Pooh’s Heffalump Halloween Movie

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1. Monty Moonlight

   October 27, 2010 at 8:50 pm

   Review by Monty Moonlight for Pooh’s Heffalump Halloween Movie
   Rating:
   Little Roo is filled with excitement over being able to introduce his new friend, Lumpy the Heffalump, to his first Halloween ever! But, at one of Rabbit’s usual celebration planning meetings, Tigger’s musical explanation of the holiday terrifies poor Lumpy into not wanting to take part at all. Amidst all the excitement, Pooh devours the candy to be used for the festivities that evening, and everyone is at a loss for where to get more. Luckily, Tigger has told everyone his story about the Gobloon, a magical creature that grants a wish to anyone who catches him, but who will turn you into a Jaggedy Lantern if he catches you! Roo decides the only way to get more candy for everyone is to catch the Gobloon and WISH for more! After some convincing, Lumpy agrees to go with him, but their dark and frightening travels through the Hundred Acre Wood reduce Lumpy to a state of utter fright. Only after Roo relays to Lumpy the tale of a Halloween past, when Piglet went through a very similar struggle with fear of the holiday, is Lumpy able to regain the courage to carry on and face whatever dangers lurk in the woods on Halloween Night!

   “Pooh’s Heffalump Halloween Movie” is a generally pleasing Halloween romp through the Hundred Acre Wood with only a few hang-ups (besides the usual lack of Owl and the not uncommon lack of Christopher Robin). The biggest complaint folks probably have with this 2005 direct-to-video follow-up to the theatrical “Pooh’s Heffalump Movie” is no doubt the fact that about a 3rd of the film is made up of a Winnie the Pooh television special from several Halloweens back, “Boo to You, Too, Winnie the Pooh.” Yes, occasionally, Disney releases an “All New” direct-to-video movie that is really just a compilation of TV show episodes or specials. This is often the case with Pooh and the gang direct-to-video releases. On the bright side, there is quite a bit of all new footage here too. In fact, if they had left the flashback to the old Halloween special out, they’d basically have a pretty solid “all new” Holiday Special on their hands. Perhaps they should have just kept the two separate, but released them together on the one DVD. That way, they wouldn’t have had to re-mat the television special to match the widescreen look of the new footage. Regardless, the older, 22-minute TV special (minus the credits and with some re-narrating) fits in well enough within the context of the new Heffalump plot, and the older footage looks only SLIGHTLY different. Two other issues come to mind though. One, this film is more targeted at young children than the “whole family,” made clear with the focus on Roo and the new Heffalump character, Lumpy. Personally, I’m not totally in love with the Lumpy addition to the cast yet, though perhaps my problem is that I haven’t seen the theatrical “Pooh’s Heffalump Movie” yet. The other issue worth mentioning is that this is not the most captivating of films. Even the inclusion of “Boo To You, Too, Winnie the Pooh,” doesn’t help much, as it wasn’t the most captivating of Halloween specials. Let me put it this way: The new footage, which is pretty much its own story, even though it surrounds the old Halloween special, focuses on Roo and Lumpy, as I stated before. The older footage, the made-for-television Halloween Special, focuses on Piglet. These, in my opinion, are not the most interesting Pooh cast members. Not having Pooh and Tigger onscreen enough is a problem with keeping THIS viewer’s mind from wandering. Don’t get me wrong, I love the Pooh movies, and maybe if I had watched this in the family room, on the large TV with the volume blasting, well, I probably wouldn’t have had a problem then. However, when you cut back on the scenes with Tigger and Pooh, the Hundred Acre Wood gang is a little less entrancing. Still, I am not saying this DVD isn’t worth owning. If you are a fan of Halloween programs and the Pooh gang, it’s not without its charm and is definitely a must have. It even includes a handful of original songs amidst both the new and recycled footage. In fact, I’ve heard some folks say they prefer this Halloween themed release to “Pooh’s Heffalump Movie.” I really need to pick that one up and give it a watch. “Pooh’s Heffalump Halloween Movie” is also the only way, currently, to get “Boo To You, Too, Winnie the Pooh” on DVD, though I have not decided to toss out my old VHS release yet, since it is still the only release of the original version. Over time though, I’m sure I’ll realize that I more often reach for this longer Halloween “movie,” with it’s very nice picture and sound, over the old VHS, and will finally part ways with it. Though, I do hope that we eventually see a Winnie the Pooh “Holiday Collection” of the television specials, much like the Garfield one that is currently available and that I highly recommend. But, I’ll be happy if they just release some boxed volumes of “The New Adventures of Winnie the Pooh” to DVD, along with the long unseen short, “Winnie the Pooh Discovers the Seasons.”

   As for the DVD extras, well, there isn’t much for an adult to be too thrilled about here, unless you are trying to plan some Halloween games for a group of kiddies. The extras basically include 3 games and a party planner (which just gives details on how to set up the 3 games). The first of the three games isn’t half bad, and is basically a “look and find” game for little kiddies. The other two games aren’t remote control games, but rather a hot potato type game called “Pass the Pumpkin,” for which the DVD provides the music, and a Bingo game for which the DVD handles the number calling. You print out the cards via DVD-Rom features (which I pretty much never look into). Yeah, unless you’re planning this kind of party, the only real reason to buy this film is because you love Pooh and Halloween programs, which I do. It’s a bit overpriced (at 14.88 or thereabouts most places), but it’s a worthy addition to your Pooh or Halloween DVD collection.
   

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2. Roberts Mommy

   October 27, 2010 at 8:22 pm

   Review by Roberts Mommy for Pooh’s Heffalump Halloween Movie
   Rating:
   My 2 year old loves Pooh all of a sudden. He sits & watches this movie with his stuffed Pooh bear. He has never seen the other movies that the other reviewers mentioned,(the flashbacks are supposedly from another movie) so we have no complaints. I would be upset too if I bought a movie with all clips from one that I had already.

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3. G. W. Hallin

   October 27, 2010 at 7:39 pm

   Review by G. W. Hallin for Pooh’s Heffalump Halloween Movie
   Rating:
   I have never seen nearly an entire old video embedded in a new one. Disney’s “Boo To You, Too” takes up about half the movie in a cheap “flashback” ten minutes into the new movie. Now, “Boo To You, Too” was fairly entertaining on its own, but I cannot get over the audacity to lift it nearly whole into this new one. Et Tu, Mickey?

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4. Nicole D. Hayes

   October 27, 2010 at 7:32 pm

   Review by Nicole D. Hayes for Pooh’s Heffalump Halloween Movie
   Rating:
   This movie was not quite what we expected. Since we bought the Heffalump movie, we have watched it over and over. Grandparents and my 3.5 yr old alike. Everyone loves it!..So, as you can imagine, we were anticipating the Halloween Heffalump movie. My son was counting the days so to speak. It was hard to find…even my local Disney store did not get in in upon release…But finally I found it…but when we watched it, we were disappointed. This movie basically recycled “Boo to you too” the first pooh halloween movie. Most of the cute scenes involving Roo and Lumpy were shown in the trailers. The movie was even a bit scary for my 3.5 yr old little boy. He actually came and sat in my lap and hid his head as he was frightened. The “Gablooon” was little bit much for a toddler if you ask me. Too much of Piglet’s story and not nearly enough Lumpy and Roo…. A few days later, I went out and bought Max and Ruby’s Halloween…he LOVES it and would watch it over and over! Cute not scary and you get 10+ bonus episodes, a much greater value!

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5. Seth J. Schwartz

   October 27, 2010 at 7:20 pm

   Review by Seth J. Schwartz for Pooh’s Heffalump Halloween Movie
   Rating:
   This movie was a BIG disappointment. My daughter and I are huge Winnie the Pooh fans, and we had been looking forward to the release of Pooh’s Heffalump Halloween ever since we saw the first Heffalump movie. Unlike that movie, which was charming and endearing, this one is ponderous, uninteresting, and contrived. The previews show only the good scenes and leave out the sleep-inducing flashback to a previous Halloween where Piglet was scared half to death. And the movie ends with a yawn; the theme of unconditional friendship never really came out like it did in the original Heffalump movie. And where was Owl? He has been MIA ever since Piglet’s Big Movie in 2003. I give this movie two stars only because my daughter and I love the characters so much.

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