Winnie the Pooh (2011)

[blackcauldron85]

Echos In The Hundred Acre Woods...
http://blueskydisney.blogspot.com/2009/ ... woods.html

[estefan]

Jim Cummings is expected. He's only the modern voice actor I can see as Pooh and Tigger. SpongeBob voicing Rabbit is a tad odd, though.

Still, it goes back to how Disney doesn't just cast big names for their movies. I just love that Jim Cummings has a major role in The Princess and the Frog.

[PatrickvD]

Yeah I prefer casting voice actors for their voice as well.

Although using John Goodman again in Rapunzel is kinda pushing it.

[Margos]

Really, Jim Cummings does a pretty good job as both characters. Yeah, you can tell it's not Sterling Holloway and Paul Winchell, but he sounds pretty darn close.

[Disneykid]

I'm still scratching my head over Craig Ferguson as Owl. Is he able to change his Scottish accent into a posh and stuffy British accent? I've never heard him try, so I honestly don't know, but it still strikes me as bizarre. Still, I'm trusting John Lasseter in this, and if he thinks Ferguson can do an uncanny Hal Smith, then I'll trust his judgment until I hear otherwise.

[jeremy88]

WoW I really have been out of the loop! This is all news to me heh. Anyhoo, not a big fan of the Pooh series but hey this is still pretty cool news especially since it's being done in 2D. Sure I'd rather have an entirely new animated feature but its cool. I'll still be seeing this one when it rolls around. Hooray for the Pooh fans!

[Uncle Remus]

I don't remember when I heard this (I guess around the time that Paul Winchell and John Fieldler passed away) but is Jim Cummings also doing the voice of Piglett as well?

[Margos]

I don't remember when I heard this (I guess around the time that Paul Winchell and John Fieldler passed away) but is Jim Cummings also doing the voice of Piglett as well?

I didn't think so, but I have no idea....

[estefan]

I assume it's Travis Oates doing the voice of Piglet. He's been doing his voice for the past couple of years.

[yukitora]

That's funny! I was just going to ask about the voice cast a few days ago.

I hope Jim Cummings tries to emulate Pooh's more english voice than his american one. His Tigger is pretty awesome though.

[blackcauldron85]

Toon Thursday: Dissecting Disney’s newest villain
http://jimhillmedia.com/blogs/jim_hill/ ... llain.aspx

Jim says the interview was from last month:

So what’s next for Bruce? After working on a stylized, scene-stealer like Dr. Facilier, how does a veteran animator & character designer like Smith challenge himself? By heading off to the Hundred Acre Woods.

“We’re just about to begin work on the ‘Winnie the Pooh’ movie,” Bruce admitted. “And those characters – though they may look simple to draw – are honestly just as challenging as any of the characters that we worked on with ‘The Princess and the Frog.’ In order to do Pooh right, you have to use lots of restraint while you animate. You have to draw with plenty of appeal, stay true to these characters as they’ve appeared in the previous Disney featurettes while – at the same time – service your story. Which is a pretty tough balancing act.”

[blackcauldron85]

http://animationguildblog.blogspot.com/ ... t-hat.html

On floor #1, layout artists have been at work on Winnie the Pooh/ for the past month and a half.

(Somehow I wasn't paying attention previously.) Upstairs one of the leads on the picture said:

"We've got fifty feet of animation in the story reel, and the animators are starting to roll on footage. They haven't handed out a lot of scenes yet." ...

[KennethE]

I am a little iffy about this entire Pooh project, and this is why:

1) Didn't John Lasseter criticize the Eisner era for churning out sequals from classic Disney films? Several of these so-called "cheapquals" were, in fact, Winnie the Pooh movies. It sounds like Lasseter is not following his own advice.

2) If Disney wants another 2-D hit, they need to break free from this "cartoons are for kiddies" mentality. Winnie the Pooh does not seem like the type of film teenagers would pay 8 dollars a ticket to see in the cinemas.

3) If Disney wants to return to their glory days, (when they made one hit after another) they need to think creatively and give audiences brand new ideas, with new characters... not repeats of old classic characters.

I do wish Disney luck. I would LOVE this film to be a big hit. I would love to see Pooh restore some confidence to the already-shaken traditional animation department (from PATF's underperformance). But at the moment, I'm a little bit iffy...

[Margos]

I feel that the main difference here is that this is a "sequel" and not "cheapquel." It will be made in-house, by the main creative team, and lots of effort will be put into it. It won't be slapped together by a sub-par, outsourced animation house, as the previous ones were.

[WDWLocal]

1) Didn't John Lasseter criticize the Eisner era for churning out sequals from classic Disney films? Several of these so-called "cheapquals" were, in fact, Winnie the Pooh movies. It sounds like Lasseter is not following his own advice.

I'm going to have to disagree. What Margos said in response basically says it all.

2) If Disney wants another 2-D hit, they need to break free from this "cartoons are for kiddies" mentality. Winnie the Pooh does not seem like the type of film teenagers would pay 8 dollars a ticket to see in the cinemas.

They are working hard to break away from that mentality. It's going to take some time, but they're going to get there. The studio is in good hands with Lasseter, et al.

3) If Disney wants to return to their glory days, (when they made one hit after another) they need to think creatively and give audiences brand new ideas, with new characters... not repeats of old classic characters.

I think they already are on their way back to glory days. TPatF, which has not really underperformed, is a very good indication that they're going down that road.

[2099net]

I feel that the main difference here is that this is a "sequel" and not "cheapquel." It will be made in-house, by the main creative team, and lots of effort will be put into it. It won't be slapped together by a sub-par, outsourced animation house, as the previous ones were.

No, its "brand repair" - nothing more, nothing less. Pooh is Disney's most profitable franchise and not only have Disney just won a court case disputing their ownership of the rights, but the recent TV series wasn't as well recieved as Disney hoped (they made changes, and apparently the public didn't like the changes). So this is a film simply to both build up the Pooh franchise again and exploit it.

Its amazing, people seem blind to obvious Buinsess decisions unless they were made by Eisner

Considering some people here have dim views on Piglet's Big Movie (which actually used AA Milne stories as its core and therefore a true sequel from a true literary source) I don't see how anyone can expect a new fabricated movie to be better. If you're only bothered about the quality of the animation, then I'm afraid you've all got your priorities wrong.

[blackcauldron85]

Considering some people here have dim views on Piglet's Big Movie (which actually used AA Milne stories as its core and therefore a true sequel from a true literary source) I don't see how anyone can expect a new fabricated movie to be better.

But the new Pooh film will be using 3 Milne stories, right?

[robster16]

I feel that the main difference here is that this is a "sequel" and not "cheapquel." It will be made in-house, by the main creative team, and lots of effort will be put into it. It won't be slapped together by a sub-par, outsourced animation house, as the previous ones were.

No, its "brand repair" - nothing more, nothing less. Pooh is Disney's most profitable franchise and not only have Disney just won a court case disputing their ownership of the rights, but the recent TV series wasn't as well recieved as Disney hoped (they made changes, and apparently the public didn't like the changes). So this is a film simply to both build up the Pooh franchise again and exploit it.

Its amazing, people seem blind to obvious Buinsess decisions unless they were made by Eisner

Considering some people here have dim views on Piglet's Big Movie (which actually used AA Milne stories as its core and therefore a true sequel from a true literary source) I don't see how anyone can expect a new fabricated movie to be better. If you're only bothered about the quality of the animation, then I'm afraid you've all got your priorities wrong.

It's indeed business, BUT there's also an element of "honouring your legacy" every now and then and not forgetting which elements made you big. Like Disney himself used to say: "Never forget that it all started with a little mouse!"

[2099net]

It's indeed business, BUT there's also an element of "honouring your legacy" every now and then and not forgetting which elements made you big. Like Disney himself used to say: "Never forget that it all started with a little mouse!"

But how do you know it is? Like I said, surely making a film from the original tales is more "honouring [the] legacy" than a new film made by nobody with any involvement what-so-ever in the original short films Walt made. (Isn't that one of the key complaints of the sequels too? Different creative teams?). There's more to "legacy" than just how much is spent on animation.

But the new Pooh film will be using 3 Milne stories, right?

What makes you think that? What makes you think it will even be three stories? Am I missing something here not having read the whole thread, but I see now reason why it should be either of those. In fact, given the countless other Pooh features, its more likely to be 100% original.

[robster16]

It's indeed business, BUT there's also an element of "honouring your legacy" every now and then and not forgetting which elements made you big. Like Disney himself used to say: "Never forget that it all started with a little mouse!"

But how do you know it is? Like I said, surely making a film from the original tales is more "honouring [the] legacy" than a new film made by nobody with any involvement what-so-ever in the original short films Walt made. (Isn't that one of the key complaints of the sequels too? Different creative teams?). There's more to "legacy" than just how much is spent on animation.

Well, how do you know it isn't? At this point we know very little about this project so to condemn and criticize it on the few tidbits of information we do have seems slightly premature...