The New Adventures of Winnie the Pooh - "Find Her, Keep Her"

Our review today has something to do with the ever popular Disney animated television series from the 80's, "The New Adventures of Winnie the Pooh." And today, we're reviewing the ever popular "Find Her, Keep Her" episode, from the first season. Let's see how it plays out, huh?

In the middle of a blustery snowstorm, Rabbit, while talking care of a carrot that needs to be saved, finds a baby bird in danger, and Rabbit while trying to go get a ladder, flies around on the door, carrying Pooh, Piglet, and Tigger all around the storm and catching the bird into Pooh's honey pot. After that little stunt, Rabbit decides to take care of the little bird, who's name is Kessie by the way, voiced by Laura Mooney, who later voiced Katie Ka-Boom on Animaniacs. One day, while playing with Tigger, the tree that Tigger bounces on tips over and carries them near an edge of a cliff. Kessie falls and Owl comes to the rescue and thinks she is meant for flying, but Rabbit on the other hand refuses, mainly because of the fact that most birds fly south for the winter. Will Rabbit keep Kessie, or will he learn that sometimes you have to let things go, even if you love them very much? Well, I think you already know the answer by now, so, go watch it to find out, okay?

A lot of people, including  my mom, have considered this to be one of the most heart-wrenching episodes the show has ever put out. And I can see why. We see Rabbit acting as a father figure to Kessie, worried about what would happen to her if she did went away. This episode has a lot of drama, good laughs, and a nice story. I even like how Pooh pointed out that Rabbit already knows he cared so much for Kessie because it's called, the reason Rabbit already knows is because earlier in the second act, he told Tigger, "I never even told her, I loved her." Probably the saddest scene in the episode has to be when Kessie asks for one more bedtime story and Rabbit says "You don't need me for anything." Now that's what I call a real tearjerker. This probably the most dramatic episode that Disney has ever put out. It feels like as if Lion King producer Don Hahn produced this.

Here's a fun fact for you: This episode won the 1989 Humanitas Prize for Outstanding Children’s Programming. Gee, I can see why they gave that episode the award. But either way, with the comedy in between and Rabbit's feeling for Kessie, this is a really amazing episode, not just for its comedy, but also for its storytelling and its subverting of expectations.

You can find this episode on Winnie the Pooh: Seasons of Giving, or on the video, "Newfound Friends."

I could dedicate this review to the memory of Ken Sansom who voiced Rabbit, but I can't. Instead, I'll just dedicate this to the late Paul Winchell who voiced Tigger.

Rest in peace, Paul. Along with Ken Sansom and John Fiedler.

Johnny Bravo - "Cookie Crisis"

Well, just like I promised, I am now reviewing my favorite Season One episode of Johnny Bravo. It's called, "Cookie Crisis," it was written and directed by Butch Hartman. Now, let's begin.

The plot centers around Little Suzy, Johnny Bravo's next door neighbor and friend trying desperately to sell her girl scout cookies, but Johnny Bravo simply just refuses. And then, hilarious hijinks ensue, with rhyming and foxes, cookies, and so much more. Little Suzy will stop at nothing to get Johnny to buy her cookies.

What I admire about this episode so much is that, it's a satire on the ever popular. Dr. Seuss classic, "Green Eggs and Ham," where Sam I Am tries desperately to get his friend to try his green eggs and ham, but his friend just simply refuses, until the very end. This episode does this kind of format, except with more than 50 words like in the original book. I especially like Johnny's self-awareness, saying things like "Man, this rhyming stuff really hurts my tongue," and "I'm a poet, and I don't know it. I'll make a rhyme every time." I should also mention that this was the first episode where Little Suzy actually cries, and Johnny takes pity on her by buying her cookies.

Okay, lets wrap things up with my final thoughts. This episode is a clever satire, it's funny, witty, self-aware, and the rhyming never gets old or feel out of place. The moral of this story is that you should please buy the cookies from your friends otherwise they might cry. This is just big-time Hanna-Barbera comedy here.

If you have the first season DVD on Johnny Bravo, you can watch it anytime.

Or if you want to see the adaptation of Green Eggs and Ham which features the voice of Paul Winchell, click here.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2KRkR8HaR9c

Sing a Song With Pooh Bear

I think it's time for a more simple review. Today, I'm reviewing the direct-to-video Winnie the Pooh sing-along video.........

Sing a Song With Pooh Bear, released on February 1999. It was the very last Winnie the Pooh tape to feature the previews of other Pooh, Spot, and Disney Sing-Along Songs videos. The plot centers around Winnie the Pooh, who searches around the Hundred Acre Wood, for what, you may ask? Not for honey, but for his own song. And his friends, including Tigger, Piglet, Owl, Christopher Robin, Eeyore, Rabbit, Kanga and Roo, and Gopher help him out, or at least offer him advice on this musical adventure.

Let's start with the pros. This video has a solid plot, similar to Sesame Street's A Musical Celebration where a character is off to find something very important and special. The selection of songs was pretty good, with great hits like "The Wonderful Thing About Tiggers," "Nothing's Too Good for a Friend," "Pooh's Balloon Song," and "Rumbly in my Tumbly." These songs were all from The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh, The New Adventures of Winnie the Pooh, and Welcome to Pooh Corner. This video also includes brand new songs, like "The Kangaroo Hop," ""Try a Little Something New," "Pooh's Song (My Song)," and "Harvest What You Grow." All terrific tunes for all children of all ages.

Now for the cons. Some things that bothered me were the fact that Peter Cullen and John Fiedler didn't return to voice Eeyore and Piglet, respectively. Instead, they were voiced by Gregg Berger and Steve Schatzberg. And while I have nothing against Gregg Berger, I mean, hes' done a lot of voice work for Garfield and Friends, like Odie and Orson. And Steve Schatzberg previously did Piglet's singing voice for the direct-to-video movie, Pooh's Grand Adventure, and for Gregg Berger, he's no Eeyore. Obviously, Peter and John must've been too busy to be involved with the project. Another small nitpick is the fact that this video doesn't have the New Adventures of Winnie the Pooh Theme Song! Come on, I like that theme song! Why wouldn't you put that in?! But, the BIGGEST problem was that, the people behind this didn't have the money to animated a lot of new material for this, in fact, the only portions of this video that were new animation were the songs "The Kangaroo Hop," and "My Song." Everything else is just the voice actors just lip-synching new lines on clips from The New Adventures of Winnie the Pooh. That is pretty lazy! And I know what you're thinking, didn't the Disney Sing-Along Songs series do this too, well, yeah, but that was for a reason! The lip-synching for the characters match perfectly, even on Jiminy Cricket and Ludwig Von Drake. This clearly should've been animated with new material with the animators from The New Adventures of Winnie the Pooh. Again, this is just my opinion, if you disagree, that's totally fine.

So, bottom line, Sing a Song with Pooh Bear is a good sing-along video, it's not great, but it IS good, it helps the children sing-along to their favorite Pooh songs. The only thing that bugs me was that aside from those two songs I've mentioned is that, this video didn't bother to put in new animation. That is just lazy. But oh well, you can't have everything. Watch it if you run across it.