Customer Reviews

Winnie-the-Pooh

5 star:		(5)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

So delightful...these actors bring Pooh, Piglet and the 100 Acre Wood to life in such a way you will forget you ever even heard of the Disney versions. It's like a whole new story to discover. We have been listening to these with our kids for about 10 years, and we wore out the tapes, so we need the cds to replace them. One nice side effect is that out kids learned to imitate a variety of english accents very well!

My five-and-a-half year old daughter loves listening to books on CDs, especially when she is lying in bed (after we've read a book together)at bedtime. It calms and soothes her, and she seems to prefer listening to stories than some soothing music. It usually takes her about 20-30 minutes before she falls into a deep sleep, so I was looking for something that she could listen to over a couple of days. I looked at some of her favorite stories and Winnie-the-Pooh has definitely stood the test of time - she's been reading and listening to Pooh and company's adventures for the past four years, and can never have enough!

This particular audio CD consists of a full-cast unabridged dramatization of Winnie-The-Pooh and The House At Pooh Corner. The cast is as follows:

Pooh: Stephen Fry
Piglet: Jane Horrocks
Eeyore: Geoffrey Palmer
Kanga: Judi Dench
Tigger: Sandi Toksvig
Roo: Finty Williams
Rabbit: Robert Daws
Owl:Michael Williams
Christopher Robin: Steven Web

There are 4 CDs altogether:
CD 1: Stories 1-6 (67:30)
CD 2: Stories 7-10 (57:06)
CD 3: Stories 1-5 (68:52)
CD 4: Stories 6-10 (74:10)

Though the recommended age group on the CD is ages 8 to 11, I think younger listeners who are familiar with the stories and are keen (and patient enough) to listen to the stories will also enjoy this dramatization as my daughter has. The voices are rich and and lovely to listen to - one truly feels like the Hundred Acre Woods and its inhabitants have come alive, and I found myself enjoying it too! Recommended!

My 2-year old son absolutely loves listening these before he goes to sleep, while he's playing, in the car... pretty much any time. The actors all do a fabulous job of bringing the characters to life. However, if you've read the originals, there's something special about the way Milne writes that's left out in the dramatization. The rhythm of his writing, with the "He said...said he" and such is so much fun to read, as are his descriptions of how the characters said things, which are all left out in this production. I love these, but I'm going to get the Peter Dennis recordings so we can hear the stories as Milne wrote them.

Our 4yo son loves Star Wars legos and can rattle off a story about traveling to Mars as fast any other rocket-focused litle boy. But, he ADORES this Winnie the Pooh audiobook and asks for it every morning on the way to school. We, his parents, love it too.
First, it is not disneyfied Winnie - it's the original stories. So, it's got great language and sweet phrasing with words that are not often used in modern story books for children. This definitely has expanded our son's vocabulary beyond space-themed terms. Second, it has a great cast with lovely voices that emote and infuse real personality into their characters - Stephen Fry as the "bear of little brain," Judi Dench as motherly Kanga, Jane Horrocks as Piglet (hilarious squeaky voice!), Geoffrey Palmer as the sad-sack Eeyore, among others. It's wonderful that an English-accented cast narrates a book by an English author, it gives the stories a childhood charm. Finally, there is little violence (just a pop gun that shoots a balloon) and lots of friendship and reassurance that "everyone is all right, really."
Since we have such a rough and tumble little guy, we didn't expect him to love it so much. But, it's one of the few audio books that makes him laugh out loud, worry about the characters, and talk about right and wrong (for instance, when Rabbit proposed loosing Tigger in the forest to make him a small and sorry Tigger so that he would lose his bounce). He enjoys it so much that we have both audio books - Winnie the Pooh and The House at Pooh Corner - and we have frequent driveway moments finishing out a chapter before we leave the car. You won't regret giving this a spin - even if you just check it out from the library

I really enjoy Judy Dench and Stephen Fry so I gambled on this. I am a classic Pooh fan, however the voices did take me back a bit at first because I had the Disney voices in my brain. However, the more I listened and gave it a chance, the more it became clear that this is the original classic Pooh the way it should be read. It is simply enchanting and it puts a smile on my face the entire time I listen. I will not pretend to overhear it while my children listen since I am not ashamed to admit that I bought it simply for myself. However, while I was listening to it in my car, my 21 y/o son heard part of it and laughed with pure delight. As far as piglett's voice, it is perfect! It is high and squeaky, but extremely whimsical the way Piglett is. If you love classic Pooh and are willing not to be swayed by Disney's Americanized version, then this is the most wonderful, enchanting audio book complete with sound effects that you will ever hear. As a man, I was surprise that it warmed my soul. Yes, I really would give it 10 stars if I could! Each character's voice is done to perfection the way it should. And, Stephen Fry is a perfect classic Pooh. He gives a new demention to this wonderful fun character.

Perhaps one of the most charming audio book ever. An unabridged version of the book is read by leading British actors with all the charm and wit of the book.

We bought this for a road trip, thinking it would be relaxing for a family of Pooh lovers. It started out rather nice. The voice for Pooh is a bit more "gruff" than we have imagined him to be in our minds, but still nice to listen to. We found Rabbit came across quite harsh, but did not ruin the story. And then we heard Piglet... Oh! What an annoying voice! It is a screechy, high-pitched sort that hurt the ears. One of the kids tucked their head like they were hiding, and the oldest said "That voice is annoying!" We turned it off, needless to say. The braver of the kids still listens to this CD and gets quite a bit of use out it; most of us just find it hard to enjoy.