Pooh’s Grand Adventure is just that. Like many Disney animated features, it can appeal to anyone no matter how old they are and you don’t even need to have a smackerel of honey sitting around, but it certainly wouldn’t hurt. This is one adventure that can’t miss.

-mike-