After getting their CGI efforts off the ground in the mid '00s, traditional feature animation seemed to be dead at Disney. 2009's The Princess and the Frog felt like a fluke, and potentially the end of an era for the studio, but Disney would ultimately close the book on 2D animation with 2011's Winnie the Pooh. While this film relied on a trusted formula, and a reliably profitable character for Disney, it didn't exactly begin a new era for the company—and barely made its modest budget back.
But while this 2011 release is a financial failure, it represents a victory lap for talented animators who otherwise wouldn't get another chance to produce feature-quality traditional animation. This month on What A Cartoon Movie, join us as we return to The Hundred Acre Wood for another visit to that lovable and highly dysfunctional cast of stuffed animal pals.
And if you want to check out our initial history of Winnie the Pooh, listen to this 2019 episode of What A Cartoon: