The Tigger Movie: 10th Anniversary Edition – DVD Review

Film, Reviews

Tigger_Movie_DVD

Almost 100 years ago, A.A. Milne wrote some children books featuring the adventures of Winnie the Pooh, Piglet, Tigger, Owl, Rabbit, Eeyore, and all the other animals that live in The Hundred-Acre Wood. Then, in the 1960s Walt Disney got his hands on Winnie the Pooh franchise and made all of those characters beloved and iconic to this day. Besides a couple of full-length films in the ’60s and ’70s, though, Winnie the Pooh and friends has mostly only been seen on TV. That changed in 2000, when Disney released The Tigger Movie to theaters everywhere. Once the DVD hit stores soon afterward, it quickly became the highest selling DVD for pre-school kids EVER. So it’s only natural that Disney would re-release the movie on DVD again. Despite it being only 9 years, Disney calls it the “10th Anniversary Edition” DVD and it’s in stores now.

In The Tigger Movie, Tigger (Jim Cummings) starts to miss the family he has never known. He wants to find other Tiggers that he can spend time with. The rest of the animals in the Hundred-Acre Wood, Pooh (Jim Cummings), Piglet (John Fiedler), Owl (Andre Stojka), Rabbit (Ken Sansom), Kanga (Kath Soucie), Roo (Nikita Hopkins), and Eeyore (Peter Cullen) decide to make him feel better by writing a letter to him from his family. But Tigger mistakenly assumes that his Tigger family is coming to visit him. Pooh, Roo, and the others then decide to dress up and act like his Tigger family is their best bet. When Tigger sees right through that, he sets off, braving the winter snow in search of his real Tigger family all by himself.

In some ways, Tigger is the perfect A.A. Milne character, besides Winnie the Pooh, to be the star of his own movie. He is definitely more energetic and interesting than most of of the other characters, who are better suited in supporting roles. At the same time, though, Tigger’s high energy could be too much to handle for a full-length film that lasts longer than 20 minutes. But the Tigger you will find in The Tigger Movie is not the same Tigger we all have known and loved. He is more sedated, and he does things (like climb trees, almost cry, search for someone just like him when for years he just wanted to be “the only one”, etc.) that contradict previous stories from A.A. Milne. The pace of this film is slower than you would have like as well.

But still the negatives don’t quite overshadow all the positives of this film. First, The Tigger Movie is an old-fashioned story about family and friends. The message of this film is certainly a great one for kids to learn. A family consists of anyone around that you love and loves you equally, and The Tigger Movie teaches that message wonderfully. The soundtrack isn’t half-bad either. None of the songs are really that memorable, but they are catchy enough and at least adults can listen to them without too much pain. It also helps that the overall animation is improved, but all of the characters still look like they always have looked.

The target audience for The Tigger Movie is pre-school aged kids. So keep in that mind, when you find the strictly kid-friendly humor, dialogue, and action throughout this film. Unfortunately, the pace is not as quick as you would like, so it’s possible that some young kids might lose their attention span halfway through. Hardcore fans of A.A. Milne work probably won’t like all of the things that Tigger did in this film that contradicted what we have learned from previous shorts, books, and films, though. So while The Tigger Movie may not be the greatest film featuring The Hundred-Acre Wood gang, it will likely keep the majority of kids under the age of six entertained at least once.

The video included is available in widescreen color presented at the 1.66:1 letter boxed aspect ratio. That basically means the film was stretched to fit the entire screen. The quality is pretty good with some slight graininess noticeable in some scenes. No major problems, though, and an upgrade from the previous release.

The audio included is available in either English Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround sound, French Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround sound, or Spanish Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround sound. The dialogue and music come out loud and clear, so no major problems here either.

Two Tigger Bonus Adventures
There are two episodes from Disney’s old TV series The New Adventures of Winnie the Pooh, and they both feature Tigger. The episodes are called “King of the Beasties” and “Tigger’s Houseguest.” In the first one, Tigger plays a joke on his friends and makes them think there’s a “jagular” in the woods, and they make him king after he pretends to defeat the jagular. In the second one, he makes friends with a termite who’s taken up residence in his home. More decent enough entertainment for the little ones.

Round My Family Tree Sing-Along Song
This is an option to “sing along” with Tigger during the key song in the film. It lasts 3 minutes and it’s a mini-karaoke feature basically.

Tigger Movie Trivia Game
Here is a game where you get the chance to answer questions about the characters from the film.

Thingamajigger Matching Game
Another game where you have to match items to their owners with your remote control.

How To Make Your Own Family Tree
Another game to play with your remote control, where you obviously make your own family tree.

Tigger Movie DVD Storybook
This feature will let you read the film to yourself or have the story read to you.

“Your Heart Will Lead You Home” Music Video
This is a 5 minute music video for the song “Your Heart Will Lead You Home” by Kenny Loggins from the film.

The Tigger Movie may not be the greatest Winnie the Pooh-related film, but for young children it should be enough to keep them entertained. So give it a rental for them. Anyone over the age of six probably won’t be watching this more than once, and then only hardcore Pooh fans should be watching this at all.




Walt Disney Studios Home Entertainment presents The Tigger Movie. Directed by Jun Falkenstein and Nick Bates. Starring Jim Cummings (voice), Nikita Hopkins (voice), Ken Sansom (voice), John Fiedler (voice), Peter Cullen (voice), Andre Stojka (voice), Kath Soucie (voice), Tom Attenborough (voice), and John Hurt (voice). Written by Jun Falkenstein and Eddie Guzelian (screenplay); A.A. Milne (characters). Running time: 77 minutes. Rated G. Released on DVD: August 4, 2009. Available at Amazon.com

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