In the Hundred Acre Wood, there is no more beloved bird than that of Owl. There is also perhaps a no more frustrating bird in Disney's Winnie the Pooh franchise. Owl may have a decent amount of mental skills that his other friends lack, but he often tends to cancel out that intelligence with dumb mistakes.
Owl was probably never going to be a genius, but he sure thinks he is one. We're going to look at just a few ways Owl gets on everyone's nerves and makes us question that genius.
Thinks He's Better Than Ducks
In an episode of The New Adventures of Winnie The Pooh, Owl appears to be minding his own business for a change, just flying about. All of sudden, a flock of ducks comes his direction and he runs into one of them.
Rather than simply continuing to fly and go on his way, Owl is offended and remarks "Owls always have the right of way over the common ordinary waterfowl." Wow, Owl. Who died and let you write the animal code of conduct? All he did was bump into you for goodness sake!
Delivers A Speech As His House Is Falling
One day in The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh, Pooh and Piglet find themselves caught up in a massive windstorm. Pooh's attempt to save Piglet during the storm finds them literally running into Owl's front door. Despite this crazy weather, Owl begins talking on and on as his house rocks back and forth like a metronome. He is completely unfazed as Pooh and Piglet find themselves in a precarious situation sliding back and forth between ends of the house.
Only when the house begins to completely fall over does Owl actually stop talking. Once it has collapsed, he looks around and asks Pooh if he caused the house to fall. Seriously, Owl?
Doesn't Help Pooh When He's Stuck
In The Many Adventures Of Winnie The Pooh, Pooh infamously eats Rabbit out of house and home. Rather than actually provide good advice to Pooh or Rabbit on how to get him out, Owl mostly just observes and argues with Gopher.
To be fair to Owl, we don't know what we'd do if we saw that our friend had stuffed bear stuck in our front door either. But we also wouldn't just walk up to that friend and say, "Looks like you've got quite the problem there!" and then walk away.
Loves Showing Off
It doesn't take much to be smarter than the average Pooh Bear in the Hundred Acre Wood. In The Tigger Movie, Tigger goes in search of his family and stops by Owl's house. Owl then says, "Ah, the search for familius genus Tiggerus", a term he can't determine the origin of. He then points to a collection of family pictures to Tigger, bragging about how great his family is.
At the point, we still have no idea if Tigger actually has any family. Later in the film, Tigger concludes his family is the one he has made around him in the Hundred Acre Wood. If he ever decides to disown Owl, though, we won't blame him.
Has A Lone Picture Of Himself On The Wall
It is totally great to put pictures of you with your family on the wall. But pictures of just you alone? Well, Owl doesn't seem to mind.
In 2011's Winnie The Pooh, you can see that there is just a picture of him turned sideways hanging on the wall. There is no explanation or context for this picture and it is particularly befuddling given that we know he has pictures of his extended family somewhere. Couldn't he at least hung a picture of himself at a good angle? Vanity, thy name is Owl.
Makes Everyone Think Christopher Robin Is At "Skull"
In Pooh's Grand Adventure: The Search For Christopher Robin, Pooh and the gang find themselves seemingly at a crossroads with Christopher Robin as he prepares for big changes in life that lead him away from the Hundred Acre Wood. Christopher Robin leaves Pooh a note detailing the situation, stating that he's going to school, but that he'll be back and to help himself to some honey.
Unfortunately, Pooh cannot read and asks for Owl's help. Owl then interprets school to be "skull", a terrible place Christopher Robin needs saving from. This does give our friends and opportunity to band together as friends, but it also causes a lot of grief, all because Owl clearly has never been to school.
Doesn't Help The Gang Find Piglet
In Piglet's Big Movie, Piglet disappears after his efforts to help Pooh and the gang are ignored. Once they realize that Piglet has gone missing, they decide to search for him. Their first stop is Owl's house.
Rabbit asks Owl if he has seen Piglet anywhere only to have Owl give the most general of answers. Rabbit quickly realizes Owl isn't going to be very helpful and starts walking away. Rather than reading the room and seeing that everyone is concerned about Piglet, Owl just continues to drone on, distracting Pooh and Tigger. Your friend Piglet is in danger, Owl! Help!
Makes Everyone Think Christopher Robin Has Been Kidnapped
The 2011 film Winnie The Pooh teaches us that Winnie The Pooh doesn't learn from his mistakes. After declaring that there is no word he can't decipher, Owl offers to read a note that Christopher Robin leaves behind for Winnie The Pooh.
As Owl misinterpreted school to be "skull", he also misinterprets "back soon" to be a monster by the name of "backson". Once again, Owl manages to ruffle everyone else's feathers because his reading skills are inept.
Doesn't Know He Stole Eeyore's Tail
Once again, Owl proves himself to be the greatest nincompoop of the Hundred Acre Wood. At the conclusion of 2011's Winnie The Pooh, we discover that, in fact, Owl is the culprit behind Eeyore's missing tail.
As Pooh goes to Owl's house on another occasion after everyone has searched for Eeyore's tail, Pooh sees it hanging outside Owl's house. It takes him a while, but eventually, Pooh realizes that it's not a doorbell; it's Eeyore's tail! It turns out that Owl was using it as a doorbell of sorts and didn't put two and two together. Gee whiz, Owl. Maybe just stop and think for a second next time?
Can't Manage A Good Farewell Speech To Christopher Robin
Perhaps the most heartbreaking film featuring Owl and the rest of the Hundred Acre Wood is Christopher Robin. The film begins with a goodbye party for Christopher Robin. You would think that for just once the animal who can't stop talking could just talk about someone else besides himself.
But he doesn't get two sentences out for Christopher Robin before he begins bickering with Rabbit. Your beloved childhood friend is going away for good, Owl! Couldn't you have made a better speech?