Pooh’s Heffalump Movie is a 2005 Winnie the Pooh film directed by Frank Nissen, with a screenplay by Brian Hohlfeld and Evan Spiliotopoulos. The film focused on heffalump-hunting expedition organized by Pooh and the others after a strange disturbance in the Hundred Acre Woods. It was released on February 11, 2005 in theaters.
Story[]
One morning in the Hundred Acre Wood, Winnie the Pooh and his friends Piglet, Tigger, Roo, and Eeyore wake up to hear a loud trumpeting noise (and, in Tigger's case, a major earthquake in the middle of the night, causing his family portrait to be severely damaged). They go to Rabbit's where the group comes across a set of large, circular footprints. Rabbit deduces that elephant-like creatures called "Heffalumps" have invaded and per Roo's suggestion, he organizes an expedition to travel to Heffalump Hollow and capture them. As the group practices hunting for Heffalumps, a disappointed Roo is told to stay behind, as everyone believes he is too young to join.
The next day, Roo secretly sneaks out on his own journey to Heffalump Hollow from the Hundred Acre gang's. After a bit of exploring, Roo gets suspicious when his food got eaten until he finds an abaondoned water mill cottage, and literally meets a Heffalump named Lumpy around the same age he is. After being convinced that Lumpy is a Heffalump unlike what Pooh and the rest believed, Roo manages to capture Lumpy while the latter thinks of his activity as a game. Roo convinces Lumpy to come with him to meet all of his friends first; but refuses to enter the 100 Acre Wood due to his kin being scared of what is outside their home. Realizing that the Heffalumps' were afraid of the other side just as the 100 Acre residents for the other, Roo reassures that the wood's populace is friendly and convinces Lumpy to go beyond the fence. However, Roo and Lumpy find nobody home as they were still on the expedition, so decided to play games together during which they accidentally make a mess of Pooh's house and Rabbit's garden, but soon become friends and decides to "uncapture" him. The two later head back to return to Heffalump Hollow after hearing Lumpy's mother calling out again.
All the while for Rabbit and the gang, the expedition doesn't bode well as the group gets lost in the woods all the while bumbling in their attempts and panicking, while unknowingly leaving Eeyore behind with their giant bag of stuff. They managed to return home "successfully", until they find the mess that Roo and Lumpy made. Not knowing the truth and panicking-believe that a Heffalump was the cause, they begin setting up a bunch of booby traps around their borders. They were soon approached by Kanga who worriedly asks for Roo's whereabouts.
Meanwhile in the Hollow, Roo and Lumpy were unsuccessful in their search where Lumpy's trunk call was still not loud enough to reach. After Roo tries to cheer Lumpy with a song (Kanga's lullaby from the previous night), he eventually decides to take Lumpy back to the woods to ask his mother, Kanga, for help. They eventually find her with the 100-acre gang, where they assume Roo was in danger from the sight of Roo with Lumpy. Chaos ensues as Rabbit and Tigger chase Lumpy around the woods through their traps, which scares Lumpy away out of their borders. Roo chases after Lumpy where he follows his trail and upon catching up, shockingly finds his friend trapped in a cage and turning away from Roo, believing he lied and broke his promise. Wanting to make up, Roo manages to free Lumpy where they both reconcile as Kanga watches from behind understanding her son only made a new friend.
Rabbit and the others catch up and lassoed Lumpy until Roo protests against Pooh, Piglet, Tigger, and Rabbit to let Lumpy go, with a little insistence from Kanga (much to Rabbit's chargin). Unfortunately, a still-scared Lumpy stumbles off a ledge and accidentally knocks Roo into a large pile of logs. When Kanga and the gang are unable to move the logs, Lumpy decides calling out to his mother again but remains unsuccessful. Regardless, Lumpy's heart does not preclude him to save his true friend to which he finally gets it right for the first time. Upon finally hearing his calls, Lumpy's mother arrives and successfully rescues Roo.
This act of heroism causes Pooh and his friends to realize the Heffalumps' benevolence and after Pooh understands about everything that has happened, an ashamed Rabbit apologizes to Lumpy on the gang's behalf (realizing their fear of each other made enemies out of themselves). With that, the Heffalumps become part of the Hundred Acre family.
During the credits roll, Eeyore makes it back out of the hollow regrouping with his friends. A few days later, the Heffalumps start interacting with the Hundred Acre residents, as Lumpy and Roo continue to play while Pooh and the rest introduce him to Christopher Robin.
Characters[]
- Winnie the Pooh - Jim Cummings
- Eeyore - Peter Cullen
- Tigger - Jim Cummings
- Piglet - John Fiedler
- Kanga - Kath Soucie
- Roo - Nikita Hopkins
- Rabbit - Ken Sansom
- Lumpy - Kyle Stanger
- Mama Heffalump - Brenda Blethyn
- Christopher Robin (Non-speaking appearance)
- Other Heffalumps
- Rabbit's friends and relations (cameo)
- Crows (cameo)
Additional voices by Tara Strong
For a complete list of crew who worked on the film Pooh’s Heffalump Movie, please see the list of Pooh's Heffalump Movie crew.
Songs and Music[]
The film's score was composed Joel McNeely, with songs performed by the cast and Pooh mainstay Carly Simon. The film's songs were released to the album The Best of Pooh & Heffalumps Too, also featuring music from other Winnie the Pooh films.
- Winnie the Pooh
- The Horribly Hazardous Heffalumps
- Little Mr. Roo
- The Name Game
- Shoulder to Shoulder
- In the Name of the Hundred Acre Wood/What Do You Do?
Reception[]
Pooh’s Heffalump Movie bothered some Pooh purists, who felt that heffalumps should remain imaginary as in A.A. Milne's original stories, something that tormented the imagination of Pooh and his friends, but were never seen. Lumpy, however, proved to be a popular character, later featured in the direct-to-video sequel Pooh's Heffalump Halloween Movie and made a semi-regular character in the Playhouse Disney series My Friends Tigger & Pooh. The film garnered approximately $18 million at the U.S. box office, nearly enough to make up its $20 million dollar budget, but also earned well over $30 million dollars in non-U.S. markets. The film was a critical success, certified Fresh with 80% favorable reviews at the popular film review website Rotten Tomatoes and an average rating of 4.5/5 stars at Amazon.com, with over fifty 5 star reviews.
Fast Facts[]
Length: 68 Minutes
- U.S. Theatre Release Date: February 11, 2005
- U.S. DVD Release Date: May 24, 2005
- Tagline: Heffa Nice Day
- Working Title: The Heffalump Movie
- Christopher Robin appears only in three scenes shown during the film’s closing credits (Chapter 32).
- The film was going to be released in theaters on February 21, 2005 (1 year before), then it planned going to be released in theaters on October 1, 2004
- Owl only appears in the bonus features.
- Oddly enough, Pooh's house is located next to Kanga's house.
Transcript[]
Pooh's Heffalump Movie Transcipt
More to Explore[]
- Pooh's Heffalump Movie at Wikipedia
- Disney Official Site
- Pooh's Heffalump Movie at Rotten Tomatoes
- Pooh's Heffalump Movie at IMDb
- Pooh's Heffalump Movie on Disney+