"Bears love honey and I'm a Pooh bear," sings Winnie the Pooh setting the stage for the goings-on in Winnie the Pooh and the Honey Tree, the first of four Disney featurettes based upon the A.A. Milne characters. Indeed, Pooh has rather an insatiable desire for honey, and when he spies a group of bees making some of the lovely sticky stuff in the top of a nearby tree, he taxes his mental resources -- difficult for "a bear of very little brain" -- and comes up with a scheme. Enlisting the aid of Christopher Robin, he covers himself in mud, grabs hold of a big blue balloon and (thinking himself cleverly disguised as a little black rain cloud), tries to get some of the honey. The bees are not fooled, but soon Pooh finds an easier way of getting what he wants: visiting friend Rabbit at lunch time. Rabbit has a tremendous store of honey -- so much so that, after ingesting it all, Pooh gets stuck in Rabbit's doorway and can get neither in nor out. There's nothing to do but wait for Pooh to lose enough wait to squeeze out. When he does finally get rescued, Pooh somehow ends up in another sticky situation -- but one that is much more pleasing to the little bear. ~ Craig Butler, All Movie Guide
Review by All Movie Guide
All Movie Guide
liked it.
Although it seems that Winnie the Pooh has been a part of the Disney studios as long as Mickey Mouse, the first cartoon, Winnie the Pooh and the Honey Tree actually only dates back to 1965. It's a marvelous adaptation of the A.A. Milne story, winsome, charming and totally engaging -- and, at 25 minutes, the perfect length for both the material and the target audience. Director Wolfgang Reithermann displays a sure and knowing touch with the delicate story, allowing just enough "Disneyfication" while maintaining the original's gentle spirit. Reithermann's animation team provides top notch work; the backgrounds have an ever-so-slightly faded watercolor texture, with scratchy line renderings that are unusual for the period. The "storybook" device, in which the audience sees some of the pictures as part of a book, and in which characters travel across pages, is quite effective. The actors chosen for the voices could not be better.
Sterling Holloway is a lovably dim Pooh, Junius Matthews a pleasingly pompous Owl and Ralph Wright an endearingly gloomy Eeyore. The songs, by {Richard and Robert Sherman, do a fine job of capturing the flavor of both Milne and the cartoon.
Honey Tree would be followed by the equally fine
Winnie the Pooh and the Blustery Day, as well as several lesser efforts. ~ Craig Butler, All Movie Guide