On 15th April 2011 Winnie the Pooh, the nation's best loved teddy bear returned to the big screen in "Winnie the Pooh", a full length animated movie.
Loved by children and adults alike, Pooh Bear and his friends Tigger, Eeyore, Piglet, Owl, Rabbit, Kanga, Roo, and, of course, Christopher Robin, set on off on a brand new never before seen adventure.
"Winnie the Pooh" is based on three Pooh short stories, "In Which Rabbit Has a Busy Day" from The House at Pooh Corner, and "In Which Christopher Robin Leads an Expedition to the North Pole" and "In Which Eeyore Loses a Tail" from Winnie-the-Poo.
It is the first Winnie the Pooh movie to have been created specifically for the cinema. Eeyore manages to lose his tail again, but the animals of 100 acre wood all come together to find a good replacement.
The suggestions for potential tails are very interesting as Eeyore is struck by lightning, blown away and is hit on the head! Christopher Robin is also kidnapped by a very mysterious creature, the "Backson"! Lead by Rabbit, all the friends concoct a plan to catch the Backson and rescue Christopher Robin!
The stories of Winnie the Pooh and his friends who live in the 100 acre wood were first published in 1925 in the London newspaper "The Evening News" as a series of short stories. Soon after they were published as a book in America, and Pooh Bear became a star.
It wasn’t until 1961 however that The Walt Disney Company bought the rights from the Slesinger family to produce Pooh cartoons and products. It was in 1977 that the very first feature length Winnie the Pooh movie was created and the characters as we know them today were born. "The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh" was an instant hit with children and adults, inspiring the creation of an animate television series "The New Adventures of Winnie the Pooh". These cartoons were so popular that over 80 were made, the last repeat of which was as late as 2007!
More recently Winnie the Pooh starred in a brand new animated series "My Friends Tigger and Pooh" which was created using 3D-esque computer generated animation, bringing this classic teddy bear into 21st century. Again, the series was very popular, however was taken off air by the Disney Channel in order to make way for the more traditional Pooh as shown in the new Winnie the Pooh movie.
The Winnie the Pooh movie was developed using only hand drawn animation techniques, in a homage of the original 1977 movie. The film also has a narrator, voiced by John Cleese, and uses the story book in the movie. The animals are able to talk to the narrator as well as interact with the words on the pages of the story book itself, sometimes with some very interesting consequences!
Winnie the Pooh is still showing in cinemas in and around Lancashire.
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