Psycho's Movie Reviews #389: Pooh's Heffalump Movie (2005)

Pooh's Heffalump Movie (also known as The Heffalump Movie in the working title) is a 2005 American animated musical adventure comedy film produced by the Japanese office of Disneytoon Studios and released by Walt Disney Pictures. Featuring characters from A. A. Milne's Winnie-the-Pooh stories, the film is the fourth theatrical animated film in Disney's Winnie the Pooh franchise and DisneyToon Studios's third adaptation of Winnie the Pooh stories, following The Tigger Movie (2000) and Piglet's Big Movie (2003). The film was released theatrically on February 11, 2005.

Plot

One day, Winnie the Pooh and his friends hear a strange noise and find a set of large, circular footprints in the Hundred Acre Wood. The friends believe that there is a strange creature known as a "heffalump" in the woods. Rabbit organizes an expedition to go try to catch it. Roo wants to come along, but the others tell him he is too young and small to go. Despite this, Roo slips out on his own in search of the heffalump. He finds one; a playful young creature named Heffridge Trumpler Brompet Heffalump IV—"Lumpy" for short. Roo is afraid of his captive at first but the two quickly become friends and play.

After a while, Lumpy hears his mother calling for him to come home. Roo wants Lumpy to meet all of his friends first, and they head towards the Hundred Acre Wood. Lumpy hesitates, thinking that the "creatures" that live there are scary, but Roo reassures him. The Hundred Acre Wood is deserted, as everyone else is still out searching for the heffalump. Roo and Lumpy continue playing, making a mess of Pooh's house and Rabbit's garden. The two friends hear Lumpy's mother calling him again. They search for Lumpy's mother, but she is nowhere to be seen. Lumpy uses his trunk to call to her, but it does not work. After hours of searching, Lumpy assumes that they will never find her, and starts to cry. Roo consoles Lumpy with a song he learned from Kanga. Then, Roo gets an idea: they could go find his mother, and see if she can help Lumpy.

Meanwhile, the others return home to find Pooh's house and Rabbit's garden a mess. They conclude that the heffalump has invaded. When Lumpy and Roo are discovered, Rabbit thinks that Lumpy has captured Roo. He and the others chase Lumpy through the heffalump traps they set up earlier in the film. Lumpy evades the traps, but Roo gets caught in the last one as Lumpy escapes into the woods. Roo frees himself from the trap, and runs to find Lumpy trapped in a giant cage. Lumpy is upset and hurt, thinking that Roo has lied to him about the inhabitants of the Hundred Acre Wood being friendly. Roo tries to free Lumpy and apologizes for everything. Finally, Roo notices a rope at the top of the cage. He climbs up and unties it, freeing a very grateful Lumpy. Kanga, watching the two interact from behind a nearby tree, realizes that the heffalump is her son's friend.

Rabbit, Pooh, Tigger, and Piglet arrive and lasso Lumpy. Roo yells at them to stop. They refuse to listen, but Kanga tells them to have Roo explain himself. He tells the others that Heffalumps are not scary or mean. While Roo is explaining this, Lumpy stumbles and accidentally knocks Roo into a pile of giant, heavy logs forming a makeshift bridge over a ditch.

Lumpy and Roo's other friends try to rescue Roo, but the logs are too heavy for them to move. Lumpy gets an idea, and tries to call out to his mother. After a few tries, he finally gets it right. Lumpy's mother comes and tosses the logs aside, freeing Roo. Lumpy's mother is very proud that he has learned how to call out to her. Pooh explains to Rabbit why the heffalump was in their wood; she was only looking for her baby. They apologize for their misjudgement and befriend Lumpy and his mother. Roo and Lumpy get a little more time to play together before Lumpy has to go home.

Production

The movie was originally intended as a direct-to-video release.

Heffalumps were first mentioned in the original Winnie-the-Pooh books. They appeared in a nightmare sequence – along with their fellow scary creatures, the woozles – in 1968's Winnie the Pooh and the Blustery Day. Though heffalumps and woozles have appeared in other Disney Pooh media, such as the New Adventures of Winnie the Pooh TV series, this was the first theatrical film to feature a "real" heffalump. Lumpy's design is similar to the heffalumps seen in the 1968 featurette and the song "The Horribly Hazardous Heffalumps!" is in the same style as "Heffalumps and Woozles" from Blustery Day. Carly Simon came up with Lumpy's full name, Heffridge Trumpler Brompet Heffalump, IV.

This was the final theatrically released film to feature voice actor John Fiedler as Piglet. It also marked the final Pooh film to be released in Fiedler's lifetime, as he died four months later from cancer.

This was also the final production of Walt Disney Animation Japan. Once the film was completed, Disney closed the studio in June 2004, eight months before the film's release.

Music

American singer-songwriter Carly Simon wrote five new songs exclusively for the film and performed four of them ("Winnie the Pooh", "Little Mr. Roo", "Shoulder to Shoulder", and "In the Name of the Hundred Acre Wood"), while in "The Horribly Hazardous Heffalumps!" Simon is accompanied by Jim Cummings, Ken Sansom, John Fiedler, and Nikita Hopkins. "The Name Game" features Kyle Stanger and Nikita Hopkins as Lumpy and Roo.

Two songs from Simon's earlier soundtrack for Piglet's Big Movie are also included on the soundtrack, "Winnie the Pooh (Theme Song)" and "With A Few Good Friends", in which Simon is joined by her children Ben Taylor and Sally Taylor.

The soundtrack also features one instrumental track entitled "The Promise" by Joel McNeely, as well as seven classic Winnie The Pooh songs written by The Sherman Brothers.

{Shoulder to Shoulder has always been my favourite Winnie The Pooh song}

Release/Reception/Box Office

Reviews were generally positive, resulting in a "Certified Fresh" rating of 80% on Rotten Tomatoes based on reviews from 89 critics with a 6.54/10 rating. The site's consensus states, "A charming and delightful walk through the Hundred Acres Woods for young viewers."

The film made $5.8 million in its opening weekend, a per theatre average of $2,296 from 2,529 theaters. The film ended up with a final gross of $18.1 million in North America and $34.8 million internationally, bringing the total worldwide gross to $52.9 million.

Budget $20 million

Box office $52.9 million

My Review

I've rarely liked most of the Disney spinoffs and sequels but to me the 'Winnie the Pooh' sequels are an exception. I've only seen the delightful 'Piglet Movie' and now I've had the joy to watch 'Pooh's Heffalump Movie'. I miss the hand drawn Disney movies nowadays and it is great to see that Disney still makes such quality stuff even though that's rare thanks to nonsense like 'High School Musical' dominating the franchise. In 'Pooh's Heffelump Movie', the animation is vivacious as ever but where it succeeds most is with its adorable characters who have maintained their essence and consistency. The whole gang, that is Pooh, Piglet, Tigger, Kanga, Rabbit, Roo and Iyor are here. The comic situations are hilarious and the story is fun too. It has heart and is told in an endearing way that will capture children's attention (yes, there is a lesson to be learned too) but adults can enjoy it just as much with their kids. The new character, Lumpy, has got to be one of the cutest 'member' of the elephant family. But, Lumpy isn't merely some cute caricature. He is brilliantly written and voiced as a real character, that of a curious playful child seeking for adventure with a new friend. The score is splendid and it is always a pleasure to hear Carly Simon's beautiful voice. This little movie is neatly packed in a solid 75 minutes but it doesn't feel rushed at all. One of the last few underrated little gems of Disney.

Originally slated as a direct-to-video release, Pooh's Heffalump Movie provides rewarding theatrical fare for children and adults alike. Although the animation isn't quite as intricately stylized as some Pooh tales, it is still quality work, and the story is very entertaining, with a slightly surprising and thinly veiled message.

Any Pooh fan will know that Heffalumps originally arose as dream material in Pooh's head--Heffalumps and Woozles were nightmare creatures (inspired by a mispronunciation of "elephants" and "weasels"), who were insanely wacky and out to steal Pooh's Hunny. In Pooh's Heffalump Movie (which is really more of a Roo tale, ala the Tigger tale of The Tigger Movie (2000) or Piglet's turn in Piglet's Big Movie (2003)), we get real Heffalumps, living in an area adjacent to the 100-Acre Wood called Heffalump Hollow. They're the Pooh gang's Other--imagined as having all of the negative qualities absent in the Pooh gang's image of Self.

The journey to seek out and capture a Heffalump involves crossing borders (a fence), passing over abyss-like ravines, crossing water barriers (rivers) and so on. It's a symbolic trip to a foreign, alien world, where unpleasant strangers live. Roo, the most innocent of Pooh's gang, is the first to encounter a Heffalump, and he learns that the Heffalump has a similarly negative depiction of the Other--an equally negative view of Pooh and our friends from the 100-Acre Wood. Both gradually come to terms with their misleading conceptions. The message of the film is to not "dehumanize" or "demonize" the Other--that the Other is probably someone not that different from you and I. Perhaps it's a surprisingly political message for a Pooh story, but it's valuable nonetheless, and easily meshes stylistically with the Pooh universe. It's interesting that director Frank Nissen chose to voice the principal Heffalumpian Other seen in the film, Lumpy (Kyle Sanger), with a British accent. It could have easily worked with an American accent like the other Pooh characters. The British accent is both more daring than we might expect (making the political distancing of the Other more obvious) and less controversial than we might expect (British culture being the closest one can come to American culture yet retain a distinct, recognizable accent).

Of course, kids aren't going to analyse the film in that way. For them, this is a fun adventure story, with moments of slight suspense and even slight scares (nothing that toddlers couldn't handle, though), where two like-minded creatures meet and become great friends. There are a lot of funny bits in the film, and the new characters are just as cute and likable as anyone else in the Pooh universe; I hope we see more of them in the future. There is a wonderful series of gags over the end credits featuring Lumpy in some of the better-known Pooh adventures. The songs by Carly Simon in the film are good, particularly when Carly sings them.

At 18, you may think I am a little old to be watching this movie, but as a lover of the Winnie the Pooh characters I thought why not? So I watched Pooh's Heffalump Movie and was delighted by it. It is so charming, sweet and endearing and has a lot of heart too. Plenty of funny and touching moments here too. It isn't as good as the 1977 movie or the 80s TV show, but it is still a delightful movie, with enough charm for especially children. Adults may complain there aren't enough jokes for them, but if they see the movie they will probably be content by their child's happy smile as they watch it and by the charm the film has.

The film is very short, but it moves very quickly and doesn't feel boring. The story is also very simple, but it is effective and innocent with a nice message that I actually didn't find preachy. The animation is lovely, and the music while not the best in the world is still delightful and serves its purpose very well. Even the dialogue had some nice moments- I smiled and I was moved too. The characters are a delight, especially Lumpy who is so cute and endearing I fell in love with him the very first moment I set eyes on him. And the voice acting is excellent. Overall, charming and delightful. 9/10