We gather round with friends
And pass the cup of honey round
Until the old year ends
For Auld Lang Syne, my friends
For Auld Lang Syne
We'll pass the cup of honey round
For Auld Lang Syne
Winnie the Pooh: A Very Merry Pooh Year is a 2002 Direct to Video Christmas/New Year's film based on the Winnie the Pooh franchise. It was directed by Gary Katona and Ed Wexler, with new original music by Carly Simon.
Pooh invites his friends over to celebrate Christmas and eventually New Year's Eve, but when a series of mishaps ensue, Rabbit is frustrated with their antics and vows to move away. To get him to stay, the animals vow to make a resolution to "change", which results in them suffering a temporary Personality Swap, and Hilarity Ensues.
The film features the special Winnie the Pooh and Christmas Too, its entirety told in flashback, though digitally remastered to match the animation of the film and Christopher Robin's voice redubbed by this feature's voice actor, William Green. The back half of the film, Happy Pooh Year, is newly produced. Effectively, A Very Merry Pooh Year is a direct sequel to 1999's Winnie the Pooh: Seasons of Giving, which covered the fall and winter season leading up to Christmas in a very similar fashion. It is also the final Pooh special to reuse footage from The New Adventures of Winnie the Pooh.
Followed by Piglet's Big Movie in 2003, and seasonally by 2004's Winnie the Pooh: Springtime with Roo, which placed A Christmas Carol in an Easter-time context. Pooh and friends next celebrated Christmas in the 2007 My Friends Tigger & Pooh film Super Sleuth Christmas Movie.
A Very Merry Pooh Year provides examples of the following tropes:
- Be Yourself: Pooh and the gang learn this in the end, with Christopher Robin adding it will help them become more of who they truly are.
- Borrowed Catchphrase: Due to the Swapped Roles issue, Piglet steals Tigger's "Hoo hoo hoo" laughter, Tigger begins stuttering like Piglet to the point of saying "Oh, d-d-dear!", Eeyore begins using some of Pooh's phrases like "a smackerel of honey", and Pooh also steals Eeyore's "Thanks for noticin' me" at one point.
- Call-Back: Like in Christmas Too, Pooh once again dresses up as Santa Claus once the flashback ends.
- Christmas Episode: The first half of the movie.
- Crowd Song: The film ends with Pooh and the gang singing "Auld Lang Syne", accompanied by Carly Simon.
- Dull Surprise: Pooh starts speaking in Eeyore's gloomy manner when he experiences a Heroic BSoD due to not eating honey.
- The Eeyore: Eeyore as usual, but Pooh becomes this when he stops eating honey for long enough.
- Flashback with the Other Darrin: The Christmas Too sequence completely redubs Christopher Robin's voice with that of the film. Oddly, Paul Winchell's voice for Tigger is kept in the Christmas Too segment despite Jim Cummings voicing Tigger in the rest of the film.
- Heroic BSoD: Not eating honey long enough takes a big hit on Pooh, causing him to turn into a gloomy grump like Eeyore. He even speaks in Eeyore's Dull Surprise and uses his catchphrases, especially "Thanks for noticin'".
- Logo Joke: The Disney logo has snowflakes.
- New Year Has Come: The second half of the movie revolves around New Year's Eve.
- Oh, Crap!: Pooh when he begins eating honey again, realizing he broke his resolution.
- Out of Focus: Kanga, Roo, and Gopher don't have as much focus as Pooh, Piglet, Eeyore, Tigger and Rabbit, only appearing during the party scenes. Christopher Robin also does not appear until the second half of the movie, outside of his appearance in the 'Christmas Too'' sequence. They're also the only characters in the movie aside from Rabbit who do not change their personalities.
- The Pollyanna: What Eeyore ends up becoming after eating Pooh's honey and wearing his red shirt, to the point he's even more jolly than Pooh would normally be.
- Pop-Star Composer: Folk singer-songwriter Carly Simon performed "Winnie the Pooh" as well as "Auld Lang Syne".
- Role Swap Plot: What happens to Pooh and the gang (except Kanga, Roo, and Gopher) to stop Rabbit from moving away.
- Running Gag: Tigger playing with the bells.
- Swapped Roles: When the gang decides to change, they suddenly end up as whoever's talent they try out:
- Piglet becomes a brave and goofy Cloudcuckoolander when he bounces like Tigger.
- Tigger stops bouncing and becomes the Nervous Wreck like Piglet.
- Pooh abandons the honey causing him to grow gloomy and sad like Eeyore.
- Eeyore starts eating honey and becomes increasingly happy like Pooh.
- What Is This Feeling?: When Eeyore starts eating Pooh's honey and begins acting consistently happy, he tries to ask Pooh what this funny feeling is, which Pooh does not care due to him becoming Eeyore. Eeyore soon realizes he's feeling glad.
- With a Foot on the Bus: The antics of Pooh, Piglet, Eeyore and Tigger nearly result in Rabbit moving out of the wood. He changes his mind once Christopher Robin arrives and everyone apologizes.
