Winnie the Pooh (2011 film) facts for kids

Quick facts for kids Winnie the Pooh
Theatrical release poster
Directed by	Stephen Anderson Don Hall
Produced by	Peter Del Vecho Clark Spencer
Story by	Stephen Anderson Clio Chiang Don Dougherty Don Hall Kendelle Hoyer Brian Kesinger Nicole Mitchell Jeremy Spears
Narrated by	John Cleese
Starring	Jim Cummings Jack Boulter Travis Oates Bud Luckey Tom Kenny Craig Ferguson Kristen Anderson-Lopez Wyatt Hall Huell Howser
Music by	Henry Jackman
Cinematography	Julio Macat (live-action scenes)
Editing by	Lisa Linder Silver
Distributed by	Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures
Release date(s)	April 6, 2011 (2011-04-06) (Belgium) July 15, 2011 (2011-07-15) (United States)
Running time	69 minutes
Country	United States
Language	English
Budget	$30 million
Money made	$50.1 million

Winnie the Pooh is a 2011 American animated musical comedy film produced by Walt Disney Animation Studios and released by Walt Disney Pictures, based on the eponymous novel created by A. A. Milne and E. H. Shepard. The 51st animated film produced by the studio, the film is a revival of Disney's Winnie the Pooh franchise and the fifth theatrical Winnie the Pooh film released. As of 2025, it is Disney's most recent traditionally animated theatrical film.

Jim Cummings reprises his voice roles as Winnie the Pooh and Tigger, and Travis Oates reprises his voice role as Piglet, while newcomers Tom Kenny, Craig Ferguson, Bud Luckey, and Kristen Anderson-Lopez provide the voices of Rabbit, Owl, Eeyore, and Kanga, respectively. In the film, the aforementioned residents of the Hundred Acre Wood embark on a quest to save Christopher Robin from an imaginary culprit while Pooh deals with a hunger for honey. The film was directed by Stephen Anderson and Don Hall (in his feature directorial debut), produced by Peter Del Vecho and Clark Spencer, and narrated by John Cleese.

Production began in September 2009 with Walt Disney Animation Studios' chief creative officer John Lasseter announcing that Disney wanted to create a film that would "transcend generations." The film features six songs by Kristen Anderson-Lopez and Robert Lopez, as well as a rendition of the Sherman Brothers' "Winnie the Pooh" theme song by actress/musician Zooey Deschanel. The film was released on April 6, 2011 in Europe and on July 15, 2011 in the United States. It received largely positive reviews from critics, but was commercially unsuccessful, having grossed $50.1 million worldwide on a $30 million budget.

The film is dedicated to background artist Dan Read, who had worked on several Disney animated films and died on May 25, 2010.

Plot

The story takes place inside a storybook, whose letters can be seen around many of the scenes. Winnie the Pooh wakes up one day to find that he is out of honey ("The Tummy Song"). While out searching for more, Pooh discovers that Eeyore has lost his tail. Pooh, Piglet, Rabbit, Owl, Kanga and Roo come to the rescue ("A Very Important Thing To Do") while Tigger has his bouncing fun. Christopher Robin decides to hold a contest to see who can find a replacement for Eeyore's tail. The prize for the winner is a fresh pot of honey ("The Winner Song"). After everyone else's failed attempts to replace Eeyore's tail, Kanga suggests that they use a scarf. This is declared the winner, but it soon unravels.

Pooh still has not been able to find any honey. He goes to visit Christopher Robin, and finds a note that says "Gon Out Bizy Back Soon", a misspelling of "Gone Out, Busy, Back Soon". Pooh is unable to read the note, so he asks for Owl's help. Owl's poor reading comprehension skills lead Pooh and his friends to believe that Christopher Robin has been abducted by a ruthless and mischievous monster they call the "Backson" ("The Backson Song"). Rabbit plans to trap the Backson in a pit, which they think he will fall into after following a trail of items leading to it. Meanwhile, Tigger, who wants a sidekick to help him defeat the Backson, recruits a reluctant Eeyore to be a second Tigger ("It's Gonna Be Great"). He dresses up like the Backson and tries to teach Eeyore how to fight. Eeyore manages to escape from Tigger and hides underwater, where he discovers an anchor.

After a failed attempt to get honey from a bee hive, Pooh's imagination combined with his hunger get the better of him ("Everything is Honey"), and he ends up accidentally eating some mud and falling into the pit meant for the Backson. Rabbit, Kanga, Roo, Owl, and Piglet use Eeyore's anchor "replacement tail" as a rope to try to get Pooh out, but everyone but Piglet falls in. Piglet tries to help them out, but consistently overinterprets Rabbit's instructions, leading to the destruction of the only rope he has with him. He goes to find more rope, but runs into Tigger, and mistakes his costume for the actual monster. Piglet flees from Tigger on a red balloon, which knocks some of the storybook's letters into the pit.

After the chase, Tigger and Piglet fall into the trap as well, where Eeyore reminds Tigger that he, being "the only one," is "the most wonderful thing about Tiggers." Eventually, Pooh figures out how to use the fallen letters to form a ladder, and his friends are able to escape the pit. They soon find Christopher Robin, and tell him about the Backson, but he clarifies by saying that he meant to be "back soon." The honey pot prize is given to the red balloon from earlier, much to Pooh's dismay.

Later, Pooh visits Owl, and discovers that Owl, not recognizing what it is, has found Eeyore's tail and is using it as a bell pull. Owl offers Pooh some honey for lunch, but Pooh, ignoring his tummy's loud rumbling, hurries to give Eeyore his tail back. Christopher Robin is proud of Pooh's selflessness; as a reward for his kindness, Pooh is given a pot of honey twice as tall as he is. ("Pooh's Finale")

In a post-credits scene, the Backson is revealed to really exist, but is actually very nice and gentle. He finds the items left for him, including the chalk drawing of himself, which he calls a "scary looking fella." Deciding to return the items to their owners, he starts picking them up but ends up falling into the pit.

Cast

• Jim Cummings as Winnie the Pooh, a bear who loves honey, and Tigger, an energetic tiger who loves bouncing. Mark Henn served as the supervising animator for Pooh and Andreas Deja served as the supervising animator for Tigger.
• Bud Luckey as Eeyore, an old grey donkey who is often gloomy and who loses his tail. Randy Haycock served as the supervising animator for Eeyore.
• Craig Ferguson as Owl, an owl who is not as wise as he thinks, and tells very long and boring stories about his family. Dale Baer served as the supervising animator for Owl.
• Jack Boulter as Christopher Robin, a young human boy and one of Pooh's best friends. Mark Henn served as the supervising animator for Christopher Robin.
• Travis Oates as Piglet, a small pig who's afraid of almost everything, and one of Pooh's best friends. Bruce W. Smith served as the supervising animator for Piglet.
• Tom Kenny as Rabbit, a rabbit who is very bossy and organized, and loves planting vegetables in his garden. Eric Goldberg served as the supervising animator for Rabbit.
• Kristen Anderson-Lopez as Kanga, a sweet kangaroo and Roo's mother. Bruce W. Smith served as the supervising animator for Kanga.
• Wyatt Hall as Roo, Kanga's energetic young joey. Smith also served as the supervising animator for Roo.
• Huell Howser as The Backson, the mysterious creature who was thought to kidnap Christopher Robin. Eric Goldberg served as the supervising animator for the Backson.
• John Cleese as the Narrator

Soundtrack

Winnie the Pooh
Soundtrack album by Various artists
Released	July 12, 2011 (2011-07-12)
Recorded	2011
Genre	Soundtrack
Label	Walt Disney
Producer	Kristen Anderson-Lopez Robert Lopez Henry Jackman
Walt Disney Animation Studios chronology
Tangled (2010) Winnie the Pooh (2011) Wreck-It Ralph (2012)

Hoping to find the right songwriters for their film, Winnie the Pooh directors Anderson and Hall sent visuals to five songwriting teams. The duo instantly fell in love with the demos returned by Robert Lopez and Kristen Anderson-Lopez, who had previously worked with executive producer Lasseter and Disney music executive Chris Montan on the theme park musical version of Finding Nemo. The first song which the songwriting candidates were asked to write was the one which became "Everything Is Honey," in which Pooh undergoes a wild hallucination in his desperate hunger for honey. The Lopezes' inspiration for writing their successful demo was their desperate lack of sleep at the time because of the restlessness of their then-newborn younger daughter, Annie. The Lopezes wrote seven songs for the film, including "The Tummy Song," "A Very Important Thing to Do," "Everything Is Honey," "The Winner Song," "The Backson Song," "Pooh's Finale," and "It's Gonna Be Great." "The Backson Song" was also inspired, again, by the Lopezes' ongoing issues with their younger daughter's difficulty with sleeping through the night, as well as the fact that Disney's request for the song came in while they were on "the vacation from hell" on Fire Island (in Anderson-Lopez's words) and they had to borrow a piano at a local church to compose it. In the song, Kanga (voiced by Anderson-Lopez herself) mentions that one thing that Backsons do is "wake up babies at one and three." Zooey Deschanel performed three songs for the film, including a take on the Winnie the Pooh theme song, "A Very Important Thing to Do" and an original end-credit song "So Long," which was written by Deschanel and performed with She & Him bandmate M. Ward.

The film was scored by Henry Jackman, with additional music by Christopher Willis.

In the trailer, the song "Somewhere Only We Know" by English alternative rock band Keane was used instead of the music written by Jackman. The song by Keane is not included on the soundtrack.

The song "So Long" was nominated for Grammy Award for Best Song Written for Visual Media at the 2012 ceremony. The film's acclaimed track "The Backson Song," along with "So Long," were part of the pre-nominees for the Academy Award for Best Original Song, and Henry Jackman for the Best Original Score category list. However, none of them received the nominations.

Although Winnie the Pooh did not do as well as hoped because it opened against the last film of the Harry Potter series, it was while working on the film that Disney executives started to really notice the Lopezes' "instinct for storytelling with music." In turn, they did not have to audition for their next Disney project; instead, Disney pitched Frozen to them.

Other versions

The Walt Disney Company released five versions, for the song "Welcome to my world" featuring Edyta Bartosiewicz for the Polish version, Witaj w moim świecie (Welcome to my world), Anca Sigartău for the Romanian version, Bun Venit în Lumea mea (Welcome to My World), Zséda for the Hungarian version, Az én világom (My world), Evgenia Vlasova for the Ukrainian version, Мій світ (My world), and Beloslava for the Bulgarian version, Добре дошъл в моя свят (Dobre doshŭl v moya svyat).

Stage adaptation

A musical theatre adaptation, titled Disney's Winnie the Pooh KIDS, uses additional music from Will Van Dyke and additional lyrics and scenes by Cheryl Davies.

Plush

The official Winnie the Pooh 2011 movie plush was released shortly after the movie came out.

See also

In Spanish: Winnie the Pooh (película de 2011) para niños