Can you call a movie franchise a "re-boot" if you're trying to make it look (and sound) like it was made fifty years ago?
Well, if so, then Disney's successfully rebooted at least the soundtrack for Winnie the Pooh, the latest film about A.A. Milne's silly old bear and his friends in the Hundred Acre Wood. The chief allure for most readers here will be the tracks feature Zooey Deschanel and M. Ward, more commonly known as the duo She & Him. Deschanel's voice is a very good fit for the retro sound employed here, such as on the theme song and "A Very Important Thing to Do." Deschanel's original contribution to the soundtrack is the end-credit song "So Long," and it's very much a She & Him track. If you're going to pick up any single song from the soundtrack, it should be that one, though traditionalists might prefer the theme song. I also liked (sight unseen) one of the new tracks, "The Backson Song," which features Craig Ferguson's voicing of "Owl" whipping the cast into a frenzy. The score from Henry Jackman (found on the latter half of the disk) sounds pleasant enough, but unless you have a budding Mozart in the household, that is not the draw for your 4-year-old. (The soundtrack is most appropriate for the movie's target age range, that of about 3 to 6.)
The soundtrack to Winnie the Pooh is not attempting to break any new ground, but that's precisely the point -- it's intended to serve a movie which is trying very hard to envelop the viewer (and listener) in Milne's timelessness. In that regard, the soundtrack succeeds in being as satisfying as a pot of hunny honey. Recommended for fans of the movie and of Pooh Bear; even She & Him fans are bound to find a track or two worth adding to their collection.
