Pooh’s Heffalump Movie (2005)
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Pooh’s Heffalump Movie Movie Review
Pooh’s Heffalump Movie is a 2005 animated family film directed by Frank Nissen from Disneytoon Studios. It’s an okay flick in this franchise.
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“The Heffalump ate my honey.
Well actually, I did, but it made me do it“
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Winnie the Pooh, Tigger and Piglet set out on an expedition, after they find huge footprints of the Heffalump, who is heard trumpeting in the woods. In the end, it turns out a small elephant is actually Heffalump for better and for worse. On the one hand, it’s okay to teach kids about prejudices, misconceptions and irrational fear. That was nice.
But on the other hand, it turned way too much into a message ending, and it lacked the adventure and scary elements of the original Disney film where Heffalumps at least remain a mystery. That was a problem for me as they demystified their concept way too much.
As for the characters, they do not get much to do here. Lumpy is cute, and Roo got some fine moments as well as Pooh of course, but Tigger and Eeyore are criminally underused. They are my favorite characters, and they are utterly forgettable and underutilized in this film.
The soundtrack is actually pretty fine for this type of cheaper children’s flick. Carly Simon did a good job with most of the songs, and I particularly liked Shoulder to Shoulder and Little Mr. Roo, though the songs are overly abundant for sure.
The animation is also good, but far from anything truly great. It’s more competent than anything else. It lacks the charming background work of the bigger budgeted Pooh movies from Disney, and that is evident from the start, though the designs are suitably simplistic and cute.
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Pooh’s Heffalump Movie actually started off really strong. I loved the beginning with a great mystery as well as a terrific adventure angle to it, and some of the songs were quite nice too. However, it then quickly turned into a forgettable children’s message flick that isn’t preachy, but is still too much for adults in the audience. It’s better than ‘The Tigger Movie’ and ‘Piglet’s Big Movie’, but not reaching the status of the Walt Disney Animation Studios Pooh flicks.
Pooh’s Heffalump Movie has a very good beginning, some fine numbers and a solid animation. It starts off strong, but then it quickly becomes too much of a children’s message movie with not enough story or adventure to it with the Heffalumps being overly demystified. It’s better than both of the other Disneytoons Pooh flicks, though.
