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Pooh's Grand Adventure: The Search for Christopher Robin

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Pooh's Grand Adventure: The Search for Christopher Robin
2006 edition DVD cover art
Directed byKarl Geurs
Written by
  • Carter Crocker
  • Karl Geurs
Based onCharacters created
by A. A. Milne
Produced by
Starring
Narrated byDavid Warner
Music byCarl Johnson
Production
companies
Distributed byWalt Disney Home Video
Release date
  • August 5, 1997 (1997-08-05)
Running time
76 minutes
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish

Pooh's Grand Adventure: The Search for Christopher Robin is a 1997 American direct-to-video animated musical adventure comedy-drama film co-written, co-produced, and directed by Karl Geurs. The film follows Winnie the Pooh and his friends on a journey to find and rescue their friend Christopher Robin from the "Skull". Along the way, the group confront their own insecurities throughout the search, facing and conquering them in a series of events where they are forced to act beyond their own known limits, thus discovering their true potential. Unlike the film's predecessors, this film is an entirely original story, not based on any of A. A. Milne's classic stories.

Plot

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On the last day of Summer, Christopher Robin spends time with his best friend Winnie the Pooh while unsuccessfully attempting to tell him some bad news due to Pooh being uninterested in it. At the end of the day, Christopher Robin leaves Pooh with the advice, "You're braver than you believe, and stronger than you seem, and smarter than you think" and assures the bear that even if there is a time where they are apart, they will always be together.

Autumn arrives the next day, when Pooh finds a honey pot with a note attached to it. Not knowing who the pot belongs to, Pooh decides to ask Christopher Robin about its owner, but he fails to find him. Pooh then visits his friend, Owl, who reads the honey pot's note and erroneously concludes that Christopher Robin has gone to a distant cave called "Skull", where a creature called the "Skullasaurus" supposedly resides, before sending Pooh and his other friends, Piglet, Tigger, Rabbit and Eeyore on a journey to travel to Skull and rescue Christopher Robin.

Throughout their journey, the group face a series of problems, which cause them to lose their self-confidence. Pooh tries to encourage his friends with the advice that Christopher Robin had given him the other day, but he fails to remember the exact words. Losing hope, the five take refuge in a cave for the night, where Pooh expresses his sorrow over losing Christopher Robin.

The group wake up the next morning to discover that they had actually spent the night in the Skull Cave. Exploring the cave, the friends split up to find Christopher Robin on their own, but while Piglet, Tigger, Rabbit, and Eeyore eventually reunite, Pooh ends up trapped in a narrow crevasse and his cries cause his friends to believe that he has been killed by the Skullasaurus.

Continuing on without Pooh, the group find the "Eye of the Skull", where Christopher Robin is supposedly trapped. Overcoming their self-doubts, Rabbit, Tigger, and Piglet work together to help everyone reach the Eye. Meanwhile, Pooh, observing his friends' teamwork, excitedly frees himself from the tight gap, only to slip down a long descent and fall into a deep pit that he is unable to escape. While there, Pooh remembers Christopher Robin's words and realizes that Christopher is still with him in his heart, even when they are not together.

Upon entering the Eye of the Skull, Tigger, Piglet, Rabbit, and Eeyore reunite with Christopher Robin, who had also been searching for them and reveals that the real location that he went to was school, which is what he tried to tell Pooh earlier, before rescuing Pooh from the pit. The group then return home, finding the journey that they had taken to the Skull Cave less frightening. That evening, Christopher Robin informs Pooh that he will be going to school again tomorrow and the two promise to remain friends forever.

Voice cast

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Reception and legacy

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Review aggregation website Rotten Tomatoes assessed an approval rating of 38% based on 8 reviews and an average score of 4.3/10.[3]

George Blooston of Entertainment Weekly gave the film a C grade, calling it "treacly" and criticized its lack of "grown up-wit [and] child psychology" from The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh.[4] David Nusair of Reel Film Reviews called the film "tedious", and Alex Sandell of Juicy Cerebellum felt that Disney "always sucked with Pooh."[5]

Jane Louise Boursaw of Kaboose praised the film's songwriting and animation.[6] Gene Siskel and Roger Ebert gave the film "two thumbs up" on their review show as well.[7]

In a 2023 interview, cartoonist and animation producer ND Stevenson (Nimona) said that the film was existential, stuck with him, and made him think about "things that I wasn't ready to think about yet, or I didn't even really know the ways in which it was going to help me process things and come to terms with things as an adult".[8]

The song "Forever and Ever" was remixed by plunderphonics musician Pogo as "Boy & Bear" on his 2018 Ascend.[9]

Home video

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The film was released on VHS in the United States on August 5, 1997.[10] It was later issued on VHS in the United Kingdom on October 13, 1997. The 1997 VHS release has the Walt Disney Masterpiece Collection logo, despite being a direct-to-video film.

It was released for the first time on "Special Edition" DVD on April 11, 2006, with digitally remastered picture and sound quality. It includes a featurette "Pooh's Symphony" and the 1968 film, Winnie the Pooh and the Blustery Day.[11]

The film, alongside Piglet's Big Movie, was released on Blu-ray for the first time as a Disney Movie Club exclusive on July 17, 2018 to coincide with its belated 20th anniversary and the live-action Christopher Robin film, released over two weeks later.[12]

Video games

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Elements of the plot – such as the skull, and the mis-read map – were used in the 2001 video game Party Time with Winnie the Pooh and in the 2006 video game Kingdom Hearts II.

Sources

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The film's plot is based primarily on two A. A. Milne stories from The House at Pooh Corner: "In which Rabbit has a busy day and we learn what Christopher Robin does in the mornings," and "In which Christopher Robin and Pooh come to an Enchanted Place and we leave them there".

Songs

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All tracks are written by Michael Abbot and Sarah Weeks[13]

No.TitlePerformer(s)Length
1."Forever and Ever"Jim Cummings & Frankie J. Galasso 
2."Adventure is a Wonderful Thing"Andre Stojka 
3."If It Says So"Ken Sansom 
4."Wherever You Are"Jim Cummings 
5."Everything is Right"Cast 
6."Wherever You Are (end credits)"Barry Coffing & Vonda Shepard 

See also

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References

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  1. ^ "Pooh's Grand Adventure the Search for Christopher Robin (2000)". Archived from the original on July 30, 2021.
  2. ^ Crombar, Brandon (January 12, 2023). "Disneytoon Studios Movies List". Featured Animation.
  3. ^ "Pooh's Grand Adventure: The Search for Christopher Robin". Rotten Tomatoes. Archived from the original on 2011-07-28. Retrieved 2012-02-22.
  4. ^ "Pooh's Grand Adventure – Entertainment Weekly". Entertainment Weekly. Archived from the original on 2009-04-21. Retrieved 2012-02-24.
  5. ^ "Pooh's Grand Adventure: The Search for Christopher Robin – Movie Reviews". Rotten Tomatoes. Archived from the original on 2012-12-13. Retrieved 2012-06-02.
  6. ^ "Pooh's Grand Adventure - Family DVD reviews - Kids' Disney movie - Kaboose.com". Archived from the original on 2009-12-12. Retrieved 2012-02-22.
  7. ^ Event Horizon, G.I. Jane, Cop Land, Pooh’s Grand Adventure: The Search for Christopher Robin, 1997 (incomplete) - Siskel and Ebert Movie Reviews
  8. ^ Stevenson, ND (June 26, 2023). "Nimona creator ND Stevenson on how Star Wars and Dungeons & Dragons inspired his work". Entertainment Weekly (Interview). Interviewed by Nick Romano. Archived from the original on June 23, 2023. Retrieved June 28, 2023.
  9. ^ Boy & Bear - Pogo on YouTube
  10. ^ Hettrick, Scott (May 16, 1997). "Home Movies". CNN. Retrieved May 18, 2020.
  11. ^ Rizzo, Frank (April 14, 2006). "Pooh's Grand Adventure: The Search for Christopher Robin". DVD Talk. Retrieved May 18, 2020.
  12. ^ "Pooh's Grand Adventure: The Search for Christopher Robin Blu-ray". Archived from the original on 2018-06-30. Retrieved 2018-07-02.
  13. ^ Hischak, Thomas S.; Robinson, Mark A. (2013). The Disney Song Encyclopedia (2 ed.). Taylor Trade Publishing. p. 1. ISBN 9781589797130.
  1. ^ Animation outsourced to Walt Disney Animation Japan.
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