Is Disney's bear the Antipooh?

Gosh what a bit of fur ruffling this question can raise!

While I personally prefer the original Winnie-the-Pooh (a.k.a. Classic Pooh), let's not forget that Disney's rumbly in the tumbly, red sweatered character is, after all, a teddy bear. We humans fight wars over politics, power, nuclear weapons, even religion, but please, not over teddy bears!

While Mr. Milne might cringe at the Americanization wrought by "The Magic of Disney," I'd like to think he'd be a bit dismayed at the thought of cybersniping over it (actually, he'd probably be amazed at this whole WWW thing, but then, once the incredulation wore off, dismay would have room to set in and muddle everything).

Admittedly, it's been a personal struggle not to become a Classic Pooh Snob. For me, the magic and spirit of Pooh is in Milne's words. But I have to remind myself that it was Disney's brightly colored little fellow, along with his timid pal piglet and droll acquaintance Eeyore, that caught my eye on the television when I was but a wee lass. My "Aunt Nee" had been reading the stories and poems to me since I was about three, but it was the stuffed Disney version with the voice of Sterling Holloway I slept with.

Now that we are older than six, we can appreciate Milne's masterful turn of phrase with or without illustrations. That's one of the very few beauties of being a grown up.

If you (or your kids) are in love with Disney's Pooh, enjoy! But if you've got a little spare time, do pick up a copy of the original stories by Milne. Anyone who's friendly with bears will fall in love all over again. And no one has ever found the heart's capacity for love to be finite.