A Bear Named Winnie | |
---|---|
Written by | John Kent Harrison John Goldsmith |
Story by | Simon Vaughan |
Directed by | John Kent Harrison |
Starring | |
Music by | Charlie Mole |
Country of origin | Canada |
Original language | English |
Production | |
Producers | Simon Vaughan Kim Todd |
Cinematography | Jean Lépine |
Editor | Ron Wisman |
Running time | 90 minutes |
Production companies | Original Pictures PowerCorp |
Original release | |
Release | 12 December 2004 |
A Bear Named Winnie is a 2004 made-for-television drama film directed by John Kent Harrison. It stars Michael Fassbender and David Suchet. [1] [2] It concerns one of the real-life inspirations behind A. A. Milne's Winnie-the-Pooh . [3]
At the outbreak of World War I, troops march through the Manitoban city of Winnipeg. Among them is Lieutenant Harry Colebourn (Fassbender), a veteran with a gift for animals. He soon meets a bear, Winnie, who provides comfort for the soldiers and by order of General Hallholland (David Suchet), becomes the regimental mascot.
To avoid legal problems concerning the copyrights of both Disney and the Milne estate, Winnie the Pooh and anything related to the property is never referenced nor discussed throughout the film. [4] [ better source needed ] [5]
John Ferguson of The Radio Times awarded it two stars and said, "This touching fact-based drama almost manages to carry off its combination of First World War setting and sentimental tale, but is unsure of its target audience." [6]
Alan Alexander Milne was an English writer best known for his books about the teddy bear Winnie-the-Pooh, as well as for children's poetry. Milne was primarily a playwright before the huge success of Winnie-the-Pooh overshadowed all his previous work. He served in both world wars, as a lieutenant in the Royal Warwickshire Regiment in the First World War and as a captain in the Home Guard in the Second World War.
Christopher Robin is a character created by A. A. Milne, based on his son Christopher Robin Milne. The character appears in the author's popular books of poetry and Winnie-the-Pooh stories, and has subsequently appeared in various Disney adaptations of the Pooh stories.
The New Adventures of Winnie the Pooh is an American animated television series produced by Walt Disney Television Animation. Based on the Winnie-the-Pooh books by authors A. A. Milne and E. H. Shepard, The New Adventures was the first time a major Disney character headlined an animated, made-for-television series as well as the first Disney television series based on a major animated film. The cartoon premiered with a limited run on The Disney Channel on January 17, 1988. Nine months later, the show moved to ABC as part of their Saturday morning lineup. New episodes continued until October 26, 1991. Proving popular with children and older fans, it remained a staple on television in the United States for nearly two decades.
Brian David Sibley is an English writer. He is author of over 100 hours of radio drama and has written and presented hundreds of radio documentaries, features and weekly programmes. Among his adaptations is the 1981 version of The Lord of the Rings for radio. A columnist and author, he is widely known as the author of many film "making of" books, including those for the Harry Potter series, and The Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit trilogies.
Winnie-the-Pooh is a 1926 children's book by English author A. A. Milne and English illustrator E. H. Shepard. The book is set in the fictional Hundred Acre Wood, with a collection of short stories following the adventures of an anthropomorphic teddy bear, Winnie-the-Pooh, and his friends Christopher Robin, Piglet, Eeyore, Owl, Rabbit, Kanga, and Roo. It is the first of two story collections by Milne about Winnie-the-Pooh, the second being The House at Pooh Corner (1928). Milne and Shepard collaborated previously for English humour magazine Punch, and in 1924 created When We Were Very Young, a poetry collection. Among the characters in the poetry book was a teddy bear Shepard modelled after his son's toy. Following this, Shepard encouraged Milne to write about his son Christopher Robin Milne's toys, and so they became the inspiration for the characters in Winnie-the-Pooh.
Harold John Smith was an American actor. He is credited in over 300 film and television productions, and was best known for his role as Otis Campbell, the town drunk on CBS's The Andy Griffith Show and for voicing Owl and Winnie the Pooh in the first four original Winnie the Pooh shorts and later Winnie the Pooh Discovers the Seasons, Winnie the Pooh and a Day for Eeyore and in the television series, Welcome to Pooh Corner and The New Adventures of Winnie the Pooh. He also did a cameo in The Apartment as a drunken Santa Claus. Hal played the voice of Goliath the dog in the Davey and Goliath TV series which aired from 1961-1965
Pooh's Heffalump Movie is a 2005 American animated musical adventure comedy-drama film produced by the Japanese office of Disneytoon Studios and released by Walt Disney Pictures. Featuring characters from A. A. Milne's Winnie-the-Pooh stories, the film is the fourth theatrical animated film in Disney's Winnie the Pooh franchise and Disneytoon Studios' sixth adaptation of Winnie the Pooh stories, following Pooh's Grand Adventure: The Search for Christopher Robin (1997), Seasons of Giving (1999), The Tigger Movie (2000), Piglet's Big Movie (2003), and Springtime with Roo (2004). The film was released on February 11, 2005, to generally positive reviews from critics and grossed $52.9 million worldwide. It was followed by a direct-to-video Halloween sequel, titled Pooh's Heffalump Halloween Movie which came out seven months after the film's release.
John Donald Fiedler was an American actor. His career lasted more than 55 years in stage, film, television, and radio. Fiedler's high, flutey voice was instantly recognizable. He was typecast beginning early in his career for delicate, quiet, nerdy characters, although he also played sneaky villains. His roles included the meek Juror No. 2 in 12 Angry Men (1957); the benign-seeming gentleman who tries to prevent the Younger family from moving into a whites-only neighbourhood in A Raisin in the Sun (1961); the voice of Piglet in Disney's Winnie the Pooh productions; Vinnie, one of Oscar's poker cronies, in the film The Odd Couple (1968); and Emil Peterson, the hen-pecked milquetoast husband on The Bob Newhart Show.
Pooh's Grand Adventure: The Search for Christopher Robin is a 1997 American direct-to-video animated musical adventure comedy-drama film co-written, co-produced, and directed by Karl Geurs. The film follows Winnie the Pooh and his friends on a journey to find and rescue their friend Christopher Robin from the skull. Along the way, the group confront their own insecurities throughout the search, facing and conquering them in a series of events where they are forced to act beyond their own known limits, thus discovering their true potential. Unlike the film's predecessors, this film is an entirely original story, not based on any of A. A. Milne's classic stories.
Peter John Dennis was a Screen Actors Guild Award and Drama-Logue Award winning English film, television, theatre and voice actor. His extensive career spanned both sides of the Atlantic with projects ranging from The Avengers to Sideways. He was perhaps best known for his more than three decades association performing the works of A. A. Milne on stage in his one-man show entitled Bother! The Brain of Pooh.
Winnipeg, or Winnie, was the name given to a female black bear that lived at London Zoo from 1915 until her death in 1934. Rescued by cavalry veterinarian Harry Colebourn, Winnie is best-remembered for inspiring the name of A. A. Milne and E. H. Shepard's character, Winnie-the-Pooh.
Winnie the Pooh is a fictional bear and the main character in Disney's Winnie the Pooh franchise, based on the character Winnie-the-Pooh created by English author A. A. Milne and English artist and book illustrator E. H. Shepard, being one of the most popular characters adapted for film and television by The Walt Disney Company. Disney first received certain licensing rights to the Winnie-the-Pooh stories, characters, and trademarks from Stephen Slesinger, Inc. and the estate of A. A. Milne in 1961. Winnie the Pooh is one of the most popular characters adapted for film and one of Disney's most popular characters, especially in terms of merchandising.
Harry D. Colebourn was a Canadian veterinarian and soldier with the Royal Canadian Army Veterinary Corps best known for donating a bear cub named "Winnie" to London Zoo. Winnie later inspired the creation of A. A. Milne's famous children's book character Winnie-the-Pooh.
Winnie-the-Pooh is a fictional anthropomorphic teddy bear created by English author A. A. Milne and English illustrator E. H. Shepard. Winnie-the-Pooh first appeared by name in a children's story commissioned by London's Evening News for Christmas Eve 1925. The character is inspired by a stuffed toy that Milne had bought for his son Christopher Robin in Harrods department store, and a bear they had viewed at London Zoo.
Winnie the Pooh is a 2011 American animated musical comedy film produced by Walt Disney Animation Studios and released by Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures under Walt Disney Pictures. It is based on the book series of the same name written by A. A. Milne and illustrated by E. H. Shepard. The film is a revival of Disney's Winnie the Pooh franchise, the fifth theatrical Winnie the Pooh film released, and the second in the Disney Animated Canon. It was directed by Stephen Anderson and Don Hall and produced by Peter Del Vecho and Clark Spencer, based on a story that Anderson and Hall conceived with Clio Chiang, Don Dougherty, Kendelle Hoyer, Brian Kesinger, Nicole Mitchell, and Jeremy Spears.
Michael Fassbender is a German-Irish actor who made his screen debut in the 2001 war drama miniseries Band of Brothers as Burton Christenson. Fassbender followed this with a number of television roles including a German motorcycle courier in the drama Hearts and Bones (2001), Guy Fawkes in the miniseries Gunpowder, Treason & Plot (2004), Lt. Harry Colebourn in the film A Bear Named Winnie (2004), and Azazeal in the series Hex (2004–05). He made his film debut playing a Spartan soldier in Zack Snyder's 300 (2007).
Winnie the Pooh is a media franchise produced by The Walt Disney Company, based on A. A. Milne and E. H. Shepard's stories featuring Winnie-the-Pooh. It started in 1966 with the theatrical release of the short Winnie the Pooh and the Honey Tree.
Christopher Robin is a 2018 American live-action/animated fantasy comedy drama film directed by Marc Forster from a screenplay by Alex Ross Perry, Tom McCarthy, and Allison Schroeder, based on a story by Greg Brooker and Mark Steven Johnson. The film is inspired by the children's book series Winnie-the-Pooh by A. A. Milne and E. H. Shepard, and is a live-action/CGI follow-up to the Disney franchise of the same name. The film stars Ewan McGregor as the title character, alongside Hayley Atwell as his wife Evelyn, with the voices of Jim Cummings, Nick Mohammed as Piglet, and Brad Garrett. The story follows Christopher Robin, now an adult, who has lost his sense of imagination, only to be reunited with his childhood friend Winnie the Pooh, whom he must escort back to the Hundred Acre Wood to find his friends.
Goodbye Christopher Robin is a 2017 British biographical drama film about the lives of Winnie-the-Pooh creator A. A. Milne and his family, especially his son Christopher Robin. It was directed by Simon Curtis and written by Frank Cottrell-Boyce and Simon Vaughan, and stars Domhnall Gleeson, Margot Robbie, and Kelly Macdonald. The film premiered in the United Kingdom on 29 September 2017. It received mixed reviews from critics and grossed $7.2 million at the box office.
Finding Winnie: The True Story of the World's Most Famous Bear is a 2015 children's book written by Canadian author Lindsay Mattick and illustrated by Sophie Blackall. The non-fiction book is framed as a story Mattick is telling to her son. Her great-grandfather, Harry Colebourn bought a bear on his way to fight in World War I, donating the bear to a zoo where it became the inspiration for the character of Winnie-the-Pooh. Finding Winnie was thoroughly researched by both Blackall and Mattick. The book's writing and illustrations were well reviewed and it won the 2016 Caldecott Medal.