THE TIGGER MOVIE (Disney) Voices: Jim Cummings, Nikita Hopkins, Ken Sansom, John Fiedler, Peter Cullen, Andre Stojka, Kath Soucie, John Hurt. Screenplay: Jun Falkenstein, based on characters created by A. A. Milne. Producer: Cheryl Abood. Director: Jun Falkenstein. MPAA Rating: G. Running Time: 75 minutes. Reviewed by Scott Renshaw.
Disney has been responsible for plenty of icons of childhood over the past 60 years, but if my son's wardrobe and stuffed animal collection are any indication, no libretto has been kinder to Uncle Walt's Place over the years than the works of A. A. Milne. Edward Bear (d.b.a. Winnie the Pooh) and friends have made Disney a mint in licensing fees, TV programs and the like, with Pooh's roly-poly visage become the very image of cuddly innocence. Kids adore these characters beyond measure, as befits characters based on a real child's own beloved playthings.
THE TIGGER MOVIE is by no stretch of the imagination an embarrassing chapter in Disney's relationship with the Pooh gang; indeed, it's light and generally pleasant. It just seems a shame for these characters to be wasted on filler between Disney's _real_ animated films. The story finds the titular bouncy, pouncy fellow (voiced by Jim Cummings) struggling a bit with the fact that, as the song says about Tiggers, "(he's) the only one." Convinced that there must be a Tigger family out there somewhere, Tigger begins a search through the Hundred Acre Wood for his family tree accompanied by a helpful Roo (Nikita Hopkins). When no family is found, Pooh (also voiced by Cummings) and company try to help out, but a letter they write from "Tigger's family" only ends up complicating matters further.
The talent involved in the creation of THE TIGGER MOVIE offered plenty of hope that it could be plenty entertaining. Many longtime voice participants in the Pooh universe, including original Piglet John Fiedler, lend their gifts to the story, providing a sense of continuity from earlier stories. Even more promising was the participation of veteran Disney songwriters Richard and Robert Sherman, the legendary brother tandem behind hummable hits like "The Bear Necessities," "Everybody Wants to Be a Cat," "Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious" and even the original "The Wonderful Thing About Tiggers." This was not the sort of interest you'd expect to find in a cheap knock-off.
And THE TIGGER MOVIE isn't a cheap knock-off. It just never feels particularly inspired, or particularly true to Milne's amiable tales. The story is simple enough, a lesson in the love one can find in a family that doesn't necessarily involve genetic similarity or legal sanction (one can almost hear the reactionary letters being prepared at Disney's insouciance regarding the national security importance of the nuclear family). Yet that's the sort of lesson-mongering one would never associate with Pooh and company. One also wouldn't expect a story that needed to be spiced up with a climactic avalanche to give it a sense of drama. One certainly wouldn't expect that the Shermans' song contributions would be such a lackluster lot, with even the most obvious effort to create a catchy standard -- the pop culture-filled production number "Round My Family Tree" -- falling short. For a Disney film, it sure feels a lot more like one of the more half-hearted attempts to mimic a Disney film.
In all fairness, it should be clear that THE TIGGER MOVIE seemed to delight it's target audience of kindergarteners. There are even some enjoyable moments to delight those of us who are slightly older kids, including the perfectly pitched pessimism of Eeyore (Peter Cullen) and Tigger's colorful way with a malaprop. It's a cute film in its way, but there are those of us who expect more from Disney when some of its most beloved characters are plopped into a new film. The bar is set a little bit higher, because it's too easy to fall back on the audience's good will towards those characters without insuring the vehicle is as tuneful, playful and easy-going as Pooh-bear himself. THE TIGGER MOVIE isn't bad. It just doesn't feel particularly deserving of its stars. Call me a sentimentalist, but I like to think of Pooh as more than just a marketable brand-name.
On the Renshaw scale of 0 to 10 Pooh-bear necessities: 6.
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