Winnie the Pooh: Springtime with Roo (2004)
Review by HTQ4
Film:
DVD:

Written by Tom Rogers, based on characters by A.A. Milne
Directed by Saul Andrews Blinkoff and Elliot M. Bour
Starring the voices of Jimmy Bennett, Peter Cullen, Jim Cummings, John Fielder, Ken Samson, Kath Soucie, and David Ogden Stiers

Features:

• "Sounds of Spring" interactive feature
  
• Game: "Decorating Roo's House"
  
• Disney's Art Project
  
• 2 Pooh Short Stories: "Honey for a Bunny" and "Trap as Trap Can"
  

My Advice: Skip it, even if you have kids.

Roo (Bennett) is very exicted about Spring this year. He has been looking forward to the Easter Egg hunt! When he finally meets up with this friends Tigger, Pooh (both voiced by Cummings), Eyeore (Cullen), and Piglet (Fielder), they head over to Rabbit's (Sansom) house to begin the festivities. There is just one little problem. Rabbit has forgotten the fun of hunting for Easter Eggs! So, it's up to Roo to remind Rabbit of said fun and keep the rest of the Hundred Acre Wood from having to deal with Spring Cleaning!

This is not as bad as it could have been. Making this story into weak adaptation of A Christmas Carol was not such a hot idea. However, let's face it, little children don't really care what the story is about. Fun songs with their favorite Disney characters is all that really matters. And that's where this movie falls short of the mark. The songs are just weak. My litmus test for this was my young daughter. She loves nothing more than a good song and dance on her videos. When the songs on this release come on, however, she starts playing with her other toys or grabbing other DVDs off the shelf and asking us to put one of those in instead.

There is one other aspect of this movie that bugs me. There is plenty of mention of Easter Eggs, but there is no mention of what Easter is. I know that Disney is trying to avoid making this one seem religious, but if they were going to do that, they should have avoided the word "Easter" altogether. I also know that this is the stuff that dissertations are made of, but that's just my opinion. It just bugged me.

The DVD is pretty weak as well. The bonus features feel like they were thrown together at the last minute. The first of these is called "The Sounds of Spring." By clicking on various images on the screen, you get to hear the sounds made by that particular item. For example, if you click on the hive of bees, you get to hear them buzzing. That's really about it. There are three screens of that. Next up, your little interior decorator can help spruce up Rabbit's house. Even though this game is boring, it's also kind of hard to get the hang of. You have to find out which piece of furniture or decoration goes in the proper place. Finally, there is "Disney's Art Project". This feature is arguably the best one on the DVD. It encourages parents to make little arts-and-crafts projects with their kids. Using fairly common household items, you can make all kinds of neat things. After this feature, all you have are the obligatory Disney previews and the ability to register your DVD.

So, if you are looking for a good way to get your Winnie the Pooh fix, just stick with the original. There's really nothing better.