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Rating: Country: USA Release Date: January 1, 1997 Distributor: Walt Disney Cast: · Jim Cummings · Peter Cullen · John Fiedler Related Sites: · IMDb: Winnie the Pooh: Seasons of Giving Grade: B-

The tenth anniversary release of "Winnie the Pooh: Seasons of Giving" finds our friends in the Hundred Acre Woods engaging in two separate holiday adventures connected by a string of songs and a montage of animated clips.

When we first encounter Pooh and company, they are preparing for Thanksgiving, each bringing to the table their own personal contribution. This, of course, is completely wrong, wrong, wrong according to the fastidious and supercilious Rabbit, who insists the entire thing must involve turkey and cranberries and all the traditional accoutrements. Needless to say, when he sends Pooh, Tigger, Piglet and the rest on their separate quixotic quests to bring together all the right ingredients, the result is a messy catastrophe. With Thanksgiving seemingly ruined, Pooh falls back on Plan A -- bringing something of his own to the table. With all the rest of his friends -- including Christopher Robin -- following suit, they find that they have a great many things to be thankful for, not the least of which is each other's friendship.

After a musical interlude, we find ourselves brought fully into winter, with the friends gathered at Rabbit's house to decorate the room and trim the tree. When Tigger arrives with a letter for Rabbit from Kessie, a bluebird Rabbit once rescued from a winter storm, we are treated to a flashback tale where Rabbit does his best Silas Marner, taking in the young bird and raising her (seemingly unwillingly). But as Rabbit continues caring for Kessie, he bonds with her to such a degree that he fears her ever leaving, and forbids her to learn to fly. His selfishness doesn't hold her back, however, and in the end it's her learning to fly that allows her to save Rabbit from a dangerous fall. Alas, it also means that she'll be flying south for the winter, leaving Rabbit lonely and alone. But when Rabbit's done telling his story, joining the Hundred Acre Wood friends outside to view the tree, Kessie returns, bearing a star to place atop the Christmas tree.

This tenth anniversary release comes packaged with a promotional Christmas stocking. Bonus features on the disc include an interactive "Decorate Your Own Christmas Tree" activity, which allows the user to pick a tree, light strand, ornament type, and topper. There's also a "Coloring with Piglet" activity which, unfortunately, forces you to pick the proper colors for the line-drawn scenes, which seems to run counter to any creativity.

Finally, there are two bonus episodes of the animated series, The New Adventures of Winnie the Pooh -- "Magic Earmuffs" and "The Wishing Bear."

As Pooh films go, "Seasons of Giving" isn't the most engaging of the tales, and Rabbit certainly exhibits poor character habits in each. The holiday meaning is only barely there throughout, but if you're just looking for something to keep the kids occupied in the other room while you're busy making other holiday preparations, this video is a fairly tame way to accomplish that end.