I've been a diehard Winnie the Pooh fan for all my life, and I got to admit this is a great show! It is similar to Welcome to Pooh Corner, the first Winnie the Pooh TV series, in some ways, but even better! I didn't grow up with Welcome to Pooh Corner because it's from long before my time and it didn't have any reruns on TV at all during my lifetime. However, I have seen some of the episodes online, and it's not too bad yet not too good either. 99% of the problems I have with it have been fixed here! Pooh Corner lacks some but far from all of the Pooh franchise's charm, but I can't say the same about The Book of Pooh. The only major differences from the cartoons here are Christopher Robin's shortage of screentime (more about that later) and it's live action. The visuals are bright, colorful, and eye-catching, just like in the cartoons! The locations look very similar to their cartoon counterparts. The visuals are dull and a tad bit dark in Pooh Corner (likely due to the time it was made), but not in this. All the characters are puppet/animatronic costumes in Pooh Corner, and they're somewhat creepy and some of their designs are slightly inaccurate to the cartoon, but they're all traditional puppets here (except for Christopher Robin and his mother, who are played by live actors), they more closely resemble their cartoon designs, and they're not creepy at all. They look like REAL stuffed animals here (even the heffalumps and woozles), and I feel like I'm watching stuffed animals come to life in the real world when I'm watching the show, which is a plus because Pooh Bear and his friends are living stuffed animals. The bees have realistic designs, which look like real bees! The characters are very expressive as well! Unlike most puppets, they can twitch their eyebrows, open and close their eyes, droop their eyelids, and more.
Unlike Pooh Corner, most of the characters are voiced by the people who voiced them in the cartoons at the time. Jim Cummings voiced both Pooh and Tigger and still voices them to this day, Ken Sansom voiced Rabbit, Peter Cullen voiced Eeyore and still voices him to this day, John Fiedler voiced Piglet, Kath Soucie voiced Kanga, Nikita Hopkins voiced Roo, and Andre Stojka voiced Owl. That means the voices don't sound weird or off for the most part, unlike Pooh Corner. I do have 1 minor complaint about the voice acting: Piglet's singing voice (by Jeff Bennett) is much higher pitched than his speaking voice.
I find Rabbit more likable in both this and Pooh Corner than in the cartoons. Why? In both shows, he's more relaxed, and he still gets irritated by his friends at times, but not as easily. He's the character I like the least in the cartoons because he can be selfish and rude to his friends at times and go too far with his "perfection." I can't say the same about his portrayal in either of the puppet shows. None of the characters were even the tiniest bit flanderized/butchered here (except for Rabbit of course, but he was flanderized in a good way)!
For some reason, Christopher Robin hasn't appeared in Pooh Corner at all, but he is mentioned in one episode. Unfortunately, he doesn't get much credit here either. During the theme song, he is shown putting the book on the table in his room and leaving to go to school, and he comes back home at the end of every episode. That's better than him not appearing at all! His face never appears on screen, and he's always shown from the neck down, but I don't know why. Did his actor not look like him?
The episodes have some interesting plots, like Pooh and friends putting on a Shakespeare-styled play for Owl to give him some nostalgia, Tigger trying to do nothing but bounce 24/7 and eventually learning he can't do one thing for the rest of his life, Pooh and Piglet helping a lost bee find its way home, Eeyore trying to change himself to become popular and learning to stay true to himself, and the characters making up their own stories when the narrator doesn't have a good story to tell. In one episode, Pooh wishes for 2 honey pots, makes rhymes, and he gets his wishes, which makes him think rhyming can cause wishes to be granted. He tells his friends about it, and they ask him to use his "magic genie rhymes" to grant their wishes, but he fails. He and Piglet do small kindnesses for their friends while they're sleeping early the next morning (e.g., the two of them give Tigger a telescope so he can see the moon "up close," build a stick castle for Eeyore, and pull the weeds out of Rabbit's garden), much to their amazement when they wake up. The episode shows that one doesn't need a magic genie to achieve their dreams nor does one need to do big things in order to be kind to others. This is the first Pooh TV series since Pooh Corner where the narrator appears and is set inside a book, and the only other one.
The songs are great! Some of them tell life lessons or inspiring messages. For example, the song "Your Best Wishes" says that the best wishes are the ones inside your heart, Broken Friendships says the only way to fix a "broken" friendship is to try, On Your Way Back Home says to never give up and to keep trying, and Do the Roo says everyone has their own way of dancing. The closing song/outro, Goodbye for Now, explains that goodbyes aren't (always) so bad because Pooh and his friends will be back another day, they'll be waiting for you to "come back" to the Hundred Acre Wood, and there will always be new adventures coming your way, similar to the Goodbye Song from Bear in the Big Blue House, which is just as great! Coincidentally, both Bear and the Book of Pooh were created by the same person, Mitchell Kriegman. All the aforementioned songs have soft, sweet, soothing, and beautiful music and vocals, except for Do the Roo, which happens to be a fast paced and catchy song that is sure to get the audience up and dancing. The music is soft, sweet, and cheerful, and it sounds similar to the music from the cartoons. There is quiet and cheerful music from Bear in the Big Blue House in various scenes with no singing or dancing. It may be safe to consider the show Pooh Bear's answer to Bear in the Big Blue House.
Overall, The Book of Pooh isn't as good as The New Adventures of Winnie the Pooh, but it's better than My Friends Tigger and Pooh (don't get me wrong, I like that show too) and especially Welcome to Pooh Corner. If you're looking for a good Pooh puppet show to watch and aren't a fan of Welcome to Pooh Corner, watch this instead. I'm happy it's on Disney+!
Unlike Pooh Corner, most of the characters are voiced by the people who voiced them in the cartoons at the time. Jim Cummings voiced both Pooh and Tigger and still voices them to this day, Ken Sansom voiced Rabbit, Peter Cullen voiced Eeyore and still voices him to this day, John Fiedler voiced Piglet, Kath Soucie voiced Kanga, Nikita Hopkins voiced Roo, and Andre Stojka voiced Owl. That means the voices don't sound weird or off for the most part, unlike Pooh Corner. I do have 1 minor complaint about the voice acting: Piglet's singing voice (by Jeff Bennett) is much higher pitched than his speaking voice.
I find Rabbit more likable in both this and Pooh Corner than in the cartoons. Why? In both shows, he's more relaxed, and he still gets irritated by his friends at times, but not as easily. He's the character I like the least in the cartoons because he can be selfish and rude to his friends at times and go too far with his "perfection." I can't say the same about his portrayal in either of the puppet shows. None of the characters were even the tiniest bit flanderized/butchered here (except for Rabbit of course, but he was flanderized in a good way)!
For some reason, Christopher Robin hasn't appeared in Pooh Corner at all, but he is mentioned in one episode. Unfortunately, he doesn't get much credit here either. During the theme song, he is shown putting the book on the table in his room and leaving to go to school, and he comes back home at the end of every episode. That's better than him not appearing at all! His face never appears on screen, and he's always shown from the neck down, but I don't know why. Did his actor not look like him?
The episodes have some interesting plots, like Pooh and friends putting on a Shakespeare-styled play for Owl to give him some nostalgia, Tigger trying to do nothing but bounce 24/7 and eventually learning he can't do one thing for the rest of his life, Pooh and Piglet helping a lost bee find its way home, Eeyore trying to change himself to become popular and learning to stay true to himself, and the characters making up their own stories when the narrator doesn't have a good story to tell. In one episode, Pooh wishes for 2 honey pots, makes rhymes, and he gets his wishes, which makes him think rhyming can cause wishes to be granted. He tells his friends about it, and they ask him to use his "magic genie rhymes" to grant their wishes, but he fails. He and Piglet do small kindnesses for their friends while they're sleeping early the next morning (e.g., the two of them give Tigger a telescope so he can see the moon "up close," build a stick castle for Eeyore, and pull the weeds out of Rabbit's garden), much to their amazement when they wake up. The episode shows that one doesn't need a magic genie to achieve their dreams nor does one need to do big things in order to be kind to others. This is the first Pooh TV series since Pooh Corner where the narrator appears and is set inside a book, and the only other one.
The songs are great! Some of them tell life lessons or inspiring messages. For example, the song "Your Best Wishes" says that the best wishes are the ones inside your heart, Broken Friendships says the only way to fix a "broken" friendship is to try, On Your Way Back Home says to never give up and to keep trying, and Do the Roo says everyone has their own way of dancing. The closing song/outro, Goodbye for Now, explains that goodbyes aren't (always) so bad because Pooh and his friends will be back another day, they'll be waiting for you to "come back" to the Hundred Acre Wood, and there will always be new adventures coming your way, similar to the Goodbye Song from Bear in the Big Blue House, which is just as great! Coincidentally, both Bear and the Book of Pooh were created by the same person, Mitchell Kriegman. All the aforementioned songs have soft, sweet, soothing, and beautiful music and vocals, except for Do the Roo, which happens to be a fast paced and catchy song that is sure to get the audience up and dancing. The music is soft, sweet, and cheerful, and it sounds similar to the music from the cartoons. There is quiet and cheerful music from Bear in the Big Blue House in various scenes with no singing or dancing. It may be safe to consider the show Pooh Bear's answer to Bear in the Big Blue House.
Overall, The Book of Pooh isn't as good as The New Adventures of Winnie the Pooh, but it's better than My Friends Tigger and Pooh (don't get me wrong, I like that show too) and especially Welcome to Pooh Corner. If you're looking for a good Pooh puppet show to watch and aren't a fan of Welcome to Pooh Corner, watch this instead. I'm happy it's on Disney+!