NEW POOH A HONEY

REVIEWIED - POOH'S HEFFALUMP MOVIE: IN DISNEY'S latest low-rent addition to the chronicles of Hundred Acre Wood, the hostile, psychologically gangrenous Rabbit (a disciple of Donald Rumsfeld if ever I saw one) convinces both himself and various patriotic residents of the forest - a placid suburbanite named Pooh, an insufficiently medicated hysteric named Tigger - that over beyond that distant fence some malign, undemocratic entity is preparing itself for battle.

Even before beings unknown launch a clandestine raid on the wood's Hunny reserves, the citizens have begun marshalling their forces. But, when the mysterious incursion takes place, paranoid hell truly breaks loose. Traps are set. Invasions are planned. "The worst part is they are different from us," the carrion-breathed leporine fascist bellows.

The heffalumps, creatures innocuous enough to borrow a voice from Brenda Blethyn, are, it transpires, every bit as frightened of the Hundred Acre Schutzstaffel as that force is of them. Happily, this film being principally intended as a stocking-filler DVD for infants, everybody involved eventually sees sense. And though they don't actually string Rabbit up by his heels and spit violently on his splayed entrails, they do give the pompous reactionary a firm talking to.

Those not interested in the political subtexts of Pooh's Heffalump Movie need be aware that this is a perfectly charming, old-fashioned cartoon, which should appeal to well-behaved younger children. As in the equally good, though less didactic, Piglet's Big Movie, Carly Simon provides several lovely, easily hummable tunes. Sadly, unlike in the earlier film, she does not turn up in person to warble beneath a tree.