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| Pooh's Heffalump Movie | |
|---|---|
 Theatrical release poster | |
| Directed by | Frank Nissen |
| Screenplay by | |
| Based on | Characters byA. A. Milne |
| Produced by | Jessica Koplos-Miller |
| Starring | |
| Edited by | Robert Fisher Jr. Nancy Frazen Anthony F. Rocco |
| Music by |
|
Production companies | |
| Distributed by | Buena Vista Pictures Distribution[2] |
Release dates |
|
Running time | 68 minutes |
| Country | United States[2] |
| Language | English |
| Budget | $20 million |
| Box office | $52.9 million[3] |
Pooh's Heffalump Movie is a 2005 Americananimatedmusicalcomedy film produced byWalt Disney Animation Japan. Featuring the characters fromA. A. Milne'sWinnie-the-Pooh stories, it is the fifth animated feature film inDisney'sWinnie the Pooh franchise.
Pooh's Heffalump Movie was released in the United States on February 11, 2005 byWalt Disney Pictures to generally positive reviews from critics, and grossed $53 million. It was followed by a direct-to-video sequel,Pooh's Heffalump Halloween Movie.
One morning in theHundred Acre Wood,Roo and his friendsWinnie the Pooh,Piglet, andTigger are surprised when they wake up to hear a loud trumpeting noise. While they visitRabbit's house for help in determining the source of the sound, Roo discovers a trail of large, circularfootprints, which Rabbit concludes to have come from aHeffalump, anelephant-like creature whose species is feared by the inhabitants of the Hundred Acre Wood due to its supposed hostility. Per Roo's suggestion, Rabbit organizes an expedition to travel to Heffalump Hollow and capture the Heffalumps living there in order to prevent further invasions. Despite his determination, Roo is forbidden from participating in the expedition due to his young age, prompting him to start his own solo Heffalump hunt the next day.
While exploring Heffalump Hollow, Roo meets a friendly young Heffalump called Lumpy, who openly expresses his wish to find his own trumpeting call to communicate with his fellow Heffalumps. As he gets to know Lumpy, Roo soon learns that the Heffalumps are different from his friends' depiction of them and offers to take Lumpy on a tour of the Hundred Acre Wood, which Lumpy agrees to. During the tour, Roo and Lumpy play games together and form a strong friendship but not without accidentally making a mess of Pooh's house and Rabbit's garden. Meanwhile, Rabbit and the gang return home from the unsuccessful Heffalump expedition to find the mess that Roo and Lumpy made; concluding that a Heffalump was the cause of this, they begin setting up traps to catch it.
After hearing Lumpy's mother calling him, Roo and Lumpy begin to search for her, without success, which causes Lumpy to become increasingly depressed until Roo gets the idea to enlist the help of his own mother,Kanga. Roo and Lumpy soon find Kanga, along with Rabbit, Pooh, Piglet, and Tigger, who attack Lumpy after erroneously believing that he tried to kidnap Roo. Feeling betrayed, Lumpy runs away only to get trapped in a cage. Following after Lumpy, Roo frees him from the cage and the two reconcile with Kanga watching them in approval. Afterwards, Roo reveals his friendship with Lumpy to Rabbit and the others and calls them out for their prejudice towards Heffalumps.
As Roo's friends reluctantly agree to let Lumpy go, a still-scared Lumpy stumbles off a ledge and accidentally knocks Roo into a large pile of logs. When Roo's friends are unable to move the logs, Lumpy decides to use his trunk to call his mother for help, finally finding his own trumpeting call in the process. Upon hearing his calls, Lumpy's mother arrives and successfully rescues Roo. This act of heroism causes Pooh and his friends to finally acknowledge the Heffalumps' benevolence, and the two clans make peace with each other.
Pooh's Heffalump Movie was produced byDisneytoon Studios andWalt Disney Animation (Japan).
The film was originally intended as adirect-to-video release.[4]
Heffalumps were first mentioned in the originalWinnie-the-Pooh books. They appeared in a nightmare sequence – along with their fellow scary creatures, thewoozles – in 1968'sWinnie the Pooh and the Blustery Day. Though heffalumps and woozles have appeared in other Disney'sWinnie the Pooh media, such asThe New Adventures of Winnie the Pooh TV series, this was the first theatrical film to feature a "real" heffalump. Lumpy's design is similar to the heffalumps seen in the 1968 featurette and the song "The Horribly Hazardous Heffalumps!" is in the same style as "Heffalumps and Woozles" fromBlustery Day. Carly Simon came up with Lumpy's full name, Heffridge Trumpler Brompet Heffalump, IV.
This was the final theatrically released film to feature voice actorJohn Fiedler as Piglet. It also marked the finalWinnie the Pooh film to be released in Fiedler's lifetime, as he died four months later fromcancer.
This was alsoKen Sansom's last theatrically released film before his death in 2012.
This was also the final production ofWalt Disney Animation Japan. Once the film was completed, Disney closed the studio in June 2004, eight months before the film's release.
Disney released a teaser trailer ofPooh's Heffalump Movie in March 2004 onSpringtime with Roo DVD home video releases. The teaser was later attached to theatrical screenings ofHome on the Range,Clifford's Really Big Movie,Shrek 2 andShark Tale. The next trailer for the film was released with the theatrical screenings ofThe Incredibles,The Polar Express andThe SpongeBob SquarePants Movie. The trailers for the film were later attached to other Disney home video releases.
The film premiered and opened in theaters on February 11, 2005.
Pooh's Heffalump Movie was released on DVD and VHS on May 24, 2005, in the United States. In the United Kingdom, the film was released on July 11, 2005, and later in a trilogy DVD on November 7, 2011, along withThe Tigger Movie andWinnie the Pooh.[5]
| The Best of Pooh and Heffalumps, Too | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Soundtrack album by | |
| Released | February 8, 2005 (2005-02-08) |
| Recorded | 2004 |
| Length | 33:34 |
| Label | Walt Disney Records |
| Producer |
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| Review scores | |
|---|---|
| Source | Rating |
| AllMusic |    [6] |
American singer-songwriterCarly Simon wrote five new songs exclusively for the film and performed four of them ("Winnie the Pooh", "Little Mr. Roo", "Shoulder to Shoulder", and "In the Name of the Hundred Acre Wood"),[7] while in "The Horribly Hazardous Heffalumps!" Simon is accompanied byJim Cummings,Ken Sansom,John Fiedler, andNikita Hopkins. "The Name Game" featuresKyle Stanger andNikita Hopkins as Lumpy and Roo.
Two songs from Simon's earlier soundtrack forPiglet's Big Movie are also included on the soundtrack, "Winnie the Pooh (Theme Song)" and "With a Few Good Friends", in which Simon is joined by her children Ben Taylor andSally Taylor.[8]
The soundtrack also features one instrumental track entitled "The Promise" byJoel McNeely, as well as seven classic Winnie the Pooh songs written bythe Sherman Brothers.
Original songs performed in the film include:
| No. | Title | Performer(s) | Length |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | "Winnie the Pooh" | Carly Simon & Ben Taylor | 2:52 |
| 2. | "The Horribly Hazardous Heffalumps!" | Jim Cummings,Ken Sansom,John Fiedler &Nikita Hopkins | 1:53 |
| 3. | "Little Mr. Roo" | Carly Simon &Kath Soucie | 2:02 |
| 4. | "The Name Game" | Kyle Stanger &Nikita Hopkins | 0:46 |
| 5. | "Shoulder to Shoulder" | Carly Simon & the Heffalump Chorus | 3:22 |
| 6. | "In the Name of the Hundred Acre Wood" | Carly Simon & the Heffalump Chorus | 2:26 |
| 7. | "With a Few Good Friends" | Carly Simon, Ben Taylor &Sally Taylor | 2:38 |
The film made $5.8 million in its opening weekend, a per theater average of $2,296 from 2,529 theaters. The film ended up with a final gross of $18.1 million in North America and $34.8 million in other countries, bringing the total worldwide gross to $52.9 million.[3]
On thereview aggregator websiteRotten Tomatoes, 81% of 88 critics' reviews are positive, with an average rating of 6.54/10. The website's consensus reads: "A charming and delightful walk through the Hundred Acres Woods for young viewers."[9]Metacritic, which uses aweighted average, assigned the film a score of 64 out of 100, based on 23 critics, indicating "generally favorable" reviews.[10]
A sequel,Pooh's Heffalump Halloween Movie, was released direct-to-video on September 13, 2005.
