# Tigger Movie, The (2000)

### reviewed by
Rose 'Bams' Cooper

    '3 Black Chicks Review...'

The Tigger Movie (2000) Rated G; running time 75 minutes Genre: Family (animated) IMDB site: http://us.imdb.com/Details?0220099 Official site: http://www.tigger.com/ Written by: Jun Falkenstein (based on the story by A.A. Milne) Directed by: Jun Falkenstein Starring: the voices of Jim Cummings, Nikita Hopkins, Peter Cullen, Ken Sansom, John Fiedler, Kathy Soucie, Andre Stojka, John Hurt, Tom Attenborough

Review Copyright Rose Cooper, 2000 Review URL: http://www.3blackchicks.com/bamstigger.html

The Diva and I have an unwritten agreement for our 3BC reviews: she watches all the scary movies - I can't handle them at all, as evidenced in my reaction to The Bone Collector- and I, in turn, go to the assorted kiddie fare. It's been a fair trade so far, but the downside, for my part, is that as an adult without small children to use as "cover", I feel kinda silly going to see these kid flicks. "Toy Story 2" notwithstanding, I realized early on that the ongoing struggle I'd have would be to temper my natural inclination toward expecting Greatness from each and every movie I watch, with the understanding that some things just aren't written for old fogies like me. That in mind, I was almost sure that I'd be watching a movie that I'd be making lots of allowances for in the end.

That said, a funny thing happened on the way to the end of "The Tigger Movie" ...

The Story (WARNING: some spoilers contained below): In this animated rendition of A.A. Milne's "Winnie The Pooh" stories, narrated by John Hurt, Winnie The Pooh bear (voice of Jim Cummings) takes a back seat to Tigger (voice of Jim Cummings). Tigger is an extroverted tiger who bounces his way in and out of the hearts of his friends Pooh, Eeyore the donkey (Peter Cullen), Piglet (John Fiedler), Rabbit (Ken Sansom), Owl (Andre Stojka), the human boy Christopher Robin (Tom Attenborough), kangaroo Kanga (Kathy Soucie), and especially Kanga's son Roo (Nikita Hopkins), who looks up to his good friend Tigger as a big brother. Tigger's habit of joyfully bouncing all over the place irks the serious Rabbit and tires everyone but Roo out, but Tigger doesn't let them steal his joy for long. But his joy over being "the only Tigger" turns to sadness when he realizes that being the only one, means he's without a family; seeing him so sad distresses Roo, who enlists Pooh bear and the others to help him find Tigger's family - with potentially disastrous results...

The Upshot: There's a cartoon strip called Calvin And Hobbes that, like this movie, features a tiger (Hobbes) as one of the main characters (but unlike Christopher Robin from the "Winnie The Pooh" books and movies, the human Calvin is an at times bratty and irritating, though almost always funny, perpetually 8-year-old boy). The first few times I read that cartoon strip (mind you, as an adult), I found it incredibly dumb; for the life of me, I couldn't figure out what could possibly be so funny about the little jerk, and why he had a tiger, of all things, following him around, doing equally jerky things to neighbor Suzie and to Calvin's parents. It made absolutely no sense to me, and I was just about to write it off as a loss, till one day the paper ran a strip in which Calvin was going on vacation with his parents, and had Hobbes in the back seat with him - and Hobbes was shown to be a stuffed toy tiger. Could'a knocked me over with a feather; up to that point, I had no idea that the "live" Hobbes existed only in Calvin's vivid (as it was by then made clear to me) imagination. That single strip not only revealed new layers of Calvin (and Hobbes) to me, it also taught me a lesson the likes of which the phrase "never judge a book by its cover" could never do in its staticness.

I had a similar reaction at one point during "The Tigger Movie": there I was, only halfway watching this flick, really thinking ahead to the time when I'd get home, get this review out of the way, and get some much-needed sleep - then seemingly out of nowhere, I had one of those "aha!" moments where things suddenly became incredibly clear to me. Maybe it was just a single word spoken; more likely, it happened during one of the scenes when the on-screen pages of the book turned as if narrator John Hurt was a father reading the story to his children - and I was transported back to a place in time where Winnie The Pooh, Tigger, Eeyore, and Christopher Robin were as real to me as Hobbes was to Calvin. And as silly as it sounds, that "aha!" moment washed over me and made the movie come alive. It was quite a cool Moment for me; I wasn't able to hold on to it as long as I would've liked, but it stayed with me long enough to make a difference in the way I watched "Tigger". And the best thing about the Great Revelation was, it allowed me to be comfortable in the knowledge that even if the 37-year-old me couldn't totally relax and let this children's movie be a children's movie without the added tres cool wink-nudges that more sophisticated fare like "Toy Story 2" had built-in, at least the kid me could appreciate the memories of the simple lessons about what family really is, that can be be found in "Tigger" and the like.

Once I recovered (mostly) from the "aha!", I was able to sit back and enjoy the ride with less distraction (except for the rather loud, but cute, kids surrounding me). Before the Great Revelation, "Tigger" seemed to be a fairly run-of-the-mill, not very well-drawn cartoon that seemed better suited for viewing on TV; that feeling didn't change much - I still believe that it didn't really need to be a theatrical release - but the issue no longer was reason enough to not enjoy the movie for what it had to offer. Though most of the Obligatory Disney Songs (and what's a Disney movie without Obligatory Disney Songs?) made me stir in my seat a few times, I found myself enjoying Tigger's big production number; it actually tied in with the general theme of the movie, without feeling like a forced fit. And though its comparatively "primitive" artwork can't compete with TS2 in the eye candy department (except for one noticeably beautiful shot when the sun shines directly on Tigger as he and Roo travel through the 100 Acre Wood), that same primitive look is faithful to the artwork we've seen countless times during "Winnie The Pooh" TV specials. Overall, the nostalgic flavor that came with the look of "Tigger", worked in its favor.

It's fairly evident that "The Tigger Movie" was probably destined for direct-to-video release before other recent animated movies got boffo box office results; Hollywood execs, after all, are not known for passing up potential bankrolls if they can help it. And though the quality of this movie, from both a graphical standpoint as well as in its storyline, isn't quite up to the level of TS2, its lack of sophistication, nuance, and "inside gags" didn't stop me from enjoying "Tigger" for what it was. In fact, its honest simplicity made me appreciate it for exactly that; the bouncy Tigger, scatterbrained Pooh, hilariously deadpan Eeyore, and sweetly vulnerable Roo, wouldn't have been the same had they been written as more adult-friendly characters. Kids of all ages will appreciate that--but only if they're kids at heart.

Bammer's Bottom Line: Too often, adults let our adulthood get in the way of a good old-fashioned bounce (though the way I heard it was, Tiggers Pounce. But that's just semantics, I reckon). Sometimes it's best to drop the mask of sophistication and just let a lullaby be a lullaby; sometimes, simple *is* better. To be sure, "The Tigger Movie" was no "Toy Story 2". It wasn't really even a "Stuart Little" (as cloying as *that* similarly-themed movie was, it did have its Moments). But maybe that's as it should be; there's gotta be room in this world for a Pouncing Tigger - and a Roo who loves him - right?

"The Tigger Movie" (rating: greenlight): Tiggers Pounce. I can diggit.

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