Film
Movie theaters, reviews and showtimes in Chicago, plus articles, trailers and more
- Home
- Box Office
- Listings
- Trailers
- Features
Bookmark this page- Edition:
Trailer watch: is Disney's new 'Winnie the Pooh' a step too far?
Tom Huddleston groans at the latest attempt to turn Winnie the Pooh American
One Sunday in March, the directors of Disney’s latest take on AA Milne’s perennial kids’ favourite, ‘Winnie the Pooh’, came to London to present a preview of their new film. In a just world, they would have been stopped at the airport, arrested for crimes against the Crown and hauled away to face the long arm of British law. At the very least, they should have been confronted by an angry mob of librarians, literature lovers and pre-teens when they arrived at BFI Southbank.Of course, that’s just a comic fantasy. None of this happened. The film’s makers simply turned up, displayed evidence of their crimes to a packed audience and left unmolested. And another beloved British institution, arguably the greatest book ever written for young children, was quietly, brutally murdered. And no one lifted a finger.
Let’s get one thing clear at this point: I’ve not seen the new ‘Winnie the Pooh’. I’ve only seen the trailer. It’s entirely possible that the film does full justice to Milne’s glorious, idiosyncratic prose; that it keeps our favourite characters intact in all their lovable strangeness; that it doesn’t simply fly a balloon over the Hundred Acre Wood and urinate on it from a great height. I have, however, seen the trailer, and unless they picked all the most crass and insensitive moments from the film and stapled them together, the dream of a genuine tribute to Milne and his creations still remains a long way off.
Let’s get another thing clear: I have nothing at all against Disney, or the vast majority of their animated films. Over the past 50 years, they’ve created some hugely important, enjoyable and artistically valid works of cinema, a tradition that continues to this day. But theirs is a distinctive brand – simplistic, all-embracing, overwhelmingly optimistic, iconically American – and as such they have no more place adapting ‘Winnie the Pooh’ than Stephen Fry would have taking the lead role in a biopic of John Wayne.
One risks treading on thin ice in claiming that something is ‘inherently’ English: it implies a set of shared cultural characteristics and values that are very hard to define. But in this case, there’s simply no other way to put it: giving Winnie the Pooh an American accent is sacrilege. It was sacrilege in the 1960s, when Disney’s first run of Pooh movies were released, and it is perhaps even more so now, with cultural sensitivity supposedly on the rise.
But there’s worse in the trailer than just those awful, out-of-place aw-shucks accents: although the majority of the animation seems to shun Disney’s classic, rounded, hyper-clean style in favour of something a little more shabby and EH Shephard-ish, the Busby Berkeley song-and-dance fantasy sequence involving giant pots of honey looks horribly garish. Worst of all, the presence of Keane’s sickly ‘Somewhere Only We Know’ on the trailer’s soundtrack suggests a dangerous intention to bring things up to date.
But simply complaining about this sort of cultural misappropriation isn’t going to be enough: it seems to me that our only option is to give as good as we get. So anyone for a remake of ‘Huckleberry Finn’ set on a canal boat in Norfolk, starring Noel Clarke and one of McFly? Or how about Shane Ritchie in ‘The Elvis Presley Story’? Or ‘Carry On Founding Fathers’ with Julian Clary as George Washington? Or an epic action movie about Iwo Jima in which all the roles are taken by 'Corrie' cast members?
But no, some things are sacred. I’m no stuffy traditionalist – just look at Wes Anderson’s ‘Fantastic Mr Fox’ for a perfect example of how to cleverly Americanise a British classic. But there has to be a limit.
‘Winnie the Pooh’ opens in cinemas on April 15. My campaign of peaceful protest starts right now. We can’t let them get away with this. Who’s with me?
Author: Tom Huddleston
User comments on this story
-
- I liked pooh said...
- I think the point of this film was to appeal to the people who grew up with the disney versions... I also read the books, and love the original artwork - but I don't see the issue with "Americanising" Winnie the Pooh... All Disney movies have characters with American accents in them, even those who are supposed to be French, or sea creatures! It's an American company. It's fine. The idea of a toy bear with any kind of accent is surreal so to be debating the appropriateness of which accent he has seems a bit much. The film was very enjoyable - very very cute. The supporting animations were not. Posted on May 06 2011 17:54
- Report as inappropriate
-
- Morag said...
- Well I was waiting for American accents and typically American behaviour, but I didn't see any. Seemed perfectly fine to me. Posted on Apr 30 2011 03:24
- Report as inappropriate
-
- formerDisneyCastMember said...
- I do not know if this is still the case, but at one time in the last 20 years (I left the company in 2000) Disney was preparing to ramp up WtP as their big star performer, as the copyright on Mickey Mouse was due to expire (75-year limit?) and then ANYbody could draw him/use him, but Pooh still had years to money-producing life left in him. Anybody out there more familiar with this than me? Posted on Apr 29 2011 09:00
- Report as inappropriate
-
- Bartleby said...
- I agree with you in as much as I hate seeing our 'stuff' appropriated by the Americans and re-branded as their own. But as far as Winnie the Pooh goes, isn't it a little late in the day now? This new trailer doesn't look or sound any different from the Disney Pooh cartoons of forty years ago. Posted on Apr 14 2011 15:15
- Report as inappropriate
-
- Smithy said...
- Man, you really need to get over yourself. Yes a lot of things are given an unnecessary American "polish" but to moan and groan about a Winnie the Pooh trailer? You may have forgotten, but Pooh hasn't been British for a lllloooonnnngggg time now. For better or worse he's an iconic DISNEY CHARACTER now. I watched the trailer and got chills from it. Why? Because that's the Pooh I grew up with. Not the cgi pooh. Not any needless update Pooh. Just simple, innocent, classic Disney Pooh. The mere idea that Disney would buck the revamp trend and give a whole new generation of funny, innocent Pooh is something that should be applauded. I got chills because it's likely that there are many kids weaned on Shrek and other crap that have never tasted Disney Pooh and company. And now they will. Hey, maybe they might even read the books one day and grow up to be complainers like you. Posted on Apr 14 2011 13:25
- Report as inappropriate
-
- Adrienne LIngo said...
-
I'm with Huddleston on this.
All sensitivity and reassuring strangeness has been replaced by a Glee Club tribute to pooh medley.
At least I won't be tempted to perpetrate further crimes against the film industry by illegally downloading it when I get home. Posted on Apr 13 2011 11:00 - Report as inappropriate
-
- RosieW said...
- I thought Pooh's accent sounded faintly Scottish...?! Posted on Apr 11 2011 11:17
- Report as inappropriate
-
- A side of feminism said...
- I'm with you...I don't care about the accents but I do care about the subtlety of the books and all subtlety is gone in these trailers...starting with that blasted awful song. Sigh. Just avoid it like the plague. Posted on Apr 10 2011 08:02
- Report as inappropriate
-
- Robert said...
- I was at the BFI in March and saw the new film. The beaver is gone, thank god, and although it lacks the true character of Winnie the Pooh, it's very entertaining and easily Disney's second best attempt on the story after the original shorts. We can complain all we like about the Americanisation but the truth is, where was the British attempt? Every good story we have will be snapped up by America unless we start doing something about it. Posted on Apr 10 2011 06:42
- Report as inappropriate
-
- george said...
- Anouther example of British pride gone mad. It seems that Mr. Huddleston is forgeting the fact that Disney's the company that gave WTP the international success it enjoys to this day. If it hadn't been for walt disney, pooh wouldn't be the icon he is it the USA. And anouther thing, i may be british, but i like what the americans have done with pooh. 2ndly, i happen to prefer the voive Cummings has given to pooh and tigger, over the 1 stephen fry gave him. So Huddleston, while you're busy ranting about this film, most people will be enjoying this film, just like all the other disney pooh films and shows. Posted on Apr 09 2011 05:20
- Report as inappropriate
-
- Dolores said...
- Well, I like what I've seen so far. Christopher Robin certainly is British in the cartoon. And don't forget, the REAL Winnie Pooh that the REAL Christopher visited in the zoo was from Canada! That said, I wouldn't mind if they gave Pooh a more British-sounding voice. Pooh forever! Posted on Apr 08 2011 22:48
- Report as inappropriate
-
- Ian said...
- I too have seen the trailer and like Tom have this sense of impending doom. I hope to be proved wrong but fear it will be one massive disappointment. Posted on Apr 08 2011 18:51
- Report as inappropriate
-
- Jean Shaw said...
- Please alert me when it comes to town Posted on Apr 08 2011 11:59
- Report as inappropriate
13 user comments
Features
Gray's anatomy
James Gray wants to push buttons—again.
The next big thing?
Gigantic Releasing tries to rethink indie distribution…without movie theaters.
Red Diva: Lyubov Orlova, First Lady of Soviet Cinema
So you think you can dance, comrade?
Puppet master
Coraline director Henry Selick takes stop-motion animation into 3-D.
Socratic method
Laurent Cantet's approach on the set matches the message of his film.
Wander woman
Kelly Reichardt's Wendy and Lucy puts a Bush-era spin on the road movie.
Oscars
Read our interviews with the nominees, our reviews of the nominated films and more.
What do you think?
Post your comment now