I know everyone is more concerned about the other big release tomorrow, but Winnie the Pooh is also coming out and it deserves a lot of attention in its own right.

Before we talk about Winnie the Pooh, though, I want to talk about the short film before it. Nessie is an adorable 2D animated film about how the Loch Ness Monster gets to Loch Ness. It’s set to a Scotsman reciting a poem about the legend and was just beautiful to look at. I need more short cartoons attached to feature length fare. And since Winnie the Pooh was a very taut 69 minutes, this helped fill out the time so if I’d have paid for it, I wouldn’t have any chance of feeling cheated.

The film is a return to form for the Winnie the Pooh universe, in that it’s actually set inside the confines of a book narrated by none other than John Cleese. The characters once again interact with the letters and paragraphs and illustrations and the tone of it captures everything I loved about Winnie the Pooh as both a kid and a fan of animation.

The story is very, very straight forward. Eeyore (played here quite capably by Bud Luckey, from “Boundin'” fame) has lost his tail and there’s a contest to find him a new one. The prize? A pot of honey that Pooh just needs because he can’t even remember the last time he’s eaten. Owl (played hilariously by Craig Ferguson) steals every scene he’s in, at one point attaching a chalkboard to Eeyore’s backside as a replacement for his tail and then illustrating an entire story on it, still attached to Eeyore. The animation delves into the chalk and provides a great sequence in the old mold of “Heffalumps and Woozels” or “Pink Elephants on Parade.” It worked stupendously.

More than anything, this film is fun and funny for people of all ages. I saw it with my 8 and 9 year old and we three were all laughing hysterically throughout. They came up with a perfect mix of humour and charm that appealed to everyone in rapid fire succession.

Again, the animation was gorgeous, the film was funny and beautifully rendered, the voices were top notch, and it was just a great, easy way to spend an hour and a half in the theatre.

If you get Harry Potter fatigue and want to see an adorable movie that isn’t a waste of your money and will bring plenty of childhood memories flooding back, you can’t do much better than this.

Well done, Disney. Well done.