Watching a delightful animated special like Winnie the Pooh: Springtime with Roo comes with an easter basket full of seasonal cognitive dissonance if you’re from the Southern Hemisphere, in this case, Australia.
For her way down in the Antipodes, Easter marks the arrival of Autumn, a time when everything’s still sunshiney and bright during the day (for the most part) but cold and snuggly at night, all of which means the themes of rebirth and renewal don’t really apply (although to be fair, if you LOVE Winter, like this reviewer, it’s actually all pretty magical even so).
But honestly that is about the only thing “wrong” – it’s actually not wrong at all really, of course, just different and who doesn’t love seeing the Hundred Acre Woods in the first glorious flush of Spring beauty and vivacity? – with this charming nod to Easter which takes us to the home of Winnie the Pooh, Piglet, Tigger, Eeyore, and Kanga & Roo who are getting ready for another super fun Easter egg hunt.
That’s the plan, anyway, and Roo just about gives himself indigestion he’s so excited at the prospect of sneaking up and snagging Easter eggs just the way Tigger taught him so the anticipation levels are pretty high.
That is, until, they arrive at Rabbit’s place – he’s the Easter Bunny after all and the centre of all the festive action – only to find a dearth of eggs and bunting and fun, and a surfeit of “Spring Kleening” readiness with Rabbit, always more than a little inclined to over-planning and list-making, all but ordering them to clean his house.
Leaving the issue of cleaning consent aside, everyone is so shocked that cleaning ranks over Easter egg hunting that they are lost for words with any gasping querying about where the hell their big, fun, colourful event has gone lost to the handing out of buckets, brooms and dusting cloths.
While Rabbit goes outside to loving tend to his carrots, all of which are named and dusted as if they are children, the others do their best to go with the domestic flow until Roo finds the box containing all the Easter stuff and they decide to get Rabbit back in the mood by decorating his house to mark the occasion.
As you can imagine with someone as controlling and finicky as Rabbit this does not go down well, and what ensues, with the help of the narrator voiced with typical warmth and gravitas by the late David Ogden Stiers, is a story that gets to the heartwarming bottom of why it is the architect of Easter jollity now hates and shuns it so much.
To be honest, and in the best of all possible ways, Springtime with Roo is like one big therapy and friendship repair session.
Without giving too much away, Rabbit has to learn some sage lessons about thinking about others more than himself, with some ingeniously clever, musical-type songs-assisted help from everyone, and a storyline that owes as much to A Christmas Carol as it does to anything Easter-y.
Quite how Dickens comes into play is best left to the watching, but suffice to say, the Narrator becomes far more than just the scene-setting voiceover guy, shaking Rabbit out of his narcissistic huff at the same time as sweet-hearted Roo convinces the others to help Rabbit find his life of Easter all over again.
Released in 2004, Springtime with Roo, based on Winnie-the-Pooh by A. A. Milne which is used as a delightful visual plot device to help everyone jump from one part of the story to another (though clearly some artistic license has been taken), is a heartwarming joy, the sort of story that looks visually punchy and colourful because how can Easter not – unless “Spring Kleening” reigns, although the Hundred Acre Woods still looks rather luminously wonderful – but also suffused with sort of inclusive warmth you’d expect from a bunch of friends who may get cross with each other from time to time (to be fair that’s mainly Rabbit or Owl’s doing) but ultimately love each other and have one another’s backs.
The Easter-ness of it all, despite Rabbit’s early efforts, are undeniable, with stripey colourful eggs everywhere, baskets tied with ribbon and woven with festive loveliness and streamers everywhere in all the colours of the Easter rainbow.
Storywise, things hold up rather well, with Springtime with Roo feeling less pastiche than some of the specials, and more like a cohesive story befitting the wondrous genius of A. A. Milne.
It’s near impossible not to be happy in the company of avuncular, garrulous Tigger and thrillingly excited Roo, and to feel comforted by the steady sweet presence of Pooh, Piglet and Eeyore, all of whom have to learn their own lesson about a little less selfishness and a whole lot more selflessness.
But that’s what Disney animated specials are for – lots of lesson learning – but Springtime with Roo never feels like it’s too stuffed with all that messaging, with so much friendship and joy to go around, well, once Rabbit stops being so angry and hurt, that you are swept in the wonderment of what it feels like to have a found family in the Hundred Acre Woods.
Springtime with Roo is a gem, a happy romp into Easter that holds up the idea that no matter what you want, what others want matters more and than in amongst all the eggs and bunting and pastel-toned fun, and that if you remember that, you’ll have an Easter even more festively gorgeous than Roo is expecting!