Throwback Thursdays: The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh (1977)

The El Capitan Theatre is a brilliant piece of Old Hollywood. It is a massive theatre and, more importantly, is owned by Disney. This delightful news means that it shows Disney films exclusively. When there isn't a Disney film in theatres, they have other special screenings. The most regular of these is Throwback Thursdays where they show an old Disney movie. Last week's screening was of The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh.

Besides the film itself, the best part of the evening was that tickets were only $10 and that included one small popcorn and one small drink. (At the door on the day of, the tickets were $13.) Try to find that deal anywhere else. The El Capitan is MASSIVE as in, it has a balcony and a concession stand on the balcony level. They also have an absolutely brilliant organist who sinks into the floor when the movie's about to start. 

Before it even starts, there is a brief discussion with three of the men who worked on the shorts for the film. It was cool hearing about working with Walt Disney (however briefly) as well as some fun trivia about the film. Personally, I enjoy hearing about these sort of things however, there were quite a few small children in the audience and they were getting impatient for the film to start. I think they should have had the discussion after the film so parents could take their kids home.

The movie was gorgeous (thank you digital production). It was such a fun hour or so hanging out with Pooh, Piglet, Tigger, Owl, Eeyore, Rabbit, Christopher Robin, Gopher (who's not even in the stories), Kanga and Roo. There were two reasons why I wanted to attend this screening. The first being that I love this film. The second was that I haven't been to the El Capitan for a movie since Atlantis: The Lost Empire which was released in 2001 so, it's been a while.

I have always been a fan of the residents of the Hundred Acre Wood (and Christopher Robin too) and I have the original stories too. In fact, because of this recent re-watching, I have just remembered my favorite Disney movie... this one. Studios and directors seem almost scared to make a light-hearted animated film that doesn't teach some important life lesson or impart some great moral (looking at you Zootopia). That seems to have become a lost art.

This Saturday I am going to see the new Beauty and the Beast at the El Capitan. The tickets are comparable to non-matinee showtimes in a "normal" theatre (like AMC) however, the El Capitan is going to have costumes, props and set pieces from the film which more than makes up for the price of admission.

Evening Rating: 4.5/5 (some of the kids in the audience may have been a little too young for a movie theatre setting)