The Tigger Movie

The Tigger Movie
Theatrical poster
Directed by	Jun Falkenstein
Produced by	Cheryl Abood Jennifer Blohm Richmond Horine
Written by	Jun Falkenstein Eddie Guzelian A.A. Milne
Narrated by	John Hurt
Starring	Jim Cummings Nikita Hopkins John Fiedler Ken Sansom Peter Cullen Andre Stojka Kath Soucie Tom Attenborough
Music by	Harry Gregson-Williams
Studio	DisneyToon Studios
Distributed by	Walt Disney Pictures
Release date(s)	February 11, 2000 (2000-02-11)
Running time	77 minutes
Country	United States
Language	English
Budget	$30 million
Box office	$96,159,800

The Tigger Movie is a 2000 animated comedy-drama film co-written and 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, two more feature-length Pooh movies were released to theaters: Piglet's Big Movie in 2003 and Pooh's Heffalump Movie in 2005.

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 video release until Disney CEO Michael Eisner heard the Sherman Brothers' score and decided to release the film in theaters worldwide.

Plot

The film starts in Christopher Robin's room. The narrator is about to tell a story about Winnie the Pooh, from a book, when he is interrupted, by Tigger. Tigger, who is tired of all the stories being about Pooh, then proceeds to rearrange some of the letters in the title to spell out The Tigger Movie, like ripping a "W" snapping some vines, and placing "THE" on a different spot. Tigger then bounces into the book, and the story begins.

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 with a highly over complicated plan (seeing as how Eeyore's house is nothing but a pile of sticks, and it would be much easier just to rebuild it) in trying to remove it with an elaborate pulley system (which collapses) and Tigger intervenes, knocking the rock away with his Whoopty-Dooper-Loopty-Looper-Alley-Ooper bounce (WDLLAOB for short) and getting everyone covered in mud and mad at him, particularly Rabbit, who is annoyed that his pulley system 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 that to find your family, one must look up one's family tree. Tigger and Roo, taking this literally, head out to find a huge stripedy 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 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 shocked, 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. Tigger seems mad at his friends for lying to him, as he thinks his friends were impersonating his real family and that they saw his situation as a big joke. Angry, he leaves, saying "TTFE, Ta ta Forever". He hikes through the snow until he finds a large tree on the cliff side which matches the description he gave of his family tree (A giant pine tree with the snow giving the illusion of Tigger stripes). He bounces across the branches and finds nothing, so he sits there, heartbroken.

Meanwhile, Pooh, Roo, Piglet and Eeyore mount an expedition to find Tigger. They ask Rabbit to lead them, who initially refuses, but reluctantly agrees after seeing how much they miss their friend, especially Roo. When they find him, they tell him to return home, with Rabbit saying he should "Forget about all this other Tiggers nonsense". Tigger is greatly offended by this and angrily refuses, but 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 everyone tells Christopher Robin 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. As the movie ends, Christopher Robin remedies this by taking a picture of Tigger's "family".

Cast

• Narrated by John Hurt
• Jim Cummings as Tigger/Winnie-the-Pooh
• Kath Soucie as Kanga
• Nikita Hopkins as Roo
• John Fiedler as Piglet
• Ken Sansom as Rabbit
• Peter Cullen as Eeyore
• Andre Stojka as Owl
• Tom Attenborough as Christopher Robin
• Frank Welker as the Bees and Frogs (Additional Voices)

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, as well as 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 $9.4 million USD 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. Due to the success of the film, the same opening sequence, Christopher Robin's room narrated by Mister Narratot, was used for two other Winnie-the-Pooh films. They are Springtime with Roo (2004) and Pooh's Heffalump Halloween Movie (2005).

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

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"

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.

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"
• "Pooh's Lullabee"
• "Round My Family Tree"
• "How to Be a Tigger"
• "Your Heart Will Lead You Home"

External links

• The Tigger Movie at AllRovi
• The Tigger Movie at the Big Cartoon DataBase
• The Tigger Movie at the Internet Movie Database