Pooh's Heffalump Halloween Movie

Pooh’s Heffalump Movie got a direct-to-video sequel later on in the year. Starring David Ogden Stiers, Jimmy Bennett, Kyle Stanger, Peter Cullen, Jim Cummings, John Fiedler, Ken Sansom, and Kath Soucie, Pooh’s Heffalump Halloween Movie was released September 13, 2005.

It’s Lumpy’s (Stanger) first Halloween with Winnie the Pooh (Cummings, Bennett, Cullen, Fiedler, Sansom, and Soucie) and the gang. However, Tigger becomes alarmed of a mysterious figure in the woods and warns everyone of the dreaded Gobloon that will turn everyone into Jack O Lanterns. Roo and Lumpy set out to capture it.

The film this was a sequel of wasn’t that bad. But this, like most Disney sequels, didn’t even need to be made. In fact, all the Pooh movies that were released after The Search for Christopher Robin got more and more childish as time went on. And while Pooh’s Heffalump Movie didn’t exactly telegraph that, this one certainly does.

The great thing about the original Pooh movies is that, while yes they were for kids, they dealt with some pretty heavy stuff. Remember the final conversation with Pooh and Christopher Robin? It was made so that kids would be able to understand it. The problem with these new movies is that they just seem to be so that toddlers can be placated for about an hour. This is what the story feels like: catch the Gobloon before he turns everyone into a Jaggedy Lantern so he can give you a wish which will be used for more candy because Pooh ate it all. Springtime with Roo was childish too, but it still was a nice twist on the plot of A Christmas Carol.

And then there's Lumpy. He was all right in the first film, but really should have been a one shot character. Did the Hundred Acre Wood really need a new character? Especially when Christopher Robin is ignored most of the time? Actually, that might be the reason for the extreme childishness. Christopher Robin seems to be what gave the series the philosophical bent in the first couple of movies.  

At least this is the last direct-to-video Winnie the Pooh movie before it got a new theatrical release that actually went on the main animated canon. 

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