'Winnie the Pooh' inoffensive as ever

Directors: Stephen J. Anderson/Don Hall

Cast: (Voices) John Cleese, Craig Ferguson, Bud Luckey, Tom Kenny, Jim Cummings

Cert: G

Disney leave the more modern forms of animation and return to the traditional hand-drawing for this return of the much-loved A.A. Milne characters of the Hundred Acre Wood, characters which have served Disney well over the years, and been equally well treated in return.

Anderson and Hall stick, largely, to the Milne originals though at times showing scant sympathy for them in that several of our best-loved ones come across as downright stupid rather than bumblingly funny.

Interestingly, it took eight writers to cobble together three different stories, and they have done it with a minimum of originality.

Happily the film, aimed squarely at a very young audience, comes in at a mere 69 minutes and, the above aside, is suitably whimsical and entertaining.

Narrated by Cleese, the storyline, thin in the extreme, sees Pooh (Cummings, who doubles as Tigger), the bear of very little brain and tummy forever seeking honey, setting out in search of breakfast.

He meets Eeyore (Luckey) who has lost his tail and enlists the gang in searching for it: Ferguson as Owl, Kenny as Rabbit, Kanga, Roo, Piglet. And there is a sub-plot involving a monster kidnapping Christopher Robin.

A tale that merely passes the time quickly without upsetting its intended viewers.

Star Rating: 3/5