The Tigger Movie
USA 2000
Reviewed by Kim Newman
Synopsis
Our synopses give away the plot in full, including surprise twists.
The Hundred-Acre Wood. Although his friends are devoted to him, Tigger misses the family he has never known. Tigger approaches Owl for advice about locating his family; Owl tells him to look up his family tree. Tigger takes him literally and searches for this tree in the Wood. Realising Tigger's predicament, Roo and his other friends - Winnie the Pooh, Piglet, Eeyore, Kanga and Owl - write him a letter purporting to be from his family to cheer him up. Tigger misconstrues this as a promise that they will come to visit.
As winter encroaches, Pooh and comrades dress up as tiggers and visit Tigger. Tigger sees through the imposture and sets out to find his real family. Rabbit leads Tigger's friends in search of Tigger; they find him by a large tree which he believes to be his family tree. Tigger's shouting causes an avalanche, but he saves all his friends by bouncing them into the tree. He is swept away and only the encouragement of Roo prompts him to save himself. Christopher Robin turns up and tells Tigger that he already has a family, his devoted friends.
Review
The greatest moment of Tigger's screen career is in T. Graham's presumably illegal short Apocalypse Pooh (1987): soundtrack excerpts from Apocalypse Now are laid over brilliantly edited excerpts from Disney's Pooh films, and Tigger's bouncing first entrance is cut to the dialogue from the "it's a fuckin' tiger" scene from Francis Ford Coppola's 1979 Vietnam epic. Sadly, nothing in this belated series entry - the first feature in a run of Disney shorts which began in 1966 with Winnie the Pooh and the Honey Tree - comes up to that mark. Though one dreads the addition of any further elements that would distance the characters from the Hundred-Acre Wood which writer A.A. Milne and illustrator E.H. Shepard created in the original books - an excursion into the world beyond this leafy idyll comes only in a fantasy song sequence ('Round My Family Tree') which manages to evoke divers contemporary figures such as Jerry Springer and Andy Warhol - this 75-minute crawl is such thin stuff that even a burst of rap (Tiggaz with Attitude?) would be a relief.
There is something badly wrong with the film's premise, which contradicts Milne's lessons that Tigger can't climb trees (here, he lives in one and searches for another) and that, crucially, Tigger can't be unbounced. The great appeal of the character is his emotional invincibility, yet in The Tigger Movie he turns all sappy and is often seen with animated tears brimming in his eyes. When Tigger stops blithely flattening things and starts yearning for a family, a great many children in the preview audience began to fidget (overheard on the way out: "He sat still all the way through Toy Story 2"), sensing that the toothless tiger on screen had ceased to be the Tigger they liked.
The rest of the characters are reduced to stooges, with the shrill Roo given the largest role, and, as ever, the only real laughs come from Eeyore's tonic gloom (his advice to Tigger, "Keep smiling"). A lick of contemporary satire comes with the casting of Rabbit as a survivalist whose warren is stocked for the winter like a Y2K-fearing militia man, but the character, like everything else, has been softened to the point of blandness. Richard and Robert Sherman contribute unmemorable new songs ('Pooh's Lullabee', 'The Whoop-de-Dooper Bounce'), and their classic 'The Wonderful Thing about Tiggers' is revived in a decidedly unbouncy new arrangement. The owners of the franchise should perhaps reread the last chapter of The House at Pooh Corner, which predates Toy Story 2 in its understanding of the brief life a child's plaything can have and establishes the wisdom of knowing when to stop before something unique becomes something tiresome.
Credits
- Director
- Jun Falkenstein
- Producer
- Cheryl Abood
- Screenplay
- Jun Falkenstein
- Story by
- Eddie Guzelian
- Based on characters created by
- A.A. Milne
- Editors
- Makoto Arai
- Japan:
- Yasunori Hayama
- Art Director
- Toby Bluth
- Music
- Harry Gregson-Williams
- Songs
- Richard M. Sherman
- Robert B. Sherman
- ©Disney Enterprises, Inc
- Production Companies
- Walt Disney Pictures presents
- Produced by Walt Disney Television Animation
- Animation Production
- Walt Disney Animation (Japan) Inc
- Digital Producers
- Doug Little
- Karen Ferguson
- Associate Producer
- Jennifer Blohm
- Executive in Charge of Production
- Sharon Morrill Robinov
- Production Associate
- Mona Holtz
- Production Supervisors
- Ferrell Barron
- Kristin Kakiuchi Rawnsley
- Jennifer Lopez
- Christopher Kracker
- Marilyn Munro
- Production Managers
- Japan:
- Noriyuki Fukumaru
- Digital:
- Brant Hawes
- Post-production
- Director:
- Mark Van Der Heide
- Co-ordinators:
- Mark Bollinger
- Craig Sawczuk
- Ken Poteat
- Continuity Checkers
- Barbara Donatelli
- Lynn Singer
- Kathrin Victor
- Voice Casting/Dialogue Director
- Jamie Thomason
- Talent Co-ordinators
- Anne-Marie Pione
- Aaron Drown
- Script Co-ordinators
- Leona Jernigan
- Brian Sintay
- Storyboards
- Viki Anderson
- Ken Boyer
- Amber Tornquist Deforest
- Holly Forsyth
- Denise Koyama
- Chris Otsuki
- Additional Storyboarding
- Keith Baxter
- Sean Bishop
- Barry Caldwell
- Jason Lethcoe
- Phillip Mosness
- Floyd Norman
- Cynthia Petrovik
- David Prince
- Leonard Robinson
- Lead Colour Stylist
- David A. Rodriguez
- Digital Production Technical Director
- Kentaro Takahashi
- Composite Supervisor
- Kousuke Arakawa
- Compositors
- Toshiyuki Fukushima
- Shunya Kimura
- Katsuya Kozutsumi
- Additional Compositors
- Tracy Jones
- Charlie Luce
- Glo Minaya
- Kimberly Rose
- Andrew Schoentag
- CGI Effects Supervisor
- Shinji Nasu
- CGI Effects Artists
- Seiko Endoji
- Ryoichi Ishigami
- Ray King
- Digital System Manager
- Kotaro Beppu
- Manager, Digital Technology
- Kiyoto Todori
- Manager, Studio Technology
- Stephen Toback
- Digital Film Services
- Digital FilmWorks Inc
- E Film
- Supervising Animation Director
- Kenichi Tsuchiya
- Character Design
- Chris Butler
- Kimie Calvert
- Robert Sledge
- Vincent Woodcock
- Character Design Clean-up
- Kimie Calvert
- Character Animation Directors
- Takeshi Atomura
- Hiroshi Kawamata
- Character Key Animators
- Yoshiharu Ashino
- Ken Boyer
- Atsuhiko Hara
- Jeff Johnson
- Isamitsu Kashima
- Dave Kuhn
- Creg E.S.C. Manwaring
- Hiroko Minowa
- Kiyomi Miyakawa
- Hirofumi Nakata
- Takayo Nishimura
- Kazuhiro Ohmame
- Masaru Oshiro
- Chiharu Sato
- Yoshiharu Sato
- Atsushi Sekiguchi
- Kazuko Shibata
- Kouichi Suenaga
- Sachiko Sugino
- Yuri Takasaki
- Kazuyoshi Takeuchi
- Junpei Tatenaka
- Yasuo Torii
- Sachiko Wakabayashi
- Shigeru Yamamoto
- Shinichi Yoshikawa
- Additional Animation
- Tandem Films
- Cornerstone Animation Inc
- Studio Basara
- Tama Production
- Creative Capers Entertainment
- Telecom Animation Film Co Ltd
- Additional Animation
- Terrence Bannon
- Keith Baxter
- Mike Bell
- George Benavides
- Rune Bennicke
- Dan Boulos
- Ronaldo Canfora
- Wayne Carlisi
- Mike D'Isa-Hogan
- Jeff Etter
- Ralph Fernan
- Tim George
- Ernie Gilbert
- Patrick Gleeson
- Chris Hubbard
- Richard Jack
- Kevin Johnson
- Richard Jones
- Ernie Keen
- Michael Kiely
- Chrystal Klabunde
- Eric Koenig
- Craig Maras
- Bob McKnight
- Mike Nguyen
- John Nunnemacher
- Dan O'Sullivan
- Ralph Palmer
- John Pomeroy
- Bill Recinos
- Dean Roberts
- Carolyn J. Sarachene
- Andy Schmidt
- Kexx Singleton
- Robert Sledge
- Derek Thompson
- Greg Tiernan
- Roger Vizard
- Andreas Von Adrian
- Todd Waterman
- Larry D. Whitaker Jr
- Gabriele Zucchelli
- Supervising Effects Animation Director
- Madoka Yasuet
- Additional Effects Animation
- Dave Bossert
- John Dillon
- Joey Mildenberger
- Kevin O'Neil
- Gary Sole
- Character Layout Supervisor
- Dave Kuhn
- Character Layout Artists
- Ken Boyer
- Jeff Johnson
- Greg Manwaring
- Craig Maras
- John Nunnemacher
- Dan O'Sullivan
- Robert Sledge
- Additional Character Layout
- Roy Meurin
- Background Layout Artists
- Arlan Jewell
- Christopher Morley
- Colette van Mierlo
- Wallace Williamson
- Key Background Stylists
- Toby Bluth
- Barbara Schade
- Background Supervisor
- Hiroshi Ohno
- Background
- Studio Fuga
- Kazuo Nagai
- Akihito Fujimori
- Naoto Hoshino
- Masami Horii
- Hiromichi Ito
- Kumiko Ohno
- Background
- Studio Moonflower
- Masatoshi Kenmochi
- Kinya Tsubota
- Tomoko Herai
- Toshiharu Mizutani
- Additional Background Artists
- Toby Bluth
- Barbara Schade
- Rita Joyce
- Ink & Paint Supervisor
- Naomi Tazawa
- Supervising Film Editor
- Robert Fisher jr
- Additional Editing
- John Royer
- Key Location Design
- Arlan Jewell
- Christopher Morley
- Colette Van Mierlo
- Wallace Williamson
- Title Design
- Susan Bradley
- Titles/Opticals
- Buena Vista Imaging
- Score Music Programming
- Steve Jablonsky
- Score Conductor
- Nick Glennie-Smith
- Songs Arranger/Orchestrator
- Martin Erskine
- Score Orchestrators
- Bruce Fowler
- Ladd McIntosh
- Supervising Music Editors
- Richard Whitfield
- Sherry Whitfield
- Dominick Certo
- Music Mixers
- Michael Farrow
- Frank Wolf
- Cary Butler
- Bill Jackson
- Ross Pallone
- Songs
- "The Wonderful Thing about Tiggers", "Someone Like Me""; "The Whoop-de-Dooper-Bounce", "Pooh's Lullabee", "Round My Family Tree"; "How to Be a Tigger" by Jim Cummings (Tigger/Winnie the Pooh), Kath Soucie (Kanga), Nikita Hopkins (Roo), Andre Stojka (Owl), Peter Cullen (Eeyore), John Fiedler (Piglet), chorus: Bobbi Page, Randy Crenshaw, Michael Geiger, Geoff Koch, Rick Logan, Lauren Wood; "Your Heart Will Lead You Home" by Kenny Loggins, chorus: Rosemary Butler, Gary Falcone, Wendy Fraser, Jonnie Hall, Mollie Hall, Dorian Holley, Cord Jackman, Luana Jackman, Raven Kane, Brian Lassiter, Stephen Lively, Richard Lucchese, Arnold McCuller, Bobbi Page, Brandon Pollard, Andrea Robinson, Laura Schillinger, Sophie Schwartz, Stephanie Spruill, Tiffany Takara Greer, Carmen Twillie, Terry Wood, Ayana Williams
- Recordist
- Steve Kohler
- Re-recording Mixers
- Elliot Tyson
- Tom Dahl
- Andy D'Addario
- Mel Metcalfe
- Supervising Sound Editor
- Louis L. Edemann
- Sound Editors
- Ron Eng
- Rick Franklin
- Leonard Geschke
- Chuck Neely
- Howard Neiman
- Foley
- Artists:
- Ken Dufva
- Joan Rowe
- Mixer:
- Lee Tinkham
- Live Action
- SimEx Digital Studios
- Director:
- Nick Bates
- Director of Photography:
- Allen Daviau
- Producers:
- Michelle Gannes
- Bob McGinness
- Allen Yamashita
- Animation Director:
- Jean Perramon
- Animation Producer:
- Christina Cox
- CGI Artist:
- Christian Hatfield
- Voice Cast
- Jim Cummings
- Tigger/Winnie the Pooh
- Nikita Hopkins
- Roo
- Ken Sansom
- Rabbit
- John Fiedler
- Piglet
- Peter Cullen
- Eeyore
- Andre Stojka
- Owl
- Kath Soucie
- Kanga
- Tom Attenborough
- Christopher Robin
- Frank Welker
- additional voices
- John Hurt
- narrator
- Certificate
- U
- Distributor
- Buena Vista International (UK)
- 6,942 feet
- 77 minutes 8 seconds
- Dolby Digital/DTS/SDDS
- In Colour
- Prints by
- Technicolor