Winnie the Pooh and Christmas Too - Part Two

Pooh and Piglet are faced with a dilemma--how can they get their presents if Santa doesn't have their letter?  Pooh decides to take the matter into his own paws and deliver the presents himself!

Pooh's first stop is Tigger's house.  Tigger, to be sure he's the real Santa, makes him go down the chimney first.  Pooh leaves Tigger with a strange invention...a barrel with a spring and a boot.

Tigger is happy to bounce in the snow for about one second before the barrel thing breaks, leaving him stuck in a snowbank.  "Definitely NOT what I always wanted."

Rabbit, meanwhile, in the creepiest scene of the whole special, is stuffing the bugs with food.  See, the bugs are his honored guests...until Santa shows up with a sprayer full of poison, of course.  Pooh arrives and gives Rabbit a faux-sprayer made out of a teakettle.

"Bugs, prepare to meet your mulcher!"  Seriously, he's ready to kill them!  He even has an evil laugh!  Rabbit, you may have starred in "Find Her, Keep Her," one of the greatest things Disney has ever produced, but you're starting to scare me.

Of course, the thing falls apart, leaving Rabbit at the bugs' mercy.  I'm sure someone out there is turned on by the spanking scene that follows.

Rabbit regroups with Tigger to gripe about Bizzaro-Santa.  They meet up with Eeyore who got...

A mobile home.

They find Santa Pooh and Reindeer Piglet (who's having a lot of trouble carrying them up the hill), en route to finding Christopher Robin and deliver their sled.  The others demand Pooh prove that he's Santa Claus by flying.  Pooh being Pooh, he fails and the ruse is revealed.

Pooh and the others go to the hill where the whole mess started.  Pooh explains the problem and since there's no wind, he decides that he must go deliver the letter himself, even if he might not make it back on time for Christmas.

"It will be worth having no Christmas, Piglet, if I can bring Christmas to all of you.  And...merry Christmas."

If you haven't guessed, this is where the sad part starts.

Poor Pooh wanders through the cold with the letter in his paw and one goal:  Getting there before it's too late.  On the way, though, the letter flies away, leaving Pooh alone in the windy snow.

"Please come back!  I'm supposed to take you to Santa!"

This is why this special always gets me.  These characters represent us at our purest, most vulnerable states. When they're sad, scared, or angry, you can always tell.  They're completely honest with their emotions. They never try to hide anything.  I love these guys.

Speaking of sadness, Piglet and the others realize that it doesn't matter how much stuff they might be getting...they really just want old Pooh back with them.

I realize that this is a true cliche, the whole "real meaning of Christmas" business that you see in every Christmas special, and yet it comes off as being pure here, since the characters are so sweet and innocent.  It works.

Pooh, however, returns shortly, having lost the letter. Piglet embraces his bestest best friend and declares that it doesn't matter if they aren't going to get any presents--Pooh is here and that's all they need!

And even then, not all is lost! Christopher Robin sleds in with presents from Santa! Everyone gets what they originally wanted, including Piglet, who gets...

...whatever the heck that is.

I really can't say anything bad about this special, other than mention the weird subtext with Rabbit and the bugs. It's one of those things that just makes you feel good inside.

The ending, though, is so precious, that I'm just gonna transcribe it.

Christopher Robin: Aren't you gonna open your present, Pooh?

Pooh: But I forgot to ask what I wanted, and then I went to get the letter back, and then I never did get it to the North Pole, and then I, well...Christopher Robin, I don't deserve this. I don't deserve anything.

Christopher Robin: But, Pooh, Santa brought it for you.

Pooh: Which was awfully nice. But you know, I think being with your friends is nicer. Though this would be the perfect...

Christopher Robin: The perfect what?

Pooh: The perfect Merry Christmas height...for this.

(Pooh hugs Christopher Robin)

Christopher Robin: Silly old bear.