A Very Merry Pooh Year is a direct-to-video Winnie the Pooh anthology film released in 2002 which featured the 1991 Christmas TV special Winnie the Pooh and Christmas Too, as well as the newly-made special, Happy Pooh Year.
This was the only Winnie-the-Pooh film where Jeff Bennett provided Piglet's and Christopher Robin's singing voices. It is also the first Winnie-the-Pooh film where Owl is absent and the first Winnie-the-Pooh film that Carly Simon is involved in. It is also the series finale of The New Adventures of Winnie the Pooh and a part of Disney Movies Anywhere program.
The story begins with an opening segment in which Pooh Bear hides a present he has for Piglet. Then our friends gather together and tell Roo about a past Christmas (as seen in Winnie the Pooh and Christmas Too). Later, they recall a New Year's in which Rabbit wanted to move away because he was irritated with Pooh's honey-eating, Tigger's bouncing, Piglet's being afraid and Eeyore's gloominess. So they all made resolutions to change and swapped personalities.
The film was released direct-to-DVD on November 12, 2002. The bonus features included a game "Covered in Snow" and the song selection. The film was released for the first time on Blu-ray on November 5, 2013 as the "Gift of Friendship Edition".
DVD special features[]
Included are a "Covered in Snow" game, a "New Year's Eve" countdown and song selection with on-screen lyrics. The "Covered in Snow" game you choose objects, but the same objects can be chosen over and over. You can also put the DVD in your DVD-ROM drive (if you have one) to register it (like many other Disney DVDs).
Goofs[]
Near the end of the film, when Pooh, Tigger, Piglet, and Eeyore went back to their normal selves, the part where Piglet ran to Rabbit shows the snow prints where Eeyore was standing went over Piglet's animation.
In the Christmas Too segment when Eeyore, Tigger, and Rabbit see Pooh dressed up as Santa Claus and Piglet dressed up as a reindeer, when Tigger says "Although, that’s a sorry looking reindeer", the scene switches back to Eeyore examining Pooh as Santa and Pooh saying "I must be Santa Claus".
Trivia[]
This was the last Winnie the Pooh film to be produced in full screen, as most Winnie the Pooh films (including the direct-to-video films starting with Winnie the Pooh: Springtime with Roo) have been produced in widescreen. It is also the final direct-to-video film produced by the Disney studio to be produced in full screen, as subsequent direct-to-video films after this one are produced exclusively in widescreen format.
During the live-action opening sequence:
The shots of Kanga, Roo, and Owl's stuffed toys are reused from The Tigger Movie.
Kanga, Roo, and Gopher have minor roles in the film, only appearing during the party scenes. They, along with Christopher Robin, are also the only characters who do not change their personalities. Owl however is absent.
