Though this may feel like a bit rushed, a Valentine themed release before the end of the year, organized gift givers will notch their lists eagerly in preparation for February next year. Fans of Pooh and his friends won't care a bit that this is coming a few months in advance, since they'll have their hands on yet another collection of solid entertainment from the Hundred Acre Wood. Winnie the Pooh: A Valentine for You Special Edition is special in the sense that it contains three distinct attractions, all packed economically (ahem) in just 50 minutes of viewing. First on the list must be the titular recast of the late '90s television special, Winnie the Pooh: A Valentine for You. When Christopher Robin is suspected of falling prey to a rare and elusive beast, the Smitten, Pooh and friends go questing to catch one. A firefly fills the part of this Smitten, luring the animals into a slight precarious (and possibly scary for some younger kids) situation that resolves itself nicely. And in the Valentine's Day spirit, no less! The treatment of the holiday as strange and slightly icky is a perfect match for young kids that can't decide whether to crush on or punch their sweethearts. Below that age, Pooh is just good fun to watch, and this special features plenty of the usual hijinks.

The extras here include two additional short episodes, and a third drawn from The New Adventures of Winnie The Pooh series that Disney is now dribbling out across multiple DVD releases. Of the extras, the short titled "Un-Valentine's Day" is the best and certainly most comedic. In it, Rabbit attempts to restrain everyone in the Hundred Acre Wood from creating and sharing Valentine's Day gifts. When presents begin showing up on doorsteps, no one wants to directly disobey Rabbit's orders, but feel compelled to reciprocate. Each animal has a suspicion, usually wrong, about who created their gift. No surprise that everyone ends the episode well gifted, and Rabbit is reluctantly converted to having more holiday spirit. The translation of this short and the other, "Three Little Piglets," to DVD must not have involved any cleaning up of the source film. Alternately, they must have ended up with a rather rough print. Kids may not mind, but the difference in quality is noticeable. It looks a lot like old television quality, compared to the newer and slicker stuff being churned out today.

Winnie the Pooh: A Valentine for You Special Edition rounds things out with a rather poorly implemented game that lets you attempt to capture a firefly in the Hundred Acre Wood. It didn't seem to make any difference how we clicked the DVD remote, so this firefly game felt random and short-lived. The end result is a release that feels short on features, compared to more interesting quiz games and interactive modes being offered on other Disney DVDs. Kids that love Pooh won't be in the mood to trade off, though, so parents will just have to buckle down and accept Winnie the Pooh: A Valentine for You Special Edition with its bumps and bruises. There's some good watching here for the kiddies, and you've gotta love having fun stuff prepared for an upcoming season. Parents not concerned about this as a keepsake would be wise to find it at a bargain price or as a rental, since the overall quality is mixed at best.