Pooh's Heffalump Movie

Pooh's Heffalump Movie (also known as The Heffalump Movie in the working title) 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's third adaptation of Winnie the Pooh stories, following 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.

Plot
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 while visiting Rabbit, they find 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, Roo is forbidden from participating in the expedition due to his young age, prompting him to start his own solo hunt for Heffalumps.

While exploring Heffalump Hollow, Roo meets a young heffalump named Heffridge Trumpler Brompet "Lumpy" Heffalump IV and decides to show the Heffalump to his friends, which Lumpy agrees to after reassurance from Roo that the wood's populace is friendly. After discovering that Pooh and his friends are still on the Heffalump expedition, Roo and Lumpy play games together during which they accidentally make a mess of Pooh's house and Rabbit's garden. Meanwhile, Rabbit and the gang return home from the unsuccessful expedition to find the mess that Roo and Lumpy made; concluding that a Heffalump was the cause of this, they begin setting up traps to catch it.

After hearing Lumpy's mother calling him, Roo and Lumpy begin to search for her. While searching, Lumpy tries using his trunk to call her, but it does not work properly. Roo eventually decides to ask his mother, Kanga, for help. Roo and Lumpy soon find Kanga, but Rabbit, Pooh, Piglet, and Tigger discover Lumpy's identity as a Heffalump and start attacking him. Thinking that Roo lied to him about the inhabitants' friendliness, Lumpy runs away only to get trapped in a cage. Roo apologizes to Lumpy and frees him from the cage, regaining the Heffalump's trust.

Rabbit and the others soon find Lumpy and attack him again until Roo calls them out for their prejudiced views of Heffalumps and urges them to let Lumpy go. Then suddenly, a still-scared Lumpy stumbles off a ledge and accidentally knocks Roo into a large pile of logs. When Roo's friends are unable to move the logs, Lumpy decides to use his trunk to call his mother; after a few unsuccessful tries, 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 they make peace with the creatures.

Cast

 * Nikita Hopkins as Roo (final film role)
 * Kyle Stanger as Lumpy the Heffalump
 * Jim Cummings as Winnie the Pooh and Tigger
 * John Fiedler as Piglet
 * Peter Cullen as Eeyore
 * Ken Sansom as Rabbit
 * Kath Soucie as Kanga
 * Brenda Blethyn as Mama Heffalump

Production
The film was originally intended as a direct-to-video release.

Heffalumps were first mentioned in the original Winnie-the-Pooh books. They appeared in a nightmare sequence – along with their fellow scary creatures, the woozles – in 1968's Winnie the Pooh and the Blustery Day. Though heffalumps and woozles have appeared in other Disney Pooh media, such as the New Adventures of Winnie the Pooh TV series, this was the first theatrical film to feature a "real" heffalump. Lumpy's design is similar to the heffalumps seen in the 1968 featurette and the song "The Horribly Hazardous Heffalumps!" is in the same style as "Heffalumps and Woozles" from Blustery Day. Carly Simon came up with Lumpy's full name, Heffridge Trumpler Brompet Heffalump, IV.

This was the final theatrically released film to feature voice actor John Fiedler as Piglet. It also marked the final Pooh film to be released in Fiedler's lifetime, as he died four months later from cancer.

This was also the final production of Walt Disney Animation Japan. Once the film was completed, Disney closed the studio in June 2004, eight months before the film's release.

Marketing
Disney released a teaser trailer of Pooh's Heffalump Movie in March 2004 on Springtime with Roo DVD home video releases. The teaser was later attached to theatrical screenings of Home on the Range, Clifford's Really Big Movie, Shrek 2 and Shark Tale. The next trailer for the film was released with the theatrical screenings of The Incredibles, and The Spongebob Squarepants Movie. The trailers for the film were later attached to other Disney home video releases.

Theatrical
The film premiered and opened in theaters on February 11, 2005.

Home media
Pooh's Heffalump Movie was released on DVD and VHS on May 24, 2005 in the United States. In the United Kingdom, the film was released on July 11, 2005, and later in a trilogy DVD on November 7, 2011, along with The Tigger Movie and Winnie the Pooh.

Music
American singer-songwriter Carly Simon wrote five new songs exclusively for the film and performed four of them ("Winnie the Pooh", "Little Mr. Roo", "Shoulder to Shoulder", and "In the Name of the Hundred Acre Wood"), while in "The Horribly Hazardous Heffalumps!" Simon is accompanied by Jim Cummings, Ken Sansom, John Fiedler, and Nikita Hopkins. "The Name Game" features Kyle Stanger and Nikita Hopkins as Lumpy and Roo.

Two songs from Simon's earlier soundtrack for Piglet's Big Movie are also included on the soundtrack, "Winnie the Pooh (Theme Song)" and "With A Few Good Friends", in which Simon is joined by her children Ben Taylor and Sally Taylor.

The soundtrack also features one instrumental track entitled "The Promise" by Joel McNeely, as well as seven classic Winnie The Pooh songs written by the Sherman Brothers.

Songs
Original songs performed in the film include:

Box office
The film made $5.8 million in its opening weekend, a per theater average of $2,296 from 2,529 theaters. The film ended up with a final gross of $18.1 million in North America and $34.8 million in other countries, bringing the total worldwide gross to $52.9 million.

Critical response
Reviews were generally positive, resulting in a rating of 80% on Rotten Tomatoes based on reviews from 89 critics with a 6.54/10 rating. The site's consensus states, "A charming and delightful walk through the Hundred Acres Woods for young viewers."

Sequel
A sequel, Pooh's Heffalump Halloween Movie, was released direct-to-video on September 13, 2005.