Forty-four years after Disney first licensed the lovable A.A. Milne’s character Winnie the Pooh a new feature film release date has been announced, featuring five previously unadapted stories from the original books. Pooh and his friends exemplify classic simplicity which is perhaps the reason why Disney is once again returning to the tradition of hand drawn animation for the project. Earlier this year Disney’s “Princess and the Frog” also left slick computer generated graphics & 3D technology to the wayside; the film proved to be a vibrant niche gem for the company.
The new ‘Pooh’ will be executive produced by renowned animation visionary John Lasseter; featuring the vocal talent of Jim Cummings as Pooh & Tigger and Craig Ferguson as Owl. Burny Mattinson, who worked on several of the previous ‘Pooh’ projects, is also said to be on board as lead storyboard artist.
The film is currently set to debut on July 15th, 2011.
