#22 The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh

The practice of fusing together a series of shorts may have proved a mixed bag for Disney in the past, but fortunately, The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh, composed of three previously released Winnie the Pooh shorts made between 1966 and 1974, is of a higher standard than most of the package film era. The three segments are fairly seamlessly welded together, although they are still distinctly separate pieces, giving the film an episodic feel overall.

Winnie the Pooh as a film (and as a property overall) sells itself on cuteness; however, it's a far more appealing cuteness than the irritating preciousness of The Aristocats. While a film with no real antagonists and little in the way of an overarching plot has the potential to go terribly wrong, Winnie the Pooh embraces these aspects in a manner surprisingly reminiscent of a Miyazaki film. The film is ultimately driven by the characters and their distinct personalities, none of which ever feel one-note or stale. There's an undercurrent of childlike innocence and optimism running through the film that infuses it with an appeal that elevates it above mere kid-film fodder and makes it impossible to really dislike.

The most surprisingly nuanced moment comes at the end, in a sequence newly created for the film. Christopher Robin, the child who everyone in the Hundred Acre Wood turns to for advice, is going away to school, and Pooh promises that, even though they won't be together all the time anymore, he and Christopher Robin will always be friends, and he will always be waiting for Christopher Robin when he does return. It's a strikingly poignant moment, underscoring the themes of friendship that permeate the film, and almost serves to reframe the story in a more metaphorical sense: the Hundred Acre Wood is an idyllic place, free from outside conflict, where, despite being different, everyone is ultimately friends. In essence, it's a place built on the best, purest aspects of childhood, and, although Christopher Robin is growing up and will not live there anymore, it can still be returned to once in a while, much as adults can sometimes recapture the feelings of childhood. This ending scene perfectly encapsulates all the qualities that The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh embodies in a way that no other Disney film really does, earning it a unique place of pride in Disney's canon.