As a fan of Winnie the Pooh, 'The New Adventures of Winnie the Pooh' was always one of my favourite shows as a child. Not all childhood favourites have held up, but 'The New Adventures of Winnie the Pooh' is one of the strongest examples of those that have.
While the original three 60s-70s short films ('Honey Tree', 'Blustery Day' and 'Tigger Too') and the 1977 'The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh' are just a little better, 'The New Adventures of Winnie the Pooh' is one of the Winnie the Pooh franchise's high points. As a child, "Find Her Keep Her" was always a top 5 episode...it still is today.
The animation is very bright, well drawn and colourful, everything looking lush, detailed and smooth. The music is playfully jaunty and beautifully orchestrated, enhancing sadder moments with poignant and particularly lush and emotional scoring and the more playful moments with a jaunty touch. The theme tune is very rousing and one of the catchiest theme songs of any animated show of the late 80s.
"Find Her Keep Her's" writing still has a perfect mix of whimsy, drollness, wit, charm and childhood innocence. But it also has more emotional impact than any other episode of the show, and yes that's including "A Very, Very Large Animal", the show has a number of touching moments but no other episode is as big an emotional roller-coaster as "Find Her Keep Her". The story is beautifully paced, and even though an 22-minute episode than a just over 10 minute one, never feels like there's too much going on or too thin and stretched.
Rabbit and Kessie's relationship is the driving force of the episode, and has so much heart to it. Anybody who normally doesn't like Rabbit for his stern orders and sometimes mean actions will love his gentler, more compassionate and fatherly side, and to call baby Kessie adorable is an understatement, don't think there's been a cuter or affecting supporting character on the show.
All the characters shine, but the episode belongs to Rabbit, Kessie and their relationship, which would have made or broken the story and ended up being the main reason why it's as fantastic an episode it is. The voice acting is uniformly excellent, Ken Sansom has never been more subtle or more sympathetic and Laura Mooney is irresistible as Kessie.
In conclusion, a personal favourite of mine since forever and sees a consistently wonderful show at its most poignant. 10/10 Bethany Cox