This review originally appeared on the now-defunct site FamilyWonder.com, which showcased children's entertainment for parents and caregivers.
Grade: C+
Title: THE TIGGER MOVIE
Year: Disney, 2000
Running Time: 1 hour 16 minutes
Video Summary:
After accidentally destroying Eeyore's house, Tigger feels lonely because no one wants to bounce with him. He decides to search for his real family, imagining a great "family tree" - the largest tree in the forest, with a different Tigger on each branch, each resembling a famous painting or pop-culture image like Van Gogh or Al Capone. Roo helps him compose a letter to his relatives, yet no one responds.
To cheer him up, the young kangaroo - who considers Tigger a big brother - gets the gang to write him a letter signed "Your Family." When Tigger's expectations grow out of proportion, his friends dress up and pretend to be Tigger's long-lost relatives. But when Tigger uncovers the deception, he storms away from the Hundred-Acre Wood, shouting, "T.T.F.E. - ta-ta forever!" Pooh and the others must convince the bouncy one that despite their differences, they are his true family.
Best For Ages:
Under 2 - This film may be a bit long for young Pooh fans; three-year-olds become restless while watching.
2-5 - The ideal age for this simple tale of friendship.
5-8 - Familiar characters will appeal to older children, but the predictable story may bore them.
Parental Advisory:
Educational Value: Out to recess. A "love your friends" story.
Entertainment Value: Despite the presence of only one original voice actor - John Fiedler, who plays Piglet - the characters look and sound exactly like those in the early Disney cartoons. Unfortunately, lively animation and a couple of new songs can't make up for the sparse story.
Emotional Intensity: Tigger feels abandoned by his biological family.
Frightening Situations: The gang gets lost in a blizzard and is nearly wiped out by an avalanche.
Questionable Behavior: Tigger's friends lie to him and attempt to deceive him.
Review:
For a film about the bounciest resident of the Hundred Acre Wood, THE TIGGER MOVIE falls awfully flat. Children who have grown up with A.A. Milne's books and previous Disney Pooh videos will be disappointed by this feature, reminiscent thematically of the 1997 video release POOH'S GRAND ADVENTURE: THE SEARCH FOR CHRISTOPHER ROBIN. Although the visuals are superior in the new feature film, everything else overly resembles small-screen Pooh.
Fans will spot many traditional images - Eeyore walks across words typed on the pages of a book, Tigger bounces Pooh flat on his back, Pooh climbs a tree to get honey, Piglet blows away in the wind. Tigger has a few charming lines like, "You can't bounce the bounce if you can't pronounce the bounce," and Pooh observes cleverly that Rabbit must lead their Expotition because "He's the only one who knows what he's doing."
But the energy level seems low, even when Rabbit runs about trying to rebuild Eeyore's house. Having Pooh sing a lullaby to the bees ends up backfiring, since it puts the audience to sleep as well; a group of three-to-five-year-olds got bored and restless in the middle. Visually, the animation is superb - the wind waves through the grass, leaves wave in the fall trees, and hundreds of snowflakes dance across the screen during a long blizzard sequence - yet one wishes a bit more were going on in many scenes.
This might be less noticeable had the film not inserted a couple of ambitious production numbers, like the one in which Tigger fantasizes about his long-lost relatives. After seeing Tigger lookalikes melt into Dali paintings, play football, and mimic Marilyn Monroe, viewers may be less enthralled watching our heroes walk through the woods shouting, "Halloo!" The simple but charming WINNIE THE POOH AND THE BLUSTERY DAY video offers more interest for viewers of all ages than THE TIGGER MOVIE.
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