When it comes to children's vocabulary, some popular sayings are "out of the mouth of babes" and "kids say the darndest things." When it comes to kids new to talking, however, out of their mouths come some of the most undecipherable things.
Years ago, we were with some friends whose young daughter - just learning to talk -- kept referring to the "apple-carter" we had just seen. After a bit of lingual detective work, we figured out she was talking about a helicopter we previously saw.
Author A.A. Milne played off some of that in his Winnie the Pooh stories where a tiger became a tigger; a kangaroo a roo; and, just briefly mentioned in the original work, elephants became heffalumps. The latter get the title treatment in "Pooh's Heffalump Movie," a cute, mostly innocuous and lightweight offering for the preschool set.
Barely qualifying as a "feature length" film (with a less than 70 minute runtime, credits included), the film follows closely in line with the previous Pooh films, "Piglet's Big Movie" and "The Tigger Movie." And that is that it's a simple tale - singularly episodic in nature - that teaches a moral with a familiar set of characters.
While it's not exactly my cup of tea, you have to admire a film that sticks to its guns - in this case, entertaining the littlest of ones - without falling prey to including the now seemingly obligatory "family film" elements of innuendo, crude humor or slapstick style kicks to the crotch.
Besides that, the film's strongest suit is its cute factor. Beyond the repeated characteristics of the returning characters, the film benefits greatly from the addition of the title figure. I'm not referring to Pooh - who's really just a supporting character here as he's been in the past Pooh films - but rather Lumpy, the happy-go-lucky, lavender painted elephant that steals every scene he's in.
Sporting the precious voice of young Kyle Stanger, the character is an example of pure childhood joy. Young kids will him and parents will be happy that there isn't a mean or disrespectful bone in his plump body.
Such praise aside, the film is really only for the youngest of viewers. Beyond the overall Pooh factor probably seeming too "babyish" for older kids, there just isn't enough plot or sharp wit to keep that older demographic - or their parents/guardians for that matter - interested or entertained. The returning vocal talent is as solid as ever, but the mostly subdued characters mean most of their work blends into the colorful, pastel backgrounds.
Even so, parents will probably see this mostly innocuous film -- and its goal of entertaining while also teaching a lesson (about rumors, misconceptions and the acceptance of others) -- as a safe, wholesome and cute offering for their younger charges.
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