Pooh's Grand Adventure: The Search for Christopher Robin

The success of The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh prompted Disney to make a direct sequel in 1997. Pooh’s Grand Adventure: The Search for Christopher Robin was an entirely original story, not based on any of Milne’s original works. Starring Jim Cummings, John Fiedler, Ken Sansom, Paul Winchell, Andre Stojka and Brady Bluhm, the film is the first Winnie the Pooh movie to have its own special edition.

Christopher Robin (Bluhm) spends the last day of summer with his friend, Winnie the Pooh (Cummings), while keeping a secret from him.

When Pooh wakes the next day, he discovers a note from Christopher Robin attached to a pot of honey. Owl (Stojka) deciphers the message, which had been splattered with honey and says that Christopher Robin has been taken to a horrible place called the Skull by the Skullosaurus. He equips the group with a map and they set off on an adventure to save their friend.

As a direct sequel, the continuity in this film is astounding. The conversation that takes place at the beginning is the exact same conversation, word for word, from the end of the first Winnie the Pooh movie.

Though the characters start out all the same from the first movie, all the trials they go through in their search leave them more rounded. During the course of the film, they are broken by their greatest flaws and fears. Piglet’s fear of heights neuters him, Tigger’s fear of not being able to bounce high cripples him and Rabbit is left near catatonic after his leadership skills are shown to be nil. But it’s after they find Christopher Robin that that they realize what he told Pooh at the beginning is true. They’re better than they give themselves credit for and at the end of the film, they’ve conquered those fears and flaws.

It’s also interesting to see the juxtaposition of how the “Great Unknown” appears before and after they’ve found Christopher Robin. Before, it’s how Owl described it: dark, treacherous and foreboding. But afterwards, it’s like every other spot in the Hundred Acre Wood. It’s changed because they’re not afraid anymore and find that there was no real reason to be afraid in the first place.

While the songs aren’t all bad, only the first two are actually worth writing home about.

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