Winnie the Pooh-The Book of Pooh: Fun with Friends (2000)

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General		Extras
Category	Childrens	None
Rating
Year Of Production	2000
Running Time	46:40
RSDL / Flipper	No/No	Cast & Crew
Start Up	Language Select Then Menu
Region Coding	2,4	Directed By	Dean Gordon Mitchell Kriegman
Studio Distributor	Walt Disney Studios Home Ent.	Starring	Jeff Bennett Peter Cullen Stephanie D'Abruzzo John Fielder Roger Jackson Ken Sansome Andre Stojka
Case	Amaray-Transparent-Secure Clip
RPI	$24.95	Music	Julien Harris

Video		Audio
Pan & Scan/Full Frame	Full Frame	English Dolby Digital 2.0 (192Kb/s) Danish Dolby Digital 2.0 (192Kb/s) French Dolby Digital 2.0 (192Kb/s) Dutch Dolby Digital 2.0 (192Kb/s) Norwegian Dolby Digital 2.0 (192Kb/s) Finnish Dolby Digital 2.0 (192Kb/s) Swedish Dolby Digital 2.0 (192Kb/s)
Widescreen Aspect Ratio	None
16x9 Enhancement	No
Video Format	576i (PAL)
Original Aspect Ratio	1.33:1	Miscellaneous
Jacket Pictures	Yes
Subtitles	English Danish French Dutch Norwegian Finnish Swedish English for the Hearing Impaired Danish Titling French Titling Dutch Titling Norwegian Titling Finnish Titling Swedish Titling	Smoking	No
		Annoying Product Placement	No
		Action In or After Credits	No

    Winnie the Pooh-The Book of Pooh: Fun with Friends is an educational release by Disney aimed at pre-schoolers. It uses the all-time favourite characters of Winnie the Pooh, Tigger, Piglet, Owl, Eeyore and Rabbit to teach kids how to treat friends and relate to others. The disc contains four short stories, each of which highlights a particular aspect of 4 year old relationships. Each episode also contains a song performed by one of the characters.

    As with the other volume in this series, this is not a cartoon release. The story is performed using puppets with the animated background added using computer graphics during post production.

Episode Guide

Episode 1- You Can Lead Eeyore to Books

    All the characters except Eeyore go to Owl's library and get a book to read. Each character then tries to convince Eeyore that reading is great, offering him their book to read. None of the books suit Eeyore but he eventually finds one more to his liking.

Episode 2- The Spice of Life

    Pooh is out looking for honey but all the bee hives are empty. The Bees have gone on strike. Piglet and the others offer Pooh some of their food to stop him from starving, but he doesn't like any of it. Eventually they combine all of their different foods with honey drippings and Pooh can eat again.

Episode 3- Best Wishes, Winnie the Pooh

    With the help of Tigger, Pooh thinks he has gained the power to grant wishes. He grants wishes to each of the characters, but none comes to fruition. They are all disappointed and depressed. Pooh, with the help of Piglet, helps cheer up his disappointed friends.

Episode 4- Double Time

    Rabbit thinks he has lost a day and therefore must do two days chores in one afternoon. He sets about his work at a furious pace and the others get worried and wonder what is going on. In the end he finds out it is a simple misunderstanding caused by an over-helpful friend.

Video

    At first glance the video transfer appears quite good, but a closer inspection reveals it has many flaws.

    The video transfer is presented in the original full frame aspect ratio of 1.33:1.

    The transfer is exceptionally clear and sharp, with absolutely no sign of grain. Low level noise was also well controlled with no noticeable occurrences.

    The colours are clear and constant from beginning to end and are mostly bright, primary colours which grab and hold the interest of the intended pre-school viewers.

    There were no MPEG artefacts to been seen. However, as in the previous volumes, there was aliasing aplenty. At times this became overly distracting, as it was present in almost every scene. The major occurrences take place at 5:27, 6:03, 6:40, 8:00, 21:45 and 33:44. These are just the major occurrences - many more incidents of aliasing were present. Video artefacts were only occasional and very minor.

    A large range of subtitle options are available. They include; English, Danish, French, Dutch, Norwegian, Finnish, Swedish, and English for the Hearing Impaired. I sampled the English subtitles and these appeared accurate.

    Once again it is stated on the cover that this is an RDSL disc. However, this is incorrect. It is a single layered disc and no layer change is present.

Video Ratings Summary

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

Audio

    The audio transfer is above average, but could have been improved.

    There are seven different audio options to choose from. They are; English Dolby Digital 2.0 surround-encoded (192Kb/s), Danish Dolby Digital 2.0 (192Kb/s), French Dolby Digital 2.0 (192Kb/s), Dutch Dolby Digital 2.0 surround-encoded (192Kb/s), Norwegian Dolby Digital 2.0 (192Kb/s), Finnish Dolby Digital 2.0 (192Kb/s) and Swedish Dolby Digital 2.0 (192Kb/s). There is no default audio option. The first option after inserting the disc is that of language selection. I listened to the English Dolby Digital 2.0 (192kbps) surround-encoded track.

    The dialogue is clear and easily understood at all times. The wording is succinct and would be easily comprehended by pre-schoolers. Audio sync is not an issue with this disc.

    The musical score is written by Julien Harris, and kids will love it. There is at least one original song in each episode and the background music is very effective in setting the storytelling mood.

    The English 2.0 track is flagged as surround-encoded. Since this is mainly a dialog-driven feature, the surround activity is limited, but when it is used it makes the listening all the more enjoyable. Unfortunately, the subwoofer remained silent.

Audio Ratings Summary

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

    As per the previous volume, there are no extras.

    This disc is not available in Region 1. The Region 2 release is identical to this offering.

    Winnie the Pooh-The Book of Pooh: Fun with Friends is aimed at pre-school children. It makes learning fun and enjoyable, and the kids don't even know it's happening. Any child with a fascination for all things 'Pooh' will love this DVD. It has an acceptable video transfer, better than average audio, but unfortunately no extras.

Video
Audio
Extras
Plot
Overall