Springtime with Roo

Springtime with Roo (also known as Winnie the Pooh: Springtime with Roo) is a 2004 American direct-to-video animated musical comedy-drama film produced by Walt Disney Pictures and DisneyToon Studios, and animated by Toon City Animation in Manila, Philippines. The film features characters from Disney's Winnie the Pooh franchise, based on the original characters from the A. A. Milne treasured books. The story is an Easter-themed adaptation of Charles Dickens' classic novella A Christmas Carol, with Rabbit in the lead role (despite Roo being the title-bearing character). Unlike A Very Merry Pooh Year and Seasons of Giving, Springtime with Roo does not reuse episodes from The New Adventures of Winnie the Pooh.

Springtime with Roo
DVD cover
Directed by
Produced byJohn A. Smith
Written byTom Rogers
Based onWinnie-the-Pooh
by A. A. Milne
A Christmas Carol
by Charles Dickens
Starring
Narrated byDavid Ogden Stiers
Music byMark Watters
Production
company
Distributed byWalt Disney Home Entertainment
Release date
  • March 9, 2004 (2004-03-09)
[1][2]
Running time
65 minutes
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish

Plot

It is Easter, and Roo, Tigger, Pooh, Piglet and Eeyore head to Rabbit's house for an Easter egg hunt. However Rabbit has organized a "Spring Cleaning" Day instead. He orders the gang to clean his house while he tidies up in his garden. Initially dejected, the gang, not wanting to let Rabbit down, proceed to carry out Rabbit's orders. While dusting, Pooh sneezes violently, cluttering the house. A large trunk falls out of Rabbit's closet, revealing Easter eggs, decorations, and his Easter Bunny top hat. Assuming that Rabbit had forgotten about Easter, the gang decide to surprise Rabbit by decorating the house, only for an angry Rabbit to literally throw them out of his house for disobeying his orders, trampling his hat in the process.

Tigger returns to Rabbit's house and tries to persuade him, but Rabbit refuses, declaring that the Hundred Acre Wood will never celebrate Easter again. Tigger and the narrator tell Rabbit that he used to love Easter, but Rabbit sadly cannot believe them, so Tigger takes him back through the book to last year's Easter celebration.

In the flashback, the gang prepares for Easter, painting eggs and making decorations. Rabbit wants everything to be as organized and orderly as possible, treating Easter as a professional occasion rather than a fun holiday. The others grow tired of Rabbit's bossiness and, under Tigger's suggestion, sneak off with the Easter eggs. Rabbit goes after them and finds them having the egg hunt without him, with the gang agreeing that Tigger is "the best Easter Bunny ever," upsetting Rabbit.

Outside the book, Rabbit admits to Tigger that he did once look forward to being the Easter Bunny, but his exclusion the previous year made him feel unwanted. Tigger says that it was not his intention to leave him out, but Rabbit, still bitter about the past, continues to deny the Hundred Acre Wood Easter. Tigger returns to the present and delivers the bad news, while Rabbit makes his way back home. The narrator purposely stops on the wrong page, at Roo's house, where Roo says he wishes he could make things up to Rabbit. However, Rabbit remains unconvinced and returns home. He puts away Piglet's Easter basket, Pooh's honey pot, Eeyore's bunny ears and Tigger's striped Easter egg in the trunk and goes to sleep, only to be woken up by the narrator, speaking in a ghost-like voice before transporting him forward in time to "unwritten pages of the book" – the future of the Hundred Acre Wood. On one page, it is Spring Cleaning Day and everything is organized exactly as Rabbit wants. Initially delighted, he asks where everyone is, thinking that they are late, but the narrator says that they all moved away because of his selfishness. Refusing to believe this, Rabbit tries to find them but realizes that the narrator wasn't kidding when he discovers that their homes are empty and abandoned. This leads him to regret his terrible behavior towards his friends, but the narrator claims he didn't treat them like friends and that he only cared about himself. Denying this at first, Rabbit finally realizes how his selfish actions have affected his friends and, not wanting to be left alone for the rest of his life, tries to atone for his mistakes. He runs back to his house intent on having Easter, only to find out that their things have gone with them.

Rabbit then wakes up on Easter morning and finds himself back in the present, overjoyed to realize that he still has a chance to change the future when he sees the Easter supplies are back in the box. Now "giddy as a jackrabbit", he immediately begins to plan the grandest Easter the Hundred Acre Wood has ever had. At the same time, Roo and the others, unaware that Rabbit has changed, come up with another idea in hopes of cheering Rabbit up. While they are busy working, Rabbit, pretending to still be grumpy, interrupts them, but their fears fade when he surprises them with their Easter decorations, along with a new bunny tail for Eeyore. Rabbit shows them the celebration he prepared and reveals his change of heart, which everyone is very happy to see, especially Roo, who gives Rabbit his Easter Bunny hat, now repaired. The spirit of Easter is now restored, and Roo pops out of the book and says, "BBFN, Bye-Bye For Now!", ending the film.

Cast

Home media

The film was released on DVD and VHS on March 9, 2004. It included the teaser trailer for Pooh's Heffalump Movie and the two episodes from The New Adventures of Winnie the Pooh (Honey for a Bunny and Trap as Trap Can). It was later re-released on Blu-ray combo pack on March 11, 2014 as a Hippity-Hoppity Roo edition. This marks the 10th anniversary of the film.[3]

Songs
  • "We're Huntin' Eggs Today" - Tigger, Roo, Piglet, Pooh, Eeyore
  • "Sniffly Sniff" - Pooh
  • "Easter Day with You" - Tigger, Roo, Pooh, Piglet, Eeyore
  • "The Way It Must Be Done" - Rabbit, Tigger, Roo, Pooh, Piglet, Eeyore
  • "Easter Day with You (reprise)" - Roo
  • "The Grandest Easter of Them All" - Rabbit
  • "Easter Day with You (finale)" - Rabbit, Roo, Tigger, Piglet, Pooh, Eeyore

References
  1. http://www.ultimatedisney.com/springtime.html retrieved 4 February 2009
  2. "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2009-02-01. Retrieved 2009-02-05.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link) retrieved 4 February 2009
  3. "Winnie The Pooh: Springtime With Roo: David Ogden Stiers, Jim Cummings, Jimmy Bennett, John Fielder: Amazon Digital Services LLC". Amazon.com. Retrieved 11 February 2015.
  1. Animation outsourced to Toon City Animation.
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