Winnie the Pooh-The Book of Pooh: Fun with Manners (2002)

This review is sponsored by

BUY IT

General		Extras
Category	Childrens	None
Rating
Year Of Production	2002
Running Time	46:50
RSDL / Flipper	No/No	Cast & Crew
Start Up	Menu
Region Coding	2,4	Directed By	Bruce Logan Mitchell Kriegman
Studio Distributor	Disney Walt Disney Studios Home Ent.	Starring	Jim Cummings
Case	Amaray-Transparent-Secure Clip
RPI	$24.95	Music	Julian Harris Brian Woodberry

    All the main characters are performed by puppeteers, with very simple computer generated backgrounds inserted in post production. The result is a bright, colourful and entertaining program. After every second story we are given a quick recap on the lessons we have learned.

Episode 1 - Please and Thank-You's

    Owl teaches Tigger to say 'please' and he soon begins to believe the word is magical, enabling him to get anything he desires - even the power of flight!

Episode 2 - The Rumour Millstone

    Rabbit becomes tired of Tigger bouncing in his garden and ruining all his fruit and vegetables. He tells Tigger a lie to scare him and keep him away, but the word soon spreads and the fib snow-balls into a monster that Rabbit is forced to deal with.

Episode 3 - The Wood Without Pooh

    Pooh learns to write a brief note to his friends, with the help of Owl. Before leaving the note Pooh omits one word, changing the note's meaning entirely. Through Pooh's mistake we learn that one little word can make a big difference.

Episode 4 - Friends of a Different Stripe

    The Hundred Acre Wood is hit by a violent storm and Rabbit's underground home is flooded in the downpour. Forced to find alternate accommodation, it turns out that only Tigger has room, but his nightly routines quickly begin to get on Rabbit's nerves. The two friends discover that they must find a way to live together despite their differences.

Video

    This transfer is presented in an aspect ratio of 1.33:1, full frame.

    The video transfer is very sharp from beginning to end. The level of detail is actually so good that you can see the textured furry skin of the puppets.

    Colours were bold, bright and very attention-grabbing. There were absolutely no signs of colour bleeding present in the transfer.

    The puppeteering has been filmed on a blue screen, resulting in sight but noticeable shimmering outlines on the puppets at times. Some macro blocking can be seen in the computer generated backgrounds when we zoom in for close-ups, but this isn't a major issue. Aliasing rears its ugly head quite frequently and could be attributed to the high level of sharpness inherent in the transfer itself. There were absolutely no film artefacts, as you would expect.

    Both English and English for the Hearing Impaired subtitles are provided. These are kept simple and flow accurately with the dialogue. I think it should be relatively easy for a child of reading age to follow these captions.

    Contrary to the disc's packaging, this DVD is not dual layered, hence there is no layer change present. For such a short program, there would be no need for RSDL formatting in any case.

Video Ratings Summary

Sharpness
Shadow Detail
Colour
Grain/Pixelization
Film-To-Video Artefacts
Film Artefacts
Overall

Audio

    I was pleasantly surprised by this audio transfer, which has a lot to offer for a children's program.

    This release contains only one audio track, English Dolby Digital 2.0 (192Kb/s).

    The character voices were always easy to understand and there is absolutely no complex dialogue to worry about here. Pooh is voiced by Jim Cummings, who is by far the most recognisable voice of Pooh out there. There were no audio sync issues with this transfer.

    There is one song in each episode, usually sung by two or more characters. These are fun, and cover the general message of the story with some funny, well written lyrics. The musical accompaniment is light and focuses attention on the character voices. The score is credited to Julian Harris and is also light and fun, providing some bright little interludes between scenes.

    Although it is not flagged as being surround encoded, this 2.0 soundtrack performed very well indeed with Pro Logic II enabled. Some music and sound effects spill to the rears, and the remaining voices and effects are panned across the front soundstage, making this a very enveloping experience. As a stereo track this also performed adequately, but I would insist that those with Pro Logic capabilities make sure it is enabled, because you won't be disappointed.

    There was no subwoofer response at all, even during the musical interludes. It wasn't missed - this audio track benefits from being bright and cheerful and heavy bass accompaniment would not have been necessary.

Audio Ratings Summary

Dialogue
Audio Sync
Clicks/Pops/Dropouts
Surround Channel Use
Subwoofer
Overall

    This release does not appear to currently be available in Region 1. Region 2 has received an identical release.

    The video quality is good and colourful, but suffers from some distinct aliasing. A recent production such as this should also have been widescreen and 16x9 enhanced.

    The audio quality is a good stereo soundtrack that benefits greatly from Pro Logic decoding.

    There are sadly no extras.

Video
Audio
Extras
Plot
Overall