The Tigger Movie is a 2000 animated family musical comedy-drama film directed by Jun Falkenstein. Part of the Winnie the Pooh series, this film features Pooh's friend Tigger in his search for his family tree and other Tiggers like himself. As such, the story line may be viewed as an allegory about an adoptee's search to understand the meaning of family.
The film was the first feature-length theatrical Pooh film to not be a collection of previously-released shorts, which is the case with 1977's The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh. Thanks to its success, three more feature-length Pooh movies were released to theaters: Piglet's Big Movie in 2003, Pooh's Heffalump Movie in 2005 (both by Disneytoon Studios), and the 2011 American film the same name as the bear, from Walt Disney Animation Studios.
The film features original songs from the Sherman Brothers, the long-time Disney songwriting team who are well known for their contributions to other Disney films such as Mary Poppins, Bedknobs and Broomsticks, and The Jungle Book, as well as the original Winnie the Pooh shorts. The film was originally slated for direct-to-video release until Disney CEO Michael Eisner heard the Sherman Brothers' score and decided to release the film in theaters worldwide.
The movie was narrated by the late John Hurt.
Plot[]
While trying to find somebody to play with, Tigger gleefully bounces around the Hundred Acre Wood, disrupting his friends' attempts to prepare for the winter and accidentally causing a huge rock to fall on Eeyore's house. Rabbit leads the others in trying to remove it with an elaborate pulley system known as his Rock Remover (which collapses) and Tigger intervenes. He activated his most powerful bounce called the Whoopty-Dooper-Loopty-Looper-Alley-Ooper bounce to knock the rock (which gets tangled with the crumbling Rock Remover along with Tigger's friends) and getting everyone covered in mud (except for Roo and Eeyore instead fell in-between a tree branch and a thorn bush respectively) and Rabbit to get annoyed that rock remover was ruined by Tigger's bouncing. Feeling alone, Tigger sulks on a bridge and Roo, trying to cheer him up, asks if there are other Tiggers. Fascinated by the idea, Tigger talks to Owl, who explains about family trees. Tigger, taking this literally, heads out to find a huge stripey tree and, after not finding one, instead writes a letter to his family. No reply comes and Tigger feels more alone then ever.
That night, the first night of winter, everybody (excluding Tigger) gathers at Piglet's house. Feeling sorry for him, Roo announces that they should write a letter to him. Everyone adds a bit of friendly advice (Kanga, "Dress warmly"; Pooh, "Eat well"; Piglet, "Stay safe and sound"; Eeyore, "Keep smiling"; and Roo, "We're always there for you") before signing 'your family' at the bottom of the page. Roo then slips the letter into Tigger's letter box. The next day, everybody is woken by Tigger, who brandishes the letter. He shouts joyfully that his family has written to him and also that they are coming to visit the next evening. They are all surprised, as they had never written down anything that even resembles that; nevertheless, Tigger replies that he always reads between the lines. Later, Roo gathers Pooh, Piglet, Owl and Eeyore over to his home. He and his mother Kanga say they are going to charade as fellow Tiggers to attend the party and make Tigger feel loved. They are halfway through making the costumes when Rabbit bursts through the door, telling them that they should be gathering supplies (or should already have) for the impending snowstorm.
Meanwhile, Tigger is preparing for his party when somebody rings the doorbell. He opens the door to reveal a large number of Tiggers who claim to be his family. A party ensues with drinks, dance, and games, and all the while, Tigger believes they are his family. Yet when the smallest (Roo) attempts the Whoopty-Dooper Loopty-Looper Ally-Ooper Bounce, and his mask falls off, the others reveal themselves as Tigger's friends. He discovers that they lied to him. In order to find his family, and deeply hurt by the lie, he leaves the room, stating that he is leaving forever ("T-T-F-E, Ta-Ta, For-Ever!"). He hikes through the snow until he finds a large tree on the cliffside, which matches the description he gave of his family tree. He bounces across the branches, finding nothing, so he sits there, waiting for his family.
Meanwhile, a crying and humiliated Roo comes over to Pooh's house, heartbroken and tearfully claiming that it was his fault Tigger left, for he wanted the tiger as a big brother. Then, Pooh, Roo, Piglet, and Eeyore mount an expedition to find Tigger. They ask Rabbit to lead them; he initially refuses but reluctantly agrees after seeing how much they miss the mischievous feline. When they find him, they tell him to return home, with Rabbit saying he should "Forget about all this other Tiggers nonsense". The is greatly offended Tigger as he shouted "no" to him in refusal and berates him for his early treatments. But then when a sudden avalanche caused by his irate shouting occurs, he pulls them all out of trouble. Unfortunately, Tigger himself is still caught in the avalanche.
Roo remembers the Whoopty-Dooper Loopty Looper Ally-Ooper bounce and travels down through the rock and snow to Tigger and wakes him from unconsciousness. To get out of the avalanche, they perform the signature bounce together. When the snow settles, Christopher Robin arrives on the scene and everyone tells him why Tigger left. Christopher tells Tigger he didn't have to leave to find his family. Tigger objects and reaches for his letter that, until recently, he believed to be from his family, but finds it missing. It is not until Owl, Kanga, Roo, Eeyore, Pooh and Piglet recite the letter for him that he realizes that they sent the letter, not his family. Hearing this, Tigger finally comes to realize what was true all along, that his family is right here and always has been: his friends. Once they return home, Tigger gives everyone gifts: Eeyore gets a new house (the guest house meant for Tigger's "Family"), Pooh gets lots of Honey, Piglet gets a stack of firewood, and Rabbit is promised that he will watch where he's going. Lastly, he gives Roo his heart pendant, but it's still empty. Christopher Robin remedies this by taking a picture of Tigger's "family" to close the movie.
Cast[]
- Jim Cummings as Tigger and Winnie the Pooh
- Nikita Hopkins as Roo
- John Fiedler as Piglet
- Peter Cullen as Eeyore
- Ken Sansom as Rabbit
- Kath Soucie as Kanga
- Andre Stojka as Owl
- Tom Attenborough as Christopher Robin
- John Hurt as The Narrator
Production[]
The film was simultaneously animated at the Walt Disney Studios and its Japanese chapter Walt Disney Animation Japan. The animation is traditional (2D), with characters moving across backgrounds painted in soft, warm watercolor hues in the style of book illustrations in children's literature. Each chapter starts off as a static illustration on a printed page, where characters then start moving. The bold ink lines in the foreground and the watercolor washes of the background are reminiscent of the original Pooh illustrator Ernest Shepard. Graphics during end credits are pen and ink line drawings also reminiscent of Shepard.
Reception[]
The film opened at #4 at the North American box office making $9,427,532 in its opening weekend. The film was a box office success, earning $45,554,533 in the United States alone while making $50,605,267 overseas and $96,159,800 worldwide against a budget of $30 million. However, the film received rather mixed reviews with 62% on Rotten Tomatoes and 53% on Metacritic.
Awards and nominations[]
The film was nominated for numerous awards in 2000 including the following:
- Annie Award for "Outstanding Individual Achievement for Directing in an Animated Feature Production"
- Jun Falkenstein
- Annie Award for "Outstanding Individual Achievement for Music in an Animated Feature Production"
- Richard M. Sherman (music and lyrics)
- Robert B. Sherman (music and lyrics)
- For the song "Round My Family Tree"
- Annie Award for "Outstanding Individual Achievement for Voice Acting by a Male Performer in an Animated Feature Production"
- Nikita Hopkins
- As the voice of "Roo".
- Las Vegas Film Critics Society Awards
- The Sierra Award for "Best Family Film"
It was also given an Oppenheim Toy Portfolio Gold Award.
Home video[]
- Main article: The Tigger Movie (video)
The film was released on August 22, 2000 on both VHS and DVD. The VHS and DVD included the Kenny Loggins music video "Your Heart Will Lead You Home". The DVD also includes the additional bonus features the original theatrical trailer for the film that was appeared from Winnie the Pooh: Seasons of Giving VHS.
The film was later re-released on 2-disc DVD on August 4, 2009 as a 10th anniversary edition. The 2-disc release includes a DVD and a digital copy. It contains all the 2000 DVD bonus features, but has more language tracks and special features.
The film was also re-released as a Bounce-a-rrrific special edition on Blu-ray on August 21, 2012. It contains the Kenny Loggins music video "Your Heart Will Lead You Home" and "Round My Family Tree" sing-along song, but includes 10 Mini Adventures of Winnie the Pooh segments.
Soundtrack[]
The songs for The Tigger Movie were written by Robert and Richard Sherman who had not written a feature for Disney in over 28 years. Their last fully original feature film score was for the Oscar nominated film, Bedknobs and Broomsticks which was released in 1971. Originally slated for video or television release, the score was so well received (in demonstration form) by then Disney CEO, Michael Eisner, that the project's priority level moved up to feature theatrical release. This was due in great part to the perceived caliber of the song score throughout the studio. All the songs were created new for the film except for "The Wonderful Things About Tiggers" which was originally written in 1968 for the landmark Winnie the Pooh featurette, Winnie the Pooh and the Blustery Day (released in 1968). That song was also by the Sherman Brothers. The "punch line" of the song: "But the most wonderful Thing About Tiggers is I'm the only one..." provides the basis of The Tigger Movie's storyline. "Your Heart Will Lead You Home" was the last song written for the film and is a collaborative effort between the Sherman Brothers and singer Kenny Loggins. It marks the only time the threesome worked together on a song. Song titles include:
- "The Wonderful Thing About Tiggers"
- "Someone Like Me"
- "Whoop-de-Dooper Bounce"
- "Lull-a-Bee"
- "Round My Family Tree"
- "How to Be a Tigger"
- "Your Heart Will Lead You Home"
Gallery[]
Trivia[]
- Theatrical showings of this film were accompanied by the "Disney Mambo No. 5 (A Little Bit of...)" music video,[1] making this film one of the two theatrical feature-length Winnie the Pooh films to be theatrically accompanied by a special added attraction; the next one would be 2011's Winnie the Pooh, which was theatrically accompanied by a Walt Disney Animation Studios short film called The Ballad of Nessie.
- This is the first Winnie the Pooh film to have a character other than Pooh as the main protagonist.
- Gopher is absent in this film.
- The first Winnie the Pooh movie with a book opening and setting where the characters do not interact with the narrator, nor are aware of them being in a book with the exception of Tigger in the opening scene.
- This is the first Winnie the Pooh feature film to not include the Winnie the Pooh theme song in the intro.
- The first theatrical Winnie the Pooh movie to be not made up from a collection of shorts.
Possible sequel[]
In an October 2008 interview, Kenny Loggins said that he is working on a children's record for Disney that will tie into a new Tigger film. As of March 2015, no news has came out about the film.
See also[]
References[]
External links[]
The Tigger Movie on Wikipedia- The Tigger Movie on Disney.com
- The Tigger Movie at the Big Cartoon DataBase
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ar:المغامرة النمورية es:La Película de Tigger fr:Les Aventures de Tigrou ja:ティガー・ムービー プーさんの贈りもの no:Tigergutt (film) pl:Tygrys i przyjaciele pt-br:Tigrão O Filme